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Even though I did not plan anything, yesterday we had a Day Trip to Stugudalen and as usual, I will blog about that next time. Flashback Friday, so I’m just going to reminisce about our past Holy Week trip. Our Scandinavian trip, started in Elverum Norway, next is Copenhagen, Denmark and our third stop is Stockholm Sweden. There are different ways to travel to Sweden from Denmark, we can drive, we can fly, or we can take the bus or train. This time we chose train because I wanted to experience traveling to another country via train. Travel time is only 5 hours and 20 minutes so it is still time and cost-efficient. 

We took a taxi from Stockholm Central Train Station to reach Generator Stockholm Hotel because according to the map, it is almost 1 km away from the station. This hotel is also near Arlanda Express, restaurants, and some tourist spots. There is no guest kitchen but they have a restaurant, cafe, and bar. A convenience store is just in front of the hotel and there are restaurants within the area so you won’t starve.

Since we arrived late on our first day, we no longer have time to roam around. We just went out for dinner after our check-in and we immediately went back to our hotel to sleep. 

I have limited time in planning for our Scandinavian trip so I have no itinerary for Stockholm Sweden. Just like in Copenhagen, we availed of the Stockholm Pass, which includes free admission to 45 popular tourist spots and free use of tourist buses and tourist boats. The sightseeing card includes Stockholm Pass Guidebook, which I also use to plan for our next day's trip. 

We took the first boat trip to Drottningholm Palace and the first boat trip too to go back to Stockholm City Hall. The travel time is one hour per way. The place is big so if you want to maximize the trip, you need to take the first and last boat trip. But since we wanted to explore other places, we went back early. We did not bother to check the Stockholm City Hall since we wanted to avail the Stockholm Panorama Bus Tour. This tour gave us an idea of what to see and what to do in Stockholm Sweden. 

Our Stockholm Pass includes the free tourist bus but unfortunately, the bus did not arrive on time and we waited for over an hour. We wasted a lot of time waiting for the complimentary bus and we couldn't wait anymore so we just took a taxi so we can start our tour. At this moment, iniisip ko na sana hindi na lang ako nag-avail ng Stockholm Pass kung mapapagastos din naman pala kami sa taxi. And because of that, we only visited two tourist spots, Vasa Museum and Skansen. 

Skansen is an open-air museum and it is also big so we haven’t explored the whole place but we still enjoy our time in this museum. But if you have kids in tow, it is better to spend more time here so you can also join different activities for kids. 

Day 4 was our last chance to explore Stockholm and we did not want to waste it anymore so we decided not to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. It was a good decision because we were able to do a lot of activities.

You can travel to Oslo Norway from Stockholm Sweden via car, plane, bus, or train. We chose the SJ train again, unfortunately, there are only two train schedules so we chose the morning schedule which is 9:10AM. Travel time is around 6 hours. Since we’ve been walking a lot for the last few days, we did not take a taxi anymore and we just walked from Generator Stockholm to Stockholm Central Station with our luggage in tow. We had breakfast at McDonalds and went to the boarding gate to wait for our train.

Sweden is the first country where we did not use any cash, we just use our credit cards for everything even for the paid comfort rooms. For our Free Stockholm Tour, we gave different currencies for tips since the tour guide accepts any currencies. 

Hindi ko pinapansin ang 7-11 dito pero when we travel abroad, nagiging bestfriend ko ito. Hehehe! This post is not about Food recommendations in Stockholm Sweden or Where to Eat in Stockholm Sweden because I did not research the Must-Try Restaurants in Stockholm Sweden. We just eat wherever and whenever we’re hungry so I will just share the food and drinks that we have tried during our trip. 

I’ve been checking my Sweden album and I was surprised because I have limited food photos so it means, I was not able to take photos of our food trip. I’m not sure if it is because we’re hungry or maybe because we ate at 7-11 or fastfood that can be found in the Philippines. 

We arrived in Stockholm in the evening so we were really tired and hungry so after checking in, we went out to look for a restaurant where we can eat. We ended up at Maestro Pizza & Kebab because the place was not full. 

My mom ordered this sandwich and we ordered pizza. I can’t remember the name of this pizza but even we were hungry, we were not able to finish this. I don’t know, we just don’t like the taste. We’re a little bit disappointed because the name of the restaurant is Maestro Pizza & Kebab so we’re expecting that the pizza would be good. I’ve made some research and this restaurant is known for kebab and falafel so I guess, we just ordered the wrong meal. 

On our second day, we visited Drottningholm Palace which is one of the private residences of the Swedish Royal Family. It is a one-hour boat trip from Stockholm City Hall and there was a limited schedule of boat trips so for our lunch, we did not eat at the restaurant because we don’t want to miss the 1PM boat trip. 

We found Pressbyrån, a small convenience store at Drottningholm Palace. It was small so food choices are also limited so we just ate hotdog sandwiches to satisfy our hunger. We are tempted to eat ice cream but the weather is so cold and we will eat outside. 

After our Stockholm Panorama Tour and before we went back to the hotel we ate late lunch/early dinner. We only ate hotdog sandwiches for our lunch so we were still hungry and we decided to eat at Burger King, pwede na din early dinner kung tamarin na kami lumabas sa gabi. Hehehe!

I don’t have photos but we ordered the usual which is burger meal and chicken nugget meal. This is a fastfood so I thought the service would be fast but it wasn’t the case. My husband placed an order and went back to the table. So we waited for several minutes before our orders were ready. This is self-service too so my husband picked up the order. The budget per meal is more or less PHP400. 

For our third day, we ate breakfast at McDonald's which is located inside the Stockholm Central Station. They have an ordering machine but we are not used to it so my husband ordered at the counter. He ordered McMuffin Bacon and Egg meal, which includes a sandwich, juice, coffee, or chocolate drinks. The total bill is SEK180. 

We also ate early breakfast here during our fifth day, we ordered McMuffin Bacon & Egg, a sandwich, and pancakes. The total bill is SEK184 . 

5. Skansen Terrassen 

Skansen Terrassen is a self-service restaurant inside the Skansen, we had late lunch here and we ate pasta, waffle, ice cream, and of course Swedish Meatballs. We enjoyed our meal here, at last hindi na fastfood and convenience store. I can’t remember the price of each dish but the ice cream is SEK35.

On Day 4, we had late lunch at Sen Street Kitchen and Fattoush, I can no longer remember the name of these dishes, but the price of each meal is more than PHP600. We also enjoyed our meal, especially the salmon. 

There is 7-11 just in front of the Generator Stockholm so we ate several times here for breakfast, snacks, and dinner. I’m thankful that they have a lot of food choices; there are pastries, sandwiches, hotdog sandwiches, salad, pizza and they also offer combo breakfast meals. The price is not really cheap because the combo breakfast and pizza are PHP400+ already so parang mas okay pa nga kumain sa fastfood but we don’t like to walk far so we settled for their meals. Okay naman ang lasa ng sandwich and pizza nila. 

We took the SJ train from Stockholm Sweden to Oslo Norway, it was a 6-hours train ride so we had lunch on the train, We ordered Swedish Meatballs and pieces of bread, the total bill is SEK158 without drinks.

For this reason, let me continue my Trip to Stockholm Sweden series. I started this series in year 2019 so here are the links to my previous blog posts. 

We only visited a few tourist spots during our first three days so we were not able to maximize our Stockholm Pass. And because of what happened on our Day 3 Trip, we decided not to ride the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus anymore so we will just visit the tourist spots where we can travel on foot. Since we are not familiar with the place we took advantage of the FREE STOCKHOLM TOUR, yes the tour is free but don’t forget to give a tip for the effort of the tourist guide. 

There are several groups that offer free Stockholm tours but during our visit (2019) we availed of the Free Tour Stockholm because one of their meeting places is Generator Stockholm lobby where we stayed. But now, it is better to book online to reserve your slot since they are now limiting the number of people per group. The tour is available in English, Spanish, and Deutsch language. 

We booked a morning tour, tour pickup at 9:30AM so we had a quick breakfast at 7-11 which is just in front of our hotel. We joined the Old Town or Gamla Stan Tour, of course, the English language. The tour is 90 to 120 minutes long so make sure that you have the energy to walk about 2km. 

Free Old Town Tour 

Learn the chilling stories of the Stockholm Bloodbath 

The tragic tale of Crown Princess Margaret’s death Vikings stories 

Discover the smallest statue in Stockholm 

Sights of The Royal Palace, a real runestone, St George and the Dragon statue, Stockholm Cathedral, and more. 

It is a really long walk on the cobblestone streets and narrow alleyways so it is not PWD-friendly. We even walked down to the famous Mårten Trotzigs Grand, which is the narrowest street in Stockholm with 36 steps and just 90 cm (35in) width. It was named after one of the richest merchants in Stockholm. 

Other popular tourist spots in Gamla Stan are Royal Palace, Royal Chapel, Swedish Parliament Building, Storkyrkan Cathedral, Nobel Prize Museum, Stortoget Square, and Medeltidsmuseet. During the walking tour, you will only pass the popular tourist spots so if you want to explore more, you can visit those places after the tour. 

I took note the tourist spots that we can visit using our Stockholm Pass para hindi naman sayang ang binayad namin. First on my list is the Nobel Prize Museum, which is located in the old Stock Exchange Building at Stortoget. This museum showcases Alfred Nobel, Nobel Prize winners, and Nobel Prize Laureates. 

They have an activity for kids too, my son received a Nobel Prize coin after he finished the task which he immediately ate. Hehehe! 

Storkyrkan Stockholm Cathedral 

Storkyrkan or The Great Church is the oldest church in Stockholm and the venue for so many historical events like coronations, royal weddings, military victories, Reformation in Sweden, and others. It also houses important works of art such as Saint George and the Dragon, Parhelion, Vädersolstavlan, and other well-known artifacts. 

It is one of Europe's biggest palaces and the Swedish Royal Family’s official residence. Discover the banquet hall, hall of state, royal apartments, state apartments, and the apartment of the Orders of Chivalry. 

This museum is dedicated to the old palace which was destroyed in 1697 by a violent fire. It features the different objects that were rescued. 

They have activities for kids too but my son is no longer interested. The Royal Palace is really big and we only visited two spots because we were already tired and hungry. We skipped The Treasury, Gustav III’s Museum of Antiquities, and The Royal Chapel. 

For our late lunch, I can’t remember the name of the place but it houses different food stalls like the Sen Street Kitchen, Panini, and Fattoush. 

On our way back to the hotel, even though we didn’t have a plan to shop, we visited H&M. Hennes & Mauritz AB a famous Swedish multinational clothing company. It is a fast-fashion company that operates in 74 countries including the Philippines.