A visit to Stockholm and the archipelago has long been on my list even before becoming a mum and looking for family friendly experiences. This city nestled in nature with abundant children’s activities more than ticked the family travel box. Here is my round up of everything you need to know when visiting Stockholm with kids!
Useful tips
How to get there: Stockholm Arlanda airport is a 30 minute transfer or 20 minute direct train on the Arlanda Express. We hired a car ahead of our road trip and there was ample parking at Hotel J our first stop.
Top Tip
If you’re hiring a car from Arlanda airport, it is not immediately obvious how you do this! You need to head out to the bus stops outside of arrivals and look for the bus which takes you to the Car Rental Depot on the edge of the airport.
When to go: Heading to Stockholm just as schools break up for summer in July means you will have long sun-filled days to explore the city to your hearts content! The weather starts to cool by mid to end August.
Length of stay: Depending on how much you want to explore the archipelago you could easily fill a week! But I would allow at least three full days to explore the full extent of the city and dip your toe into the wider islands.
Where to stay
The amazing thing about Stockholm is that both the city and archipelago are connected by a public transport boat network that works like buses as well as a well oiled wider transport network. This meant that choosing to stay waterside at the scandi chic Hotel J we were able to experience the city and the islands!
Hotel J is a family-friendly bolthole just a few minutes walk from the port of Nacka Strand, where you can get to the very centre of Stockholm in around 20 minutes by boat.
Top Tip
The Number 80 boat takes you direct from Nacka to the centre of Stockholm. Ask at the hotel for a timetable, but don’t worry too much as the service is very frequent!
It’s cool, calm and collected aesthetic is everything I look for in a hotel. The room was an oasis of cream textures and the bed was a sumptuous cloud where you awake each morning to a bevy of breakfast treats. As well as the hotel restaurant there is also a brilliant harbour-side family restaurant, Restaurang J.
With large open fires and fresh lobster on tap, little ones are well catered for with brasserie favourites like hamburgers and of course the ubiquitous Swedish meatballs.
Read the full review of Hotel J here.
Things to do
Activities is where Stockholm zooms into the lead of most family friendly city break, with a whole island dedicated to entertainment! Djurgarden is a dream family playground where you can experience all of this in one place:
Skansen: Billed as the world’s oldest open air museum, Skansen is a step back in time into Swedish life. With a full zoo and marine biology museum all in the same complex, this one stop shop is a fully stocked day out.
Vasamuseet: As well as an awesome-inspiring and amazingly preserved shipwrecked battleship, the Vasamuseet will take you back in time both to the time where the ship was raised from the bottom of the bay where it was sunk and to a time where the ship was vibrant with life.
ABBA The Museum: Not just for grown ups (but highly recommended for them!), the ABBA Museum is an interactive journey that immerses you in the music and life of the band. Performing onstage with ABBA, pick your favourite karaoke and make your own ABBA avatar is just the tip of the iceberg here!
Junibacken: Junibacken is an adorable museum where you can discover the world of Pippy Longstocking author, Astrid Lindgren. Centred around the magic of storytelling you can take the story train and enjoy interactive theatre.
Gröna Lund Amusement Park: For thrill-seekers big and small, Grona Lund amusement park is perched on the edge of the harbour with views back to old town Stockholm. With rides suitable for all ages (and bravery levels!) Grona Lund brings you old school fun of the fair.
The Viking Museum: Take a journey back to the Viking times at this museum. Walking you through the real lives of not only Viking warriors but women and children you will leave having experience Viking life up close.
Elsewhere in historic Gamla Stan you can experience the splendour of the Royal Palace and the unexpectedly brilliant Nobel Prize museum. Wandering around the oldest (and arguably prettiest) part of Stockholm will take you to the grand Royal Palace.
A stone’s throw away is the Nobel Prize museum which has an incredible interactive section for little genii. As well as learning about the prize and all its winners, little ones can solve puzzles and play dress up!
If you are looking to get out into nature then taking a boat and sailing into the archipelago cannot be missed. From Hotel J we took the Number 4 boat to the pretty town of Vaxholm to visit the fort there.
As well as taking the public boat network you can book onto archipelago tours, such as boat tours which take you to picturesque islands like Vaxholm, Sandhamm, Grinda and Gallno. In my opinion it is well worth building in time to have long days sailing and stopping in the archipelago to truly experience the full joy of Stockholm.
Not all city breaks are made equal, and in my experience they certainly cannot all claim to be family friendly! But Stockholm surely ranks as one of the best family city breaks not just in terms of things to do but the amount of beautiful space it gives you to explore.
That Holiday Mum x
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