Sweden trip advice

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

Just a quick one to start this thread off. Long story short, I'm off to Sweden in mid-November 2014 and I'm in need of some inspiration for rail trips.

I've already seen pictures of Stockholm Metro's impressive artwork, and that looks like it's well worth properly exploring. Other than that, I've not a clue on trips to make yet.

Obviously we're going to do some of Stockholm, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any day trips within a couple of hours or so from Stockholm worth doing.

I'd love to do the trip to Kiruna and Narvik, as well as the trip over to Malmo and the ferry train onwards, or onwards from Malmo to Copenhagen. However this doesn't seem like an option due to time constraints, after all the hours of daylight aren't massive in mid-November!

Also, is the Stockholm Metro worth riding on? As mentioned above I want to see that artwork, but I'd like to know what the Metro is like in advance.

Any other thoughts/advice anyone has would be welcome

 

[30907]

The Roslags and Saltsjo lines come to mind but need to check as memory says one or other is being rebuilt.
Uppsala is a nice day trip destination and has a preserved line if it's operating.
Not been on any of these! I liked the trip from Göteborg to Malmö but it's nowhere near Stockholm.

The ferry train is no more as of last month.

 

[Searle]

I'd definitely try out the high speed train to Malmo (I managed to see one, unfortunately didn't get to travel on it), however it does take four and a half hours. The closest stop to Stockholm is Norrkoping which takes an hour.

Oh and make sure you take a lot of money, it's very expensive over there!

 

[Techniquest]

The Roslags and Saltsjo lines come to mind but need to check as memory says one or other is being rebuilt.
Uppsala is a nice day trip destination and has a preserved line if it's operating.
Not been on any of these! I liked the trip from Göteborg to Malmö but it's nowhere near Stockholm.

The ferry train is no more as of last month.

Glad I didn't plan to do the ferry train then! Forgot it was going, shame I never got to sample it.

Shall look into those lines, the SJ website should tell me although that said, it refused to find trains from Vastaras to Stockholm when I looked on Monday so who knows!

Uppsala sounds like a good choice, worth looking into for sure
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I'd definitely try out the high speed train to Malmo (I managed to see one, unfortunately didn't get to travel on it), however it does take four and a half hours. The closest stop to Stockholm is Norrkoping which takes an hour.

Oh and make sure you take a lot of money, it's very expensive over there!

Cheers for the tip regarding the high speed train, even if it's a long trip if it's reasonable money then it'll be a good experience!

We're going for 4 days in total. Arrive Friday afternoon, fly back Monday afternoon (14-17/11/14) so spending money shouldn't be a huge problem. Norway looks more expensive, although I think a search on Google on Monday suggested a pint in Sweden is still around £5.70! Mind you, average price of a pint over here is around £2.85 even in Spoons here (yet the Spoons in Leominster is more expensive for most of it, yet it's a poorer town...) so it's not a massive difference really.

It's the food and drink prices I'm most concerned with. If anyone has some experience of this I'd love to hear from you! There's a grocery store nearby the hotel we're at which will doubtlessly help a fair bit!

 

[Welly]

It is a 20 hour train ride from Stockholm to Narvik, but it's too dark and cold to contemplate during November!

I think most attractions and preserved lines will be closed during November but if you are there on the 30th November the 600mm gauge Ostra Sodermanlands Railway will be operating for the local Christmas fair :http://www.oslj.nu/welcome/

 

[jon0844]

Oh and make sure you take a lot of money, it's very expensive over there!

The exchange rate really doesn't help, but prices in Sweden haven't been increasing (IMO) as much as they have here.

There was always the comment about how expensive a beer is in Sweden.. £5 a pint. Well, we've reached that here in many places in London too.

If you're not after alcohol, then prices really aren't too bad even with the awful rate.

 

[Techniquest]

There's probably going to be a couple of pints on the Sunday as the colleague and good friend I'm going there with is 40 on that day, so bound to be some drinks involved!

Good point regarding the Narvik trip, according to my winter 2012/3 Thomas Cook European timetable we'd have to leave Stockholm at 1758 on the Friday,get there 1540 on the Saturday,leave again 1138 on the Sunday and arrive 0920 into Stockholm on the Monday, just in time for the coach to Vastaras Airport and go home!

 

[306024]

Yes forget Narvik, 5 hours of daylight in mid November, none in December! One for the summer when it is superb, especially interesting are the iron ore workings.

Stockholm is a marvellous city, enough to see and do for three days without going far. But if you want to travel around on trains the rover ticket for Greater Stockholm costs SEK230 (£19.50) for 72 hours, from the time you validate it. Good for suburban trains, subway and the no.7 tram.

I was there last weekend, took a look at the art on the subway but whilst interesting, Moscow it isn't. The cave like stations are a bit unusual though. All three lines were open, with a mix of old and new trains.

A baguette and orange juice at Upper Crust (they get everywhere) at Central station cost SEK106 (£9.00) Bite card not allowed local stores are a fraction cheaper.

No beer consumed :cry:

 

[Techniquest]

Yes forget Narvik, 5 hours of daylight in mid November, none in December! One for the summer when it is superb, especially interesting are the iron ore workings.

Stockholm is a marvellous city, enough to see and do for three days without going far. But if you want to travel around on trains the rover ticket for Greater Stockholm costs SEK230 (£19.50) for 72 hours, from the time you validate it. Good for suburban trains, subway and the no.7 tram.

I was there last weekend, took a look at the art on the subway but whilst interesting, Moscow it isn't. The cave like stations are a bit unusual though. All three lines were open, with a mix of old and new trains.

A baguette and orange juice at Upper Crust (they get everywhere) at Central station cost SEK106 (£9.00) Bite card not allowed local stores are a fraction cheaper.

No beer consumed :cry:

Thanks for replying, shall definitely try the Narvik trip again sometime.

Why do you mention the number 7 tram in particular? Not any others there or is it well worth doing?

£19.50 for 3 days travel is not bad at all, not that much expensive than 3 days in Greater London would cost so most reasonable.

I would imagine your Upper Crust meal would cost around £5.40 here so not massively different in Sweden. I believe the hotel I'm going to has a McDonalds nearby so if all else fails I'll be there lol.

Shall have to let you know what the beer's like should I end up consuming any!

 

[jon0844]

I assume the mention of the tram is that there are some old, wooden, trams still in operation presumably like the old Routemasters in London. Saw a couple near the zoo/theme park when I was there last time.

 

[306024]

Why do you mention the number 7 tram in particular? Not any others there or is it well worth doing?

There is just the one tram route, the no.7. It runs past some of the attractions and last weekend there were a couple of vintage trams operating on the Middle part of the route.

All else will have failed if you have to resort to McD

 

[scarby]

The No 7 tram is vintage if it's still running at that time of year.

If you want to climb aboard all sorts of old trams and buses and read extensively about Stockholm's public transport, the transport museum is highly recommended:

http://sparvagsmuseet.sl.se/in-english/

The ride out to Saltsjöbaden on the Saltsjöbanan is very pleasant on converted older-generation metro trains. The line has an old-fashioned feel. It briefly achieved wider fame when a runaway train crashed into apartments at the terminus last year. It's a nice destination and only takes 25 minutes each way. Metro cards are valid as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltsj%C3%B6banan

If you want some main-line loco-hauled action with older stock, take the SJ train between Stockholm and Uppsala. Don't confuse this with the local metro (SL) system which also goes to Uppsala, stopping everywhere en route.

Regarding costs, these vary wildly. A sit-down meal in a "proper" restaurant will cost you 8 times as much as fueling up in a perfectly good Asian fast food place.

Beer - it depends what you drink, where and when. Prices vary from around £4 for a a half litre in a soulless dive full of drunks to £6 for just 40cl in a fancy hotel bar. Bottled "craft" beers are very popular but very expensive as these are often just 33cl and priced at around £6-7.

 

[Techniquest]

All very useful advice, will comment properly later as my phone's dying today. Uppsala definitely needs a visit by the sounds of it though!
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Shall have a look into the tram route, definitely worth a go by the sounds of it if it's heritage stuff running.

The run to Uppsala, is that possibly included in the 72 hour pass for Stockholm? If so that would be awesome

Beer prices aren't too bad by the sounds of it, not in the grand scheme of things. Shall look around at that I think when I'm there.

Anyone done the trip into town from Stockholm Vastaras Airport? It looks like the connecting coach will be the best option, but I also fancy doing the local bus into Vastaras Central and train onwards for obvious reasons.

Transport muesum is on the cards, definitely.

Is a Stockholm Card worth getting? Apparently it brings discounted and free entry to places, if it's like the Bergen Card free travel comes with it. About to have a look into it, difficult to do without a laptop mind!

 

[starrymarkb]

I'd love to do the trip to Kiruna and Narvik, as well as the trip over to Malmo and the ferry train onwards, or onwards from Malmo to Copenhagen. However this doesn't seem like an option due to time constraints, after all the hours of daylight aren't massive in mid-November!

Pretty sure Kiruna has no daylight in November It's North of the Arctic Circle

 

[scarby]

The run to Uppsala, is that possibly included in the 72 hour pass for Stockholm? If so that would be awesome

Anyone done the trip into town from Stockholm Vastaras Airport? It looks like the connecting coach will be the best option, but I also fancy doing the local bus into Vastaras Central and train onwards for obvious reasons.

Is a Stockholm Card worth getting? Apparently it brings discounted and free entry to places, if it's like the Bergen Card free travel comes with it. About to have a look into it, difficult to do without a laptop mind!

Uppsala - sort of. Not if you take an inter-city train (SJ). If you take the slow commuter train you pay a supplement to go to Uppsala as it's in an "outer zone".

Västerås - yes. The coach is straightforward. It will be there to meet your incoming flight and timed to leave Stockholm to connect with your returning flight.

Yes, you could do it the way you describe.

I think the correct bus is this. It seems to run every 10 minutes (from Flygplatsen to Centralen).

http://www.enklarevl.se/media/00722db9-6964-44c3-9dc9-4c67c6d83107

The trains during the day run around every hour and unless you buy an advance ticket (a risk when coming on a flight though of course you could do it for going back - that's if you are going back from Västerås) it will cost you 151 krona, so it will be more expensive. Obviously if you just miss a train it will take a lot longer to get to Stockholm.

Stockholm card - don't really know but it could be worth checking out if you plan to do a lot.

 

[Techniquest]

Looked up the Stockholm Card, it's not cheap at £47 or so for one day. Gonna further look into it though.

Cheers for the gen on Uppsala, will look into that. As for Vastaras, yes flying back from there too. 151 SEK is about 22 SEK more than a single on the coach so might do the coach coming into Stockholm and train back.

Good point about Narvik too, might try to do that in the summer.

 

[scarby]

Quite a lot of the trains on the Stockholm-Västerås route are double-deckers. So if that is something you want to experience, go for it.

 

[Techniquest]

Quite a lot of the trains on the Stockholm-Västerås route are double-deckers. So if that is something you want to experience, go for it.

Ooh nice, I'm sure my norm friend I'm going with will be interested in sampling those too! Definitely worth booking an Advance for the way back to the airport then, coach from the airport to be safe

 

[scarby]

Ooh nice, I'm sure my norm friend I'm going with will be interested in sampling those too! Definitely worth booking an Advance for the way back to the airport then, coach from the airport to be safe

If you do book an advance, you'll be allocated a seat number just like in the UK, except that on the trains it isn't indicated which seats are reserved (which can lead to a lot of shuffling of passengers). But they don't seem to care where you sit anyway, so if you want to sit upstairs, just go ahead.

 

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue working out SJ train fares. Long story short, we're looking at possibly getting the train from Vastaras Central to Stockholm when we get there in 3 weeks, as I sincerely doubt 35 minutes will be enough to get off the plane and onto the coach.

I can't figure out if the 115 SEK fare is a walk-up ticket or not though. I'm happy to book Advances coming back as we'll have plenty of time then, but I'm not chancing it on the day of arrival in case of delays etc.

Anyone know? SJ haven't got back to me which is strange. I also can't find how much the local bus is from the airport to Vastaras Central either, but only expecting maybe 40 SEK for that.

Thanks in advance all!

 

[jon0844]

The coaches wait so you won't miss them. They have more than one, so don't worry if you see a coach leave (as it was full and no need to wait).

Of course, that doesn't mean taking the train won't be nicer. There's not much to do on the coach, and when I last used one (admittedly some 5 years ago now) there weren't any luxuries like plug sockets or WiFi.

 

[scarby]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue working out SJ train fares. Long story short, we're looking at possibly getting the train from Vastaras Central to Stockholm when we get there in 3 weeks, as I sincerely doubt 35 minutes will be enough to get off the plane and onto the coach.

I can't figure out if the 115 SEK fare is a walk-up ticket or not though. I'm happy to book Advances coming back as we'll have plenty of time then, but I'm not chancing it on the day of arrival in case of delays etc.

Anyone know? SJ haven't got back to me which is strange. I also can't find how much the local bus is from the airport to Vastaras Central either, but only expecting maybe 40 SEK for that.

Thanks in advance all!

I'm not sure which fare the SEK 115 ticket is?

There are three types of tickets - non-rebookable, rebookable and refundable, which seem to be priced at around SEK 84, SEK 104 and SEK 151 respectively.

Otherwise you could just buy a walk-up ticket at Västerås station, which would be the SEK 151 one.

 

[Techniquest]

Ahh, maybe I'm getting my numbers mixed up, I was doing it from memory and had it set in my head that it was SEK115, could well have been SEK151.

At least the walk-up fare is not too bad, that's still cheaper than the coach at SEK185!

Shall see what happens on the day, but it does put my mind at rest knowing I can get a walk-up fare for a reasonable price

Thanks for the advice both, shall be booking the advances back to the airport this weekend

 

[FQ]

Hope you have a good time!

 

[CKiltie]

Ah, only just noticed this thread, but will keep an eye on it.
I live in Huddinge, just outside Stockholm.

Craig

 

[Techniquest]

In which case, any chance of advising what may work the 1006 from Stockholm Central to Vastaras? I don't know if it will go further than that. I can find the train number for the service if that'll help.

I've been looking at various trains on Google, and it looks like I could score any of X12, X14 or X40. Possibility of X60 too. However the X12/X14s look like they could be fun!

Same for the Metro trains, those look like they could be an enjoyable ride.

Anyone able to recommend the transport museum? It sure sounds like it could be worth a visit from the bit I read of it on TripAdvisor.

17 days today until I'm in Stockholm, can't wait!

 

[CKiltie]

The 10:06 to Vasteras is this one here.

http://www.sj.se/sv/trafikinfo/trafiken-idag.html/search/724

Goes on to Hallsberg.

If it says Regional train, then most of the time they will be a X40 double decker train. I say most of the time but sometimes they can be RC3 or RC6 hauled as well.

Intercitys tend to be loco hauled trains RC3's or RC6's

Then you will have timetables listed as being an X2000 or X3000.

In Stockholm itself, the most commonly seen trains used on the commuter lines operated by Stockholms lanstrafik are the X60s and the X10s.

The arlanda express trains are X3's and if you go on the commuter line to Upplands Väsby then you can also catch or see an X50-55 regina that runs to Gävle

X10ps are used on the Roslagsbanan

If you want to ride with loco hauled trains, like the RC3 or RC6s then the very frequent SJ service between Uppsala and Stockholm are a good bet, or even from Stockholm to Flemingsberg or Sodertalje Syd as they are not too far outside of Stockholm but give you that opportunity to try them out.

One thing to mention is that the Stockholm travelcard only valid on most trains in the Stockholm area, but not on any SJ train, so even though Sodertalje Sodre (south) and Flemingsberg are in the travelcard area, you can not go on those trains..

Hope you found some of that useful anyway.

 

[Techniquest]

Very interesting indeed. If I get loco haulage I will be most surprised but very plesantly The X40 EMUs will do nicely enough though!

Glad you advised that SJ trains aren't valid in the Travelcard area, to be honest it's more likely I'll be sticking to the metro and trams on this trip. Of course I'll be noting stuff down for any future trips I make as well.

Thanks for the swift reply

 

[CKiltie]

Another train you might see in Stockholm is the train run by Veolia.

Normally hauled by a Siemens' ES64U2 EuroSprinter locomotive.
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Regarding the transport museum, I have not been there but I have heard it is quite good.

 

[jon0844]

I'm in Upplands Väsby now and the train from the airport (not the express) is now a normal X60. The train that shuttled from Uppsala to Upplands Väsby seems no more, and Uppsala (and Arlanda Central) are now just normal trains and continue into Stockholm Central and beyond.

There's a lovely 75SEK fee for entering or leaving the airport per person, in case anyone thought of it as a much cheaper way to get to or from the airport.