A Beautiful European capital city (Stockholm)

Member Name: Windsoar

Product:	Stockholm
Date:	06/01/04 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Family friendly, Culturally interesting, Clean and well-cared for

Disadvantages: alcohol is expensive

We visited Stockholm in the summer of 2003 - you'll remember it as a very hot one and we visited Stockholm in the hottest week. It was our first family trip abroad and we went with the benefit of a brother and sister-in-law who have lived there for a few years.
Stockholm and Sweden in general are everything you expect them to be. Think of a few Sweidsh products - Volvo, Ikea, Ericsson etc. - and all have an excellent reputation. The capital city is the same.
It has an excellent Metro system - fast, frequent, clean and easy to navigate. Make sure you buy one of their cards for multiple journeys as this works out cheaper than paying for individual journeys.
Don't worry about language difficulties since the locals have taken the trouble to learn English in recognition of our unwillingness to learn their language. Our 8 year old realised that "Tack" (Swedish for thanks) and a smile usually sufficed.
Sweden has a reputation for being heavily taxed but shop prices are generally reasonable. However they believe drinking in public to be bad and charge an arm and a leg for alcoholic drinks when you eat out (but retail alcohol in the supermarkets at a good price).
You'll want a good guidebook and the "Rough Guide to Sweden" was more than adequate for us (although we shouldn't undersetimate the value of my brother's local knowledge). We'd recommend a visit to Skansen - a museum of Swedish traditions. Make sure you take a boat trip or two around the city, either as a means of getting from A to B or as an end in its own right. The Viking ship does good tours at a reasonable price and we'd recommend the on-board catering.
Spend some time in Gamla Stan (Old Town) which is also where you'll find the tourist shops.
During our stay we even went to visit a beach (imported gritty sand but superb clear lake water) on the outskirts of the city. This was typical of the Swedish planning - they really

know how to make the socialist ideal work - and wherever you turn they have laid on facilities for the common good. We found a string of three beaches within 1km each with designated bathing areas and lifeguards and pontoons and diving boards which kept our children and those twice their age entertained for hours (literally)
Flying Ryanair from Stansted made this a ridiculously cheap holiday - retrn flights for a family with 3 children only cost twice as much as the Stansted car park!

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