no time for clever titles. we need a sweden mind meld
June 12, 2017 7:56 AM
oops, we may have accidentally on purpose planned a Swedish vacation for 9 days in mid july. help us to plan an awesome family vacation. bork bork.
we know the following about Sweden:
1. ikea
2. volvo
3. smoked fish
4. midsummer will be over
5. bork bork (ok we are getting this out of our system now)
AHHHH!! we need a full download. we are looking for the following:
1. the Marriott hotels in Stockholm and Malmo. (we have points) are they good enough for a family vacation?
2. we like driving because of the spontaneity. should we? or should we train? we love that too. how do trains work? single tickets on SJ, or some sort of tourist passes?
3. what are the key tourism things in Stockholm
4. same question for Malmo
5. what other cities (we like the country and seaside too, so don't be afraid to suggest small towns) if you suggest one, please suggest a specific place to stay/airbnb/hotel etc or at least a neighborhood.
here's what we like:
hiking (urban or mild rugged/cross country - 6 and 8 year old)
geocaching
ikea (Seriously our house, it's like we live IN the catalog)
seaside towns
boats/ferries (small boats to rent or large boats for tours etc)
beaches/swimming
cool tours (factories.. or ikea/volvo?)
we are super excited. thanks for helping us....
we know the following about Sweden:
1. ikea
2. volvo
3. smoked fish
4. midsummer will be over
5. bork bork (ok we are getting this out of our system now)
AHHHH!! we need a full download. we are looking for the following:
1. the Marriott hotels in Stockholm and Malmo. (we have points) are they good enough for a family vacation?
2. we like driving because of the spontaneity. should we? or should we train? we love that too. how do trains work? single tickets on SJ, or some sort of tourist passes?
3. what are the key tourism things in Stockholm
4. same question for Malmo
5. what other cities (we like the country and seaside too, so don't be afraid to suggest small towns) if you suggest one, please suggest a specific place to stay/airbnb/hotel etc or at least a neighborhood.
here's what we like:
hiking (urban or mild rugged/cross country - 6 and 8 year old)
geocaching
ikea (Seriously our house, it's like we live IN the catalog)
seaside towns
boats/ferries (small boats to rent or large boats for tours etc)
beaches/swimming
cool tours (factories.. or ikea/volvo?)
we are super excited. thanks for helping us....
For boats in Stockholm, the Vasa Museum is pretty amazing. It's a restored ship that sank hundreds of years ago and both the ship and the science behind its preservation are really interesting.
Also, take a boat trip out to the archipelago. It's beautiful. I didn't have a ton of time in Stockholm, so just did an afternoon trip out to the closest island (Fjäderholmarna), which was really pleasant, but I bet some of the more remote islands are even better.
Copenhagen is amazing, I would highly recommend adding it or swapping it for Malmo. The Louisiana Museum is pretty much the most beautiful place I've ever been.
posted by snaw at 9:01 AM on June 12, 2017
Also, take a boat trip out to the archipelago. It's beautiful. I didn't have a ton of time in Stockholm, so just did an afternoon trip out to the closest island (Fjäderholmarna), which was really pleasant, but I bet some of the more remote islands are even better.
Copenhagen is amazing, I would highly recommend adding it or swapping it for Malmo. The Louisiana Museum is pretty much the most beautiful place I've ever been.
posted by snaw at 9:01 AM on June 12, 2017
On a good-weather day, you can probably spend an entire day on Djurgården in Stockholm.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:07 AM on June 12, 2017
posted by Lyn Never at 9:07 AM on June 12, 2017
Some years ago we did a family trip to Stockholm, and it was such an awesome place to go with children. I think the Marriot there is a bit off location-wise. Not terrible but not really good either. You could stay on a ship? There are several less expensive options all the way down to hostel. I don't remember where we stayed, it was on Kungsholmen, but close to the city hall. Skansen is fun for adults and kids: the world's first open-air museum and much more than that. Drottningholm and Haga are royal palace grounds, and also great examples of romantic gardens. Walking around the city is great too.
Älmhult, the home of IKEA is on the train route between Stockholm and Malmö, and I've heard the IKEA museum is worth a stop. I'd suggest taking the train because Sweden is very empty. The landscape is beautiful, but there isn't that much to be spontaneous about on that route. One place which is sort of on that route that I would like to visit is the design museum Vandalorum in Värnamo.
If you go by car, you could go along the eastern coast with a detour to Vimmerby on the way. I haven't been there, but I've heard the best, and for instance Kalmar and Karlskrona are historic towns on the route with beautiful settings and ancient fortifications. Åhus is a well-preserved medieval town.
It's true Malmö is perhaps more a one-day town, but I've stayed at the Marriot and it is nice and cosy. Excursions from Malmö could be Copenhagen, Louisiana Museum, Lund, Helsingborg (and Helsingør on the Danish side). There are good beaches in Malmö, too. If you want to stay in Copenhagen, the Marriot there has great views but is right along a main entry road. Look for Guldsmeden hotels.
posted by mumimor at 9:13 AM on June 12, 2017
Älmhult, the home of IKEA is on the train route between Stockholm and Malmö, and I've heard the IKEA museum is worth a stop. I'd suggest taking the train because Sweden is very empty. The landscape is beautiful, but there isn't that much to be spontaneous about on that route. One place which is sort of on that route that I would like to visit is the design museum Vandalorum in Värnamo.
If you go by car, you could go along the eastern coast with a detour to Vimmerby on the way. I haven't been there, but I've heard the best, and for instance Kalmar and Karlskrona are historic towns on the route with beautiful settings and ancient fortifications. Åhus is a well-preserved medieval town.
It's true Malmö is perhaps more a one-day town, but I've stayed at the Marriot and it is nice and cosy. Excursions from Malmö could be Copenhagen, Louisiana Museum, Lund, Helsingborg (and Helsingør on the Danish side). There are good beaches in Malmö, too. If you want to stay in Copenhagen, the Marriot there has great views but is right along a main entry road. Look for Guldsmeden hotels.
posted by mumimor at 9:13 AM on June 12, 2017
> Malmö ... it was kind of a waste of a day, to be honest
I used to live in Malmö. I would also recommend you spend your day in Copenhagen instead. Copenhagen is significantly more charming and visitor-friendly. If you insist on visiting Malmö, here's my previous answer about what to do. Sadly, glassfabriken is now closed. Beaches in Malmö are fine, but very seaweedy if you care about these things.
There is an IKEA in the southern end of Malmö, but honestly IKEAs are pretty much the same the world over. That's the whole idea. Trains in Sweden are (comparatively) great for getting to most places, buses are usually good for the last kilometers, taxis exist but are expensive. Driving along the coast will probably be more fun if you're a whole family.
posted by beerbajay at 9:17 AM on June 12, 2017
I used to live in Malmö. I would also recommend you spend your day in Copenhagen instead. Copenhagen is significantly more charming and visitor-friendly. If you insist on visiting Malmö, here's my previous answer about what to do. Sadly, glassfabriken is now closed. Beaches in Malmö are fine, but very seaweedy if you care about these things.
There is an IKEA in the southern end of Malmö, but honestly IKEAs are pretty much the same the world over. That's the whole idea. Trains in Sweden are (comparatively) great for getting to most places, buses are usually good for the last kilometers, taxis exist but are expensive. Driving along the coast will probably be more fun if you're a whole family.
posted by beerbajay at 9:17 AM on June 12, 2017
Stockholm is super great. You can buy an SL Access travelcard which gets you travel on all the trains, metros, ferries and buses in the area, which is all you really need. I suggest just walking around Gamla Stan, and maybe down onto Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen; there's a nice modern art museum on the former, and you can also get the ferry from Skeppsholmen to the centre or to the Grona Lund amusement park. There are nice ferry tours around most of the lakes.
posted by katrielalex at 9:49 AM on June 12, 2017
posted by katrielalex at 9:49 AM on June 12, 2017
We also loved the Vassa Museum.
The ferry to Grinda was cool. It was a fun place to take a hike and the restaurant on the dock was really good and approachable.
It was also fun to walk among the garden allotments. People had these great little gardens with tiny cottage sheds on them. Super cute to see.
posted by advicepig at 10:04 AM on June 12, 2017
The ferry to Grinda was cool. It was a fun place to take a hike and the restaurant on the dock was really good and approachable.
It was also fun to walk among the garden allotments. People had these great little gardens with tiny cottage sheds on them. Super cute to see.
posted by advicepig at 10:04 AM on June 12, 2017
Like everyone said, Malmo is a short train ride from Copenhagen which is bigger and has more stuff, touristic and otherwise. That said, our family had a nice day or two in Malmo and especially liked the parks and gardens.
There is a canal boat tour you can take to go around the main part of the city.
There is a museum in an old castle that has some history stuff and some science stuff and you can also tour an old submarine.
Turning Torso is an unusual building although I don't think the general public can go inside.
There are some steps leading down to one of the main canals where there are a bunch of cat sculptures. (Probably about half of our photos from Malmo are of our family posing with the cat sculptures)
My mom went to Lund on a day trip from Malmo and liked it. If you like the crime series Wallander that is filmed in Ystad.
We took the train from Stockholm to southern Sweden -- it was easy to book online and the train journey was pleasant but the tickets were not cheap. We did not price a rental car, though, so I don't know how that would compare.
posted by bbq_ribs at 1:30 PM on June 12, 2017
There is a canal boat tour you can take to go around the main part of the city.
There is a museum in an old castle that has some history stuff and some science stuff and you can also tour an old submarine.
Turning Torso is an unusual building although I don't think the general public can go inside.
There are some steps leading down to one of the main canals where there are a bunch of cat sculptures. (Probably about half of our photos from Malmo are of our family posing with the cat sculptures)
My mom went to Lund on a day trip from Malmo and liked it. If you like the crime series Wallander that is filmed in Ystad.
We took the train from Stockholm to southern Sweden -- it was easy to book online and the train journey was pleasant but the tickets were not cheap. We did not price a rental car, though, so I don't know how that would compare.
posted by bbq_ribs at 1:30 PM on June 12, 2017
If you are into the outdoors and hiking, definitely take a trip out to the Stockholm archipelago. Because of the long daylight hours during summer, you have more time on your hands to explore places. Apart from places that other people have mentioned, I'd also recommend the ABBA Museum. Even if you're not into ABBA, it's honestly one of the best museums I've been to, and a lot of fun for kids.
Don't bother with Malmö. For various reasons, I've spent a fair bit of time there over the years, and while it's a pleasant enough city, there is very little to do there, or at least nothing that you can't do or see elsewhere. Its main selling point is that it's close to Copenhagen.
And yes, get that bork bork out of your system now.
posted by ryanbryan at 6:39 PM on June 12, 2017
Don't bother with Malmö. For various reasons, I've spent a fair bit of time there over the years, and while it's a pleasant enough city, there is very little to do there, or at least nothing that you can't do or see elsewhere. Its main selling point is that it's close to Copenhagen.
And yes, get that bork bork out of your system now.
posted by ryanbryan at 6:39 PM on June 12, 2017
In my paper today, there was a story about this place: Naturbyn. It looks really great, though there are probably a lot of mosquitoes.
posted by mumimor at 1:36 AM on June 13, 2017
posted by mumimor at 1:36 AM on June 13, 2017
I can recomend Nordic Trails, I had a really memorable holiday with them, the owner had small children herself, maybe have a look at the family-trails
posted by smugly rowan at 12:40 PM on June 13, 2017
posted by smugly rowan at 12:40 PM on June 13, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by something something at 8:08 AM on June 12, 2017