The main factor influencing my travel plans is always flight price. I want to visit every country in the world, but the order in which I do that is really no big deal to me. This mean, when I plan out my trips all I have to do is go to Google Flights, put in a destination continent and choose the cheapest city. Lucky for me, while I was planning out my winter trip in 2019… I found a $20 flight from Paris to Stockholm. I am a huge fan of Europe in the winter and ever since my amazing trip to Iceland, I have been dying to get back to Scandinavia. I left Paris early in the morning and landed in Stockholm around mid day. When I was in Iceland the sun never set, but this time in Scandinavia it appears the sun is nowhere in sight.
I got lucky again when planning this trip because I stumbled upon the City Backpackers hostel. This place was a dream! The staff was extremely nice when I checked in and they gave me a fresh bowl of hot soup. Mhmm Soppa 🙂
Another thing that I love about City Backpackers Hostel is that the lobby is always full of travelers. I got to meet a ton of interesting people from all around the world. I made a small crew of friends on day one and after our first night out together we all decided to spend our shared time in Stockholm together.
While I love Las Vegan’s in Budapest, Grön Hermitage in Stockholm might take the prize as my favorite vegan restaurant. I went multiple times and each time I was impressed. The restaurant is buffet style, all you can eat VEGAN food. I felt like I was in heaven.
In addition to the delicious food, I loved the staff who work at Hermitage. When I went for dinner I was always alone and the kind lady who owns the vegan buffet sat down and talked with me each time. We found out that her friend opened one of my favorite Indian food spots in NYC, Divya’s Kitchen. What a small world!
Walking around Stockholm in the winter was beautiful. There was a new lit up feature around every corner and the commitment to holiday decorations across the city made my time there feel magical.
One thing I loved about the layout of Stockholm was that a majority of popular museums are centrally located on Djurgården. While we were there we went to the Vasa Museum and the ABBA Museum.
The Vasa Museum displays the 17th century ship that sunk after leaving Stockholm in 1628. After over 300 years under water the ship was salvaged from the depths and restored in Vasa museum. It’s amazing to see the immense size of the ship and to think that it was made in the 1600s.
While the Vasa museum was interesting, I think the ABBA museum was definitely my favorite. As you would expect, the ABBA museum is a multi floor museum dedicated to the Stockholm pop band, ABBA. The coolest part about this museum is that every exhibit was interactive. You could sing and dance alongside the ABBA crew and record ABBA hits in the recording studio. It was all extremely entertaining and it probably helped that we had a few beers at a local bar before heading in to the museum.
The Nobel Prize Museum is another must see stop in Stockholm, but it is not located on museum island. You can find the Nobel Prize museum on Gamla Stan, which is also the islands oldest town. I loved the interactive exhibits in ABBA, but the Nobel Prize museum was no doubt the largest amount of interesting information contained in such a small space. The museum contains many historical artifacts from Nobel Prize winners in the past and it tells the personal life stories of past recipients.
The Christmas markets are also located on Gamla Stan and they’re adorable. To be honest, the market wasn’t as big as I expected it to be, but the quality of shops made up for that tiny (literally) letdown. I bought myself a cute hand made tea cup and I still cherish it to this day.
Ice Skating at Kungsträdgården ice skating rink was the highlight of my trip to Sweden. I love ice skating in NYC and finding this free outdoor rink on the other side of the world was spectacular. To add to the beauty of this experience, City Backpackers provided free ice skates for anyone staying at the hostel. Truly a perfect night time activity!
Coffee culture in Sweden is centered around Fika, which is the ritual of slowing down. I’m never good at slowing down, but while I was in Stockholm I tried my hardest. I went to little coffee shops and sat down for pastries with new friends, I explored the city parks and I went for walks along the water. I’m so glad that I found a $20 flight and chose to fly to Stockholm when I did. I’m not sure if I would have had the same perfect time without meeting my new found friends at City Backpackers.
And, as if my time in Stockholm couldn’t get better… it snowed on my last day!
