Boats, Stockholm

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Getting around Stockholm was quite easy as most of it we were able to walk.

To go further afield, like to the Vasa Museum, we bought the Hop on Off Boat pass for 1 day of travel and found this to be a nice way to view the city of Stockholm from the water, and also to reach our destination.

We boarded at the Palace on the first Boat of the day. From here, we went to quite a few stops before reaching our stop for the Museum.
There is a total of five stops around Stockholm, including....
The Royal Palace, The Nybroviken terminal, The Vasa Museum and Nordiska Museum, Gröna Lund amusement park and Skansen and the Old town.

On-board commentary in Swedish and English
One-day pass......Do the full circuit, lasts approx. 1 hour

Regular departures between 10:20 AM and 5:40 PM

Departure location....The circuit begins at the Royal Palace

Check the time-table's when you get on and off.

As you walk along the Quay, you will see the sign's advertsing the Boat.

Cost for the 24 hour ticket in 2012.....100 sek

The great thing about taking the boat is that you will get a totally different, and most often, great view over the city. So besides being a practical means of transportation, it is also a fun one. The main company running the harbour ferries and the Archipelago boats is "Waxholmsbolaget". They have been serving the archipelago for more than 130 years and they carry approximately 1.8 million passengers per year in the archipelago.

So you can see there are lots of options! And if you can, you really should take one of these boats. Choose between a quick ferry crossing from the Gamla Stan to Djurgården or if you have more time maybe have a romantic dinner on a old steamer.

On the website of http://www.waxholmsbolaget.se you can find much more info about the ferries and archipelago boats, like the timetables.

We thought a tour boat would be a nice way to see Stockholm - so we bought a ticket - found a seat and plugged ourselves into the language of our choice and listened whilst a soothing voice told us about the various delightful sights we were seeing.

Cruises are hourly from Skeppsbron 22.

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These white little ferries have been running forever it seems (see second pic for close-up). They are definately a popular Stockholm institution, and an easy "shortcut" to get from Slussen in the south to Djurgården and its amusements (Skansen, Gröna Lund...) without having to go through the downtown city centre. There is also nowadays a ferry from Nybrokajen downtown due to popular demand. The journey is SEK 25 (unless you have an SL card - lose SL tickets are not valid) and it is money well spent. Yes, the ferries are crowded in summer when families and tourists want to go to Djurgården, but you should be able to get a stand somewhere outside nevertheless, contrary to the case on bus 47 which does the Djurgården run and is always full. You also have great photo opportunities of the City on Water this way. :-)

The Lonely Planet guidebook recommends a visit to Drottningholm palace, being a World Heritage site and the residence of the Swedish royals. But also recommended is getting there by boat/ferry from Stockholm.

Being made up of many islands with much water and waterways this is quite a usual or necessary form of transportation - getting about by boat - and this trip out to Drottningholm is recommended as a nice thing to do too see the sights along the way.

When I was walking back from my enjoyable tour through the lovely Town Hall I realised that the small quay I was at with advertised ferry trips was the departure point of the boat out to Drottningholm. Though the palace wouldve been closed the ferry still continues to run its half hour journey each way till fairly late in the evening so this could be a nice way to spend an evening.

When I drove myself to Drottningholm I did get to see the ferry come in and leave again making a fine sight on the large water area that the palace is situated next to.

So I would recommend this as an addition to your to-do list for sights and things to do around Stockholm!

There are many, many cruise ships stopping in Stockholm, but of course you'll only have a day. If you are visiting on a cruise ship, then I would personally recommend to do the following:

1) Go straight to the tourist office at SergelsTorg Square to find out when you can take a tour of the city hall (Stadshuset)
2) Take the tour of the Stadshuset (city hall)
3) Go to Gamla Stan and walk around the Royal Palace area, stroll the main street called Vasterlanggatan, see the square Stortoget, and viit the Tyskakyrkken (German Church).
4) Visit the Vasa Museum
5) Walk the Drottningsgatan, the main pedestrian street of Stockholm.

Hopefully you will have time for all of this in just one day, but I would try!

If you want to get from Djurgården to Skeppsholmen, be sure to take the "Djurgården 4" from the ferry dock. Like the other ferries, cost is SEK 30, SEK 20 for children and Seniors. SL 1 day, 3 day, 7 day and longer time cards/passes are valid. SL single (1 hour) cards, Stockholm Card, and Stockholm a la Carte are NOT valid.

A convenient and pleasant way to get around Stockholm is the Djurgården ferry. Boats depart from Slussen to Djurgården, right next to the amusement park. Skansen, the Vasa Museum, and the Nordic Museum are within walking distance. Ferries depart every 15-20 minutes weekdays, every 20-30 minutes weekends. The boats still run off-season, but less frequently. Some ferries will also stop at Skeppsholmen.

1-way fare is SEK 40, SEK 25 for children and Seniors. SL (public transport) 24-hour and 72 hour cards are valid, as are weekly, monthly, and annual passes. SL single (1-hour) cards, the Stockholm Card, and Stockholm a la Carte are NOT valid.

Boat ride under the bridges   by Maline
 

Description:
Being a city of islands, of course Stockholm also should be seen from the water.
Tourist boats depart several times a day from Strömkajen down town.
Last summer we went on the trip called "Under the bridges of Stockholm", a two hour boat trip with guiding in headphones.

The tour takes you into lake Mälaren, and through two locks, one of them is Slussen.

You get to see several islands and sights and the guiding was in various languages including english, french, german, italian and japanese.

Cost: Around 160 SEK per person.
Time: Approx 2 hours
Directions:Departure from Strömkajen. Check your map, it is close to Kungsträdgården.

Stockholm is located between the Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea, and that calls for a special means of transportation: the ferry!

There are generally four types of boats:

- Sightseeing boats and restaurant boats going for shorter trips in Stockholm or archipelago

- Harbour ferries, like the one from Gamla Stan to Djurgården, Djurgården ferries have an annual passenger total of about 2.5 million.

- Archipelago boats, bringing you to the islands in the archipelago. There are 18 archipelago boats. The Stockholm Archipelago is a wonderful area and consists of 30.000 islands, islets, and skerries.

- Boats that go into Lake Mälaren, for instance going to Birka and Mariefred.