Stockholm

Stockholm is the start of any Swedish leg on this site: the airport train, the night trains north to Kiruna and Abisko and the boats into the archipelago all leave from the centre. As a stop it is a city of islands, and the planning unit is the walk, not the drive. A car is a burden here; leave it at the edge or pick it up on the way out.

The airport link is the cleanest number. Arlanda Express says its train takes 18 minutes to Stockholm C and leaves every 12 to 15 minutes; the Full flex adult one-way fare is SEK 349, falling to SEK 498 for two adults together and SEK 199 for 18–25s and over-65s, with children free beside an adult ticket holder (arlandaexpress.com, read 1 November 2026). The SL commuter train is the cheaper alternative: about 38 minutes from Stockholm C, on an ordinary SL ticket plus the Arlanda station fee of SEK 157, paid at the gates if your ticket does not include it (Swedavia, read 1 November 2026). SL's last published adult single fare was SEK 43 for 75 minutes, from 8 January 2025; its current fare table on sl.se renders only with scripts, so the SL app shows today's figure. Under-18s pass the Arlanda gates free, SL says.

From Stockholm C, by the OSRM foot profile at 80 metres a minute (computed 1 November 2026): Stortorget in Gamla stan is 1,137 m, about 14 minutes; the Strandvägen boat berths 1,509 m, 19 minutes; the Vasa Museum 2,372 m, 30 minutes; ABBA The Museum 2,794 m, 35 minutes. Djurgården's three museums are within 1.5 km of each other, so one half-day covers the island.

Light decides the length of the stay. At Stockholm's coordinates the NOAA equations give 6 h 08 of sun on 15 December and 18 h 34 on 15 June (computed). A winter visit is museums and an old-town walk in the four hours around noon; a summer one adds a boat. See things to do in Stockholm for the list with prices read on 1 November 2026.