It’s hard to believe that, just a month ago, we were exploring Stockholm! April flew by, and here I am prepping to go to Bozeman and Seattle later this month (more to come on those). But before I get too ahead of myself, this is how we spent our ~48 hours in Stockholm.
Side note: I definitely think an extra day for the city would have been ideal, but we were working around cheap flights!
Day 1: Arlanda
After a rough night of sleep for all of us on the flight from MCO to KEF, then our second leg from Keflavik to Stockholm, we were beat. We managed to catch the Arlanda Express from the airport with a few minutes to spare, which got us super close to our hotel. We got to the Scandic Grand Central shortly before check-in, but we were able to drop off our bags and explore for a bit.
We had a blast playing in the snow at the nearby park, Norra Bantorget, then grabbed a quick snack at Bröd & Salt before heading back to the hotel. We collectively enjoyed a quick afternoon nap to power us through the rest of the day – including our dinner reservation! We stopped to see Sergels torg, a major public square, and walked down Drottninggatan, a popular pedestrian street, before getting to the restaurant: Bistro Bestick.
This is definitely a restaurant where you want a reservation! That being said, while the food was good, it was not super child-friendly. They had a high chair available, but it was definitely more of a date night vibe, and the menu offered few customizations we could make work for him. Since we had a jet lagged and hungry kiddo, we hurried through our meal and picked him up some fruit and yogurt from a nearby 7-Eleven. Definitely a “you live, you learn” moment for us! We went back to the hotel for the night after that.
Day 2: Gamla Stan
After enjoying an expansive breakfast at our hotel, we headed out for a morning adventure! We played at the Riksplan park by the Parliament House (Riksdagshuset) before heading into Gamla Stan. Gamla Stan is its own island and is considered the old town of Stockholm. They had a ton of local shops to see, as well as some fun tourist sites – like the Iron Boy statue and the Källargränd urinal.
As we were making our way back to the hotel for an afternoon nap, we walked through Kungsträdgården. This park is known for its cherry blossoms, but unfortunately, they weren’t in bloom while we were there! The weather was so cold, so while we didn’t get to enjoy the cherry blossoms, we did get to see plenty of snow.
In the evening, we stopped at the Observatorielundens parklek, a cute playground, before heading to dinner. Based on the previous evening, we actually canceled our dinner reservation and opted to go to Burgers & Beer Svea instead – which was a great option for something more casual that we could all enjoy. After dinner, we returned to Observatorielunden for some more snow play, as well as made a quick grocery stop at Co-op, before calling it a night.
Day 3: Rådhuset Station
Our last day in Stockholm! We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel again before checking out and dropping off our bags. We had scoped out some nearby must-visits, including the Rådhuset Station, a metro station that looks like another planet, and the Kronobergsparken, a park filled with plenty of snow to play in. The highlight of the morning might have been the Lekplatsen Kungsholms strand, which is a fabulous playground right by the river. We were there for quite awhile before walking along the Klara sjö back to the hotel.
Back at Scandic Grand Central, we scooped our bags, and we started our adventure toward the ferry terminal. After a quick stop at the nearby Åhléns mall – which we did mostly to access the Systembolaget liquor store (also where you buy beer) – we went to the T-Centralen Station. This metro station is done entirely in blues and whites (there are several stations with cool art themes to discover), and we rode to the other side of the city.
We stopped in at East Side Cafe for a late lunch while the kiddo napped in his stroller, then walked to the nearby ferry terminal for our boat to Helsinki….