Travel | Exploring Stockholm

To soothe my post holiday blues I thought I would share some of the pictures from my recent trip to Stockholm. I'd been wanting to visit Scandinavia for a while and my first stop was definitely Stockholm. I knew a few bits about the city but learnt a lot more, and fell in love with the place whilst I was there. 

We were pretty lucky weather wise. Stockholm is know for it's long Winters however from May to August/September it can be really pleasant. Half of the week it was fairly cloudy however it still felt bright. We did get some nice sunny days near the end when we went on the Under The Bridges Boat Trip, this was 2 hours long but allowed you to see most of Stockholm from the water. Stockholm is made up of several islands so you are surrounded by water most of the time. I would definitely recommend going on boat trips there as it is the best way to see the city and you learn lots of facts about the city at the same time. 

There are a few different places you can go to get a great view of the city. We opted for going up the City Tower next to the City Hall. We visited both of these places, the City Hall is an amazing building where the Nobel Price dinner takes place, it's a very interesting tour and a beautiful building. The City Tower has a lot of stairs (great way to get in a workout!) but when you get to the top it is so worth it for the amazing views. As you get closer to the top of the tower there are these narrow corridors which all look the same making you feel like you've already walked down it already.

Sorry for the picture heavy post, trust me I took way more than this! All photos we're taken with my iphone 4S and edited with Camera+. To end with I thought I would share some tips if you plan on visit Stockholm.

• Stockholm is expensive. From food to shopping everything seems to cost more in Sweden. Do helps save our Krona (SEK - Swedish currency) we packed snacks in our suitcase to have as 'emergency' in case we got hungry whilst visiting place. For example coffee shops in The Old Town are extra pricey because it is a tourist spot.
• To go along with this we got a Stockholm Card to use whilst we there. You can order these before the trip and collect in the Tourist Information. Basically this is a card you can use on public transport and will give you entrance to most museums and you can get 1 of 2 boat trips with this. Paying for this beforehand meant all our spending money didn't go on getting into places also we found we visited more places in order to get the full use of the card. 
• Stockholm is a fairly flat city and therefore is pretty easy to walk. We walked to most places as you felt you got a better feel for the city and saw more. If walking is not your thing you can cycle everywhere. There's designated lanes for bikes as well as bikes you can rent (like in London). This seems to be a common form of transport for the locals. 
• Visit the tourist information. They are dotted around the city, this is where we collected the Stockholm Card but it is also where we got a lot of information on what is worth seeing the most. If you are going for a couple of days and want to fit a lot in they can help you plan out your days. This is also a place where there are lots of leaflets and free maps of the city. We ended up using about 4 different maps with varying detail. You don't really need to buy one before hand. 

All in all Stockholm has definitely been one of my favourite places to visit. It is a beautiful city with lots of history and most of the locals speak fairly good English (always helpful) and are very polite. I would definitely recommend visiting the City if you get the chance to.