A Long Weekend in Stockholm

For this weekend break I travelled with Marcus and our friends David and Jackie. We flew with Ryanair from Stansted travelling with hand luggage only. Our pre-booked Meet & Greet airport parking worked a treat and wasdefinitely worth paying the extra £5 to be able to leave the car right outside the terminal building and have just a short walk to check-in.

After the 2-hour 15-minute flight we arrived at Stockholm's Skavsta airport - a small regional airport outside of the city. I pre-booked our 80-minute coach transfer from Skavsta to the city coach terminal, this was a comfortable way to see the wintery Swedish countryside. From the city terminal we walked to our hotel.

Our home for the weekend was the 5-star Radisson Collection Strand Hotel, right on the waterfront, a great location in a bustling part of the city within reach of shops, restaurants and sight-seeing. Getting around Stockholm is really easy and there are lots of options; buses, trams, ferries, taxis, electric scooters - we opted to see the city on foot as the architecture is fantastic.

Stockholm has lots on offer and my highlight was exploring one of Europe's best preserved examples of medieval architecture, Gamla Stan, with its winding narrow streets, it is home to the National Palace, National Cathedral and the Nobel Museum. In Stockholm you can visit museums, galleries and indoor markets, stop for coffee and Swedish pastries or enjoy scenic boat ride through canals - there are countless things to do here. The 'Stockholm Pass' is a sensible pre-purchase option as it gives you unlimited access to most museums and public transport and also allows you to skip the line at popular attractions.

A visit to Sweden is not complete without a visit to the ABBA museum, far from cheesy it's actually very good and much more interactive than I expected and it's also very popular. We visited first thing and it filled up in no time with people of all ages getting involved with the many exhibits. We followed this with a fantastic matinee performance of Mamma Mia the Party which is now showing at London's O2.

**Weekend break top tip - pre-book as much as you can to maximise your break and reduce the amount of time deciding what to do and saving time waiting in line for tickets**

If you are looking to plan your next weekend break call me on 01777 780004 or email me at ian.le-fevre@travelcounsellors.com