We had 3 full days in Stockholm and since we are traveling with kids that means you can’t just plow through the sights and run yourself ragged. Well, we usually run ourselves ragged – but it doesn’t take much for this crew. Typically, the best we can do is 2 big things a day- something in the morning and something in the afternoon with a lunch break in between and a dinner break at the end and back to home base to wind down.
I don’t stick a strict schedule but have a general sense of the big things we all want to do. Then I look at the weather and try to correlate the weather with the outings. Based on the forecast, it looked like we had one sunny and nice day and the others were cloudy/rainy. I saved the 2 outdoor sights for those days and plotted the indoor sights for the other 2 days.
Day 1 – Saturday – a gloomy day but we managed to dodge much of the rain
City Hall – This was not to be. We attempted to go Saturday and Monday but it was closed both days. Disappointing, but given the closures were due to the terrorist attack, it was quite understandable. –Mom
Nobel Museum – We spent quite a bit of time here and enjoyed a scavenger hunt type activity for the kids as well as some hands-on experiments as part of the aptly named “Experiments” exhibit. –Mom
The Nobel Museum was super fun. There are clips about Nobel Peace Prize winners and the give you a quiz and you have to hunt for the answers and the prize is a chocolate coin. – Nate
I loved the Nobel Museum, and we got to learn stuff we never knew about the Nobel prizes. We got to go on a scavenger for different things about the peace prize and the prize was a chocolate coin that looks like the Nobel Peace Prize.
Since this was our first full day in Sweden, jet lag and lousy in-flight sleeping meant this was a short day. We headed back to our apartment and just grabbed some pizza take out at a local spot recommended by our Airbnb hosts.
Day 2 – Sunday – The sunniest day which meant we did as much outside as possible
Skansen – It was Nate’s dream come true! Our Uber to the Skansen was a Tesla. Another enjoyable thing at the Skansen was a story-in English- about witches and butter luck. There was a cute pottery shop as well as a glassworks place and a bakery. — Catherine
Millesgarden – This was the one spot on my must-see list. I’m so glad we had a sunny day for enjoying it. There weren’t many tourists. It was a bit tricky to get to on public transportation so we took an Uber. One element making this very kid-friendly was the outdoor space and lack of crowds meant the kids had a bit more freedom to run around. Plus the sculptures were so visually dramatic the kids couldn’t help but be intrigued. –Mom
Day 3 – Monday – Another rainy day but with indoor museums planned, we made the most of it.
Vasa Museum- a giant ship made from the salvaged half-viking ship the Vasa and made into a museum. My favorite part of this museum was Sail A Ship, where we compassed, put the sails up, and un anchored the ship in order to sail it. Now that was fun! –Catherine
Nordic Museum– At the Nordic Museum, there was a Time detectives game where we had to figure out who stole the Golden Marzipan Statue. As Nate and I plowed through the evidence, witnesses, and suspects we reached the end for a prize of… a pin? Yup. –Catherine
The Children’s Playhouse is a room within the Nordic Museum set up like a little agricultural town in the “olden days” – complete with a horse drawn carriage to drive, a river to cross, a general store, and a kitchen. The kids could have played here for hours more than they did. Well worth the extra 20 SEK for admission. There was also a replica of a 1940’s apartment – another hit with the kids. I wish I had better pictures to share but the kids were on the move and it was fairly dark. –Mom
Tour of Subway Art – In the process of researching our trip, I learned that Stockholm has some pretty amazing subway stations. The kids were getting a little tired, at this point in our day which meant I had to make this tour a quickie. I looked up the stations with the most distinct art and off we went. Our tour put the DC’s Metro to shame but that’s not too difficult. The linked article does a great job giving some historical background on the subway art and is worth a read before exploring. There are free walking tours of the subway art but our timing was a little off, unfortunately. –Mom
Ericsson Globe – Hello everybody! Nate here! Now as you know I love buildings, they are my whole life even!
Now a little fact – The Ericsson Globe is the tallest spherical structure in the world!! So what happens is you watch a short clip and and you take a pod up and down the side of the building. personally I would recommend it and I would also give it a 5-star rating.
Stockholm is a dream destination for me. I really hope to cross it off my bucket list soon. Awesome post!