Stockholm Transportation Tips by marielexoteria

Go public! Public Transportation Review

With expensive parking fees in Stockholm, the best way to get around in Stockholm is by using public transportation means.

Stockholm is nowadays divided into 3 zones: A, including the whole subway system, B, including the "kommun" that are closest to zone A, and C, including the "kommun" that are farthest away. How far you're going will determine the price of your ticket, and generally buying the single ticket beforehand is cheaper than at the station. The alternatives are:

(1) Stockholm card: 24, 48 or 72 hours. The price includes entrance fees to museums.
(2) SL card: 1-day, 3-day, 7-day, 30-day cards. Covers only the public transportation.
(3) "Remsa", coupon strips: 16 coupons.
(4) Single ticket: the price will depend on how far you're going. Those can NOT be bought on the bus anymore.

Traveling within one zone costs 2 coupons, within 2 zones 3 coupons and within 3 zones 4 coupons.

You can buy the Stockholm card online at Stockholm Town.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Subway/Metro

Website: http://www.sl.se

Taxi Stockholm Taxis Review

You can book your taxi online. Click on "Boka Taxi" to start your booking.

They also organize sightseeing tours in which their drivers are educated about the sights along the tour, 1.5 or 2 hours long.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Other

Website: http://www.taxistockholm.se

Airports in Stockholm - FYI General Information Review

Stockholm has 2 airports: Arlanda and Bromma. Arlanda is the biggest airport in Stockholm and in Sweden. It has 2 international terminals, 1 domestic terminal and 1 terminal for small planes. Arlanda is also well connected if you want to hit the town by public means (read my separate tip about it).

Bromma is a smaller airport that handles some international and domestic routes. It's located closer to Stockholm's city center than Arlanda and is also well connected, although not like its brother (or sister?) Arlanda.

If you travel some low budget airlines you might land in Stockholm-Skavsta or Stockholm-Västerås but those airports are *not* located in Stockholm. Skavsta is located in Nyköping and it takes about an hour and a half by bus from Stockholm's Central Station. Västerås is, well, in Västerås and since I haven't used this airport I can't comment on how to get from it to Stockholm but I suppose they have some transfer service there or to SJ's train station.

Mode: TO

Type: Airplane

To and from Arlanda and Bromma General Information Review

From Arlanda you have several ways to take you to Stockholm (and back):

* Arlanda Express: the fastest and rather expensive way to take you to Stockholm. It will take you there in 20 minutes and have 4 to 6 departures per hour and runs between 4:35am and midnight.

* Flygbussarna: the airport coaches. Not as quick as the Arlanda Express but they're good. They stop at several stations to pick up or leave passengers.

* SJ Train: they don't stop so often at the airport but will take you to Stockholm's Central Station in 20 minutes as well.

* Taxi: the most expensive way. If you take a taxi make sure they have the name and phone number visible on the vehicle and their price list on the back window.

Then you can always go to Stockholm through Märsta but that's not to be recommended unless you're staying there or in the vicinity. To do this, take bus 583 towards Märsta Station and there you take the commuter train to Stockholm. Be aware that you need to have a SL ticket before getting on the bus, but you can buy it at Pressbyrån in Sky City.

Arlanda has also bus stops for cities like Enköping and Uppsala.

You can buy the tickets for Flygbussarna, Arlanda Express and SJ on the internet. Check out the links below.

From Bromma (and back) you have Flygbussarna, taxis and the SL bus line 152 but I've never used Bromma Airport so I can't really comment.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Bus

Website: http://www.arlandaexpress.se www.flygbussarna.se/default.asp www.sj.se

Buy your SL tickets at Arlanda airport here: Public Transportation Review

- Pressbyrån (name of a newspaper shop), Sky City/Arlanda (between terminals 4 and 5 [walkable] and any Pressbyrån in terminal 5)
- 7-Eleven, Arlanda terminal 4
- All the information desks in terminals 2 and 4 and the tourist information center at the arrival hall in terminal 5
- Pressbyrån, Arlanda arrival/international hall

This because you're not allowed to buy tickets from the bus drivers anymore and they won't let you on without a valid ticket, not to mention that you'll get fined if a controller asks to see it and you can't show it.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Bus

Some useful links General Information Review

The question on how to go where within Stockholm (and Sweden) pops up often so I thought I could gather some useful links:

* Train
- SJ: Sweden's train company #1. Useful for trips within Sweden and to Oslo and Copenhagen. Consult prices and timetables and book your trip online.
- SL: Stockholm's public transportation company. Here you can find information about the several public transportation cards, when the art guided tours (konståkning) are taking place and a very useful travel planner (reseplanerare, only on the Swedish version).
- Veolia: trains to Lappland and "up north" where SJ doesn't have traffic (or limited traffic).

* Plane
- SAS: Sweden's biggest airline and with the most departures of domestic and international flights. Flies only from Arlanda airport.
- Skyways: another big domestic flight airline, flies from Arlanda and Bromma.
- Malmö Aviation: Flies from Bromma to Malmö and some other domestic destinations and a few international ones.
- Norwegian: low cost airline that fly from Arlanda to many international destinations.

If you want to see which airlines fly to or from any of Stockholm's airports, visit LFV and choose the desired airport.

* Boat
- Strömma Kanalbolaget: offers day trips to some archipelago's islands.
- Waxholmsbolaget: also offers trips around the archipelago, including the line Slussen - Allmänna gränd - Djurgården and back.
- Tallinksilja: ferries to Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
- Viking Line: another big ferry carrier to Finland and Estonia. Viking is cheaper and more preferred for partying than Tallink.

Mode: TO,AROUND

Type: Other

Steam train!!!! (Note: seasonal) Trains Review

Twice a year the Nynäshamn's Museum of Trains arranges a day trip Stockholm - Nynäshamn in one of its old and k00l steam trains. The trip takes about 1,5 hours from Stockholm's central station and it stops about 8 times along the way, to pick up passengers.

Before the train leaves a station, the train driver (if there's a better word for it please let me know) would blow the train whistle and all the children and I were smiling and thinking of the wild west. Another cool thing was the smoke puffs, sometimes big, sometimes small. During the ride they had a cart selling juice, buns, coffee and sandwiches at cheap prices.

NJM arranges this type of events once during the summer and once during winter. If you do this during winter, you can also visit the Nynäshamn Christmas market.

The tickets cannot be pre-booked unless you choose to do the with the trip steam train one way and steam boat on the other. Otherwise the prices and schedules are listed on the website below.

Mode: TO

Type: Train

Website: http://www.njm.nu

To/from Skavsta airport Buses Review

Skavsta airport is located about 100km south of Stockholm and it takes about 1,5 hours to get there (with little to no traffic). This is the airport that a lot of low-cost airlines prefer to use.

To get to Stockholm from Skavsta there's 2 choices when it comes to shuttle buses: Flygbussarna and a new shuttle service offered by Ryanair called Fly by Coach. I've taken the shuttle with Flygbussarna and it was a very straight forward service. With them, you cannot buy the ticket from the driver using cash but there's a manned ticket booth by the exit of the airport. There's no need to pre-book the tickets but by buying them online you get to save some money and the tickets are valid for 3 months after the purchase date.

Mode: TO,AROUND

Type: Bus

Website: http://www.skavsta.se/en/content/2/34/by-bus.html

List of services available at Stockholm C Central Station Review

I'll be compiling here a list of services available at Stockholm's central station, as I see how frequent the questions come up in the forums. The information here is accurate as of the time of writing and can change at any given moment.

Lockers: there's a locker service on the upper floor (on the way to platforms 1 to 10), some are almost in front of Burger King, the others are in a hallway next to a flight of stairs that will take you to the commuter train, some of the SJ platforms and the subway.

The lockers cost 40 SEK for a small locker and 50 SEK for a big one. I haven't used them, but the big ones don't seem to me as the kind that will fit a large suitcase, more like a typical carry-on bag but I haven't seen how deep they are.

The lockers can be paid with coins only (5 and 10 SEK denominations) and next to the ones on the hallway, there's a change machine called "VÄXLARE".

Money exchange: there's 2 services: X-change and another one (whose name I can't remember at the moment), and they're both on the upper floor, by the main entrance/exit.

Toilet/shower service: there's a service on the upper floor, on a hallway next to a flight of stairs. Last time I used the toilet service it cost 5 SEK, and I think they have a shower service for 20 SEK.

Mode: TO,AROUND

Type: Other

List of services available at Arlanda airport General Information Review

I'll be compiling here a list of services available at Arlanda airport, as I see how frequent the questions come up in the forums. The information here is accurate as of the time of writing and can change at any given moment.

Lockers: there's a left luggage service on Terminal 5, pass the 7-11 shop and then go down the escalator before the doors to Sky City, on the left (on the 7-11 side). This is also where the Lost & Found is, and I once lost something that I had to go pick up there, so I can't say how much the lockers cost.

ATM machines/bank services: there's a few ATM machines on Terminals 2, 4 and 5 and in Sky City. Most are called "Bankomat" but I've seen at least one called "Kontanten". In Sky City there's an office of the Swedish banks Handelsbanken and SEB.

SL ticket selling points: I wrote a separate tip about it, but you can buy your SL tickets at the Pressbyrån agencies or at the Stockholm Tourist information service available on the arrival hall in Terminal 5. For more information, read here.

Mode: TO,AROUND

Type: Other