Round trip Sweden

After some really nice days in Copenhagen, I took the train over the gigantic Öresund-Bridge. This 8k manmade monster connects Copenhagen (Danmark) and Malmö (Sweden). After only 35 minutes I stood foot on Swedish soil to start my 10 day journey. 

I stayed at „First Hotel Jörgen Kock“ which in a retrospective was not the best choice. It was clean and didn‘t kill my budget but I don‘t know, it kind of felt I was sleeping in an old military school - you‘ll definitely find nicer places to stay. Anyway, it was in the center of town and therefor perfect to explore my first stop in Sweden.

Unfortunately I was not really lucky with the weather in these 2 days. It was pouring heavily, still I wanted to check out as much as possible.

The ocean side in Malmö is stunning. You can pretty much walk an entire day on the beach. Start down to Ribersborgs open-air bath Ribersborgs Kallbadhus. Not only you can get a little rest and a „Fika“ (Swedish-coffee), this place also offers some really nice photospots.

After a long walk you might want to linger at Gamla Väster, Malmös old city center. You‘ll find some cute little Cafés but for lunch I would recommend heading to Saluhall, a Market-Hall, smaller but similar to the one in Budapest.

Kungsparken should be on your list next, this quiet area offers some more wonderful photospots including some really old and cool windmills. From there keep walking to check out the Turning Torso - a 190 meter high „skyscraper“ marking the tallest building in all of Sweden.

As I said, it was raining heavily, so I checked out  some really nice bars (you know me). 

Fagans - Irish Pub is a perfect alternative for days on which you don‘t want to run around outside. Cool live music every day and as in every Irish-Pub in the world, a very international crowd. Made some really good friends and met a guy who wouldn't let go from me because he is spending his every-year vacation in the southern part of Styria - not far from my hometown Graz. Had a blast.

Again I took the train. Since they are leaving frequently you can pretty much leave on a short notice. Took me around 5 hours to go to the capital of Sweden where I booked an AirBnB in the Södermalm district. I wasn‘t willing to pay a fortune for my 5-night-stay just to be in the center of town and since the subway was right around corner this was a nice alternative.

Stockholm is such a wonderful city, all laid back, happy people everywhere & easy to get from A to B. Located on 14 islands, the city offers a huge variety of places close to the water front. I recommend buying a "Go-City-Pass" really easy to buy on the app - you'll get a QR-Code you can scan at all subway-, train- and boatstations in the whole city. Taking "Taxi-Boats" from one island to another was such a cool thing and you get to see a lot of the city while going from A to B.

Start your day at Gamla Stan, which is kind of the most central island. This part is packed with old buildings, offering amazing photospots. Several bridges lead you to other islands and you'll also find "Slussen-Station" where the Subway as well as several boats leave for other parts of the city. 

I guess Djurgården was for sure my favorite island in Stockholm. It invites you to walk and linger for several hours. Beautiful huge gardens and parks, a really nice waterfront offering an amazing view over the whole city and several really interesting museums are located in that part of the city.

Everyone told me I should visit the ABBA Museum, but since I was never that huge of a fan I skipped it, instead I did the "Vasa-Museum". The Vasa, a ship that sank in the bay of Stockholm after sailing roughly 1,300 m in 1628 and was salvaged in 1961.

The whole museum was built around the preserved ship wreck. A really interesting museum with a lot of history about the city and the ship itself. The entrance fee was around 15 Euro in 2025 - absolutely worth it. If I was you, I would for sure check this place out.

Continue your day by heading to Östermalm. On your way you can stop for a coffee and a cinnamon roll at "Restaurang Strandvägen 56" I did rest there every day I spent in Stockholm. Lovley and again a wonderful view over the city-islands.

For lunch you might want to check out "Östermalms Saluhall" which as back in Malmö is a pretty cool food court with all kinds of local and traditional swedish dishes. From there, just go with the flow, walk through the narrow roads hop from one island to another and just let your soul dangle.

For sure check out the colorful houses at Gamla Stan, explore Riddarholmen with a perfect view on the "Stockholm-Stadshus", take a long walk in the wonderful "Kungliga Djurgarden" or if you are into photograpy you might check out "Fotografiska" a really cool museum with some dope pictures and a ton of different exhibitions over the year.

Before heading back to Copenhagen where my flight was going back home, I wanted to see a small bit of the western part of Sweden. Again I took the train - four hours, easy trip. I stayed at the Riverton Hotel directly in the center of the city - pretty fancy and totally out of my budget. As mentioned the prices up north a crazy. Still this was a super nice place to spend some days.

This town is also really laid back, around 600.000 people live in the second biggest city of Sweden. The area around the canals that lead directly into the ocean were besides the Haga Nygata my favorite spots. Haga Nygata used to be an old workers district back in the 19th century. Today it became one of the most popular walking streets in Gothenburg. You'll find heaps of small art shops, nice cafes and a lot of handcraft stuff in this area.

Take a walk up to Skansen Kronan, an old fortress on the hill top which gives you a 360 degree view all over the city and on  Älvsborgsbron  - a massive 900 meter long suspension bridge connecting the industrial area with the city area. You might want to visit the bridge-pillar on the city side. You'll find some nice restaurants and a wonderful walking path there. Also this spot gives you a chance to take some really cool pictures on which you might get the whole thing on one photo.

Two things I really highly recommend is going up a little further north of Gothenburg and visiting the nearby islands west of the city. This will cost you 2 days so make sure you find enough time for these trips.

First I did go to two little islands west. Rörö and Öckerö. I knew my whole Sweden trip will not give me the total Sweden-experience since I only had time for 3 cities and did not make it up north to where I guess the "real Sweden" is. But these islands gave me a sort of first impression what the country really looks like. Fisherman, a lot of boats, wonderful sceneries and natural landscapes, pretty much everywhere.

If you find time - you really should take a ship out to these islands - it's peaceful, laid back and offers wonderful natural sights. 

The second day I liked even more. I went up to a little island called Smögen. It's really hard to narrate from this place. It really blew my mind. It was a windy and cold day (perfect Sweden experience) but the sun was shining bright. The place is home to around 1.000 people but it seamed that there are heaps of day trippers coming all the time. 

Colorful wooden fishermen's houses & warehouses on stilts, boathouses, restaurants, snack bars, boutiques and souvenir shops is pretty much everything you find in this little swedish paradise. I have to say, this might have been my favorite place on my trip. As mentioned before, it is hard to describe a place to someone who hasn't been there - maybe you should go and check it out on yourself, it's about 2 hours from Gothenburg and it will not disappoint.

• Check out Turning Torso in Malmö
• Visit the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
• Take a boat cruise between the islands in Stockholm
• Hang out at Haga Nygata in Gothenburg
• Visit Smögen up north from Gothenburg