If you’re visiting Sweden or Finland you can easily take a cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm or vice versa. Cruises are beginning from around 50€ ($55) and it only takes one night to get to your destination.

 

 

In most cruises you’ll sleep in the ship, and you’ll have about 8-10 hours in destination and then you spend another night in the ship. That’s quite handy because been in the ship is more budget friendly than hotel rooms in Nordic countries.

 

I was visiting Stockholm for the first time with my two colleagues / friends. It was a lot of fun to spend some time together. In our jobs we only meet couple times a year so it’s fun to do things together also outside the work to get to know these amazing women a bit better. 🙂

 

 

Cruising to Stockholm

 

The ships to Stockholm in general offer some restaurants, bars, casinos, nightclubs, some playrooms for kids and some shops where you can shop taxfree items.

 

We traveled with Silja Serenade which offered sparkling wine happy hours for the first two hours. During that happy hour the sparkling classes were 2€. This was my first time in Stockholm so I cannot tell for too sure about others ships but the Serenade was really nice and beautiful.

 

 

They have different kind of rooms from C-rooms to suites. We had A-category room which is slightly small but offers you a seaside view, and 2-4 beds + ensuite bathroom. Probably you’re not going to spend too much time in your room so this one was good enough for that.

 

If you like partying the first night is usually the best time to go to karaoke or to the clubs. The best parties usually happen to be on Friday night cruises. We had a Tuesday cruise which usually are not that much of party cruises. However, there was some high school and university student groups and we ended up having some great time partying with them.

 

 

Day in Stockholm

 

Our started from Helsinki 5pm Tuesday (local time) and arrived to Stockholm 10am Wednesday (local time). In Stockholm we bought metro tickets to get to downtown. The ticket from adult was 43kr for single ticket or 270kr for a one day ticket. It takes about 15-25 minutes to the downtown depending on where you’re heading to.

 

 

Breakfast

 

We drove the metro to Malmen and walked to Café Garage (Snickarbacken Sjuan) to have some breakfast. During morning hours they offer super healthy foods like smashed avo, smoothie bowls, sandwiches, etc. They also have separate menus for lunch and dinner.

 

 

Food and service were great, prices weren’t too high and the cafe was rustic, personal and comfy. There was also a little decor shop inside the cafeteria.

 

Sweden has plenty of this kind of cute concepts – I kind of fell in love with that in Stockholm. 🙂 And yes, these two Nordic countries aren’t the same! There is similarities but also differences.

 

 

Exploring the City

 

After having a long breakfast we had a nice walk around the city to explore some shops, shopping centers and different areas of the city. We also shopped some snacks we could eat when we’re back in the boat.

 

Stockholm is known of it’s beautiful old town. It really was gorgeous but there was other beautiful areas too. If you have a change take a walk around. And don’t forget to bring your camera!

 

 

Our visit was during April just after the terrorist attack which could been seen as a memorial wall. April was also time of cherry blossoms in Kungsträdgårder. Those were super beautiful!

 

 

Real Italian Pizza in the Old Town

 

While walking in the old town we wanted to have some food before getting back to the boat. I was told that the food in the boat isn’t too good so we wanted to while in Stockholm.

 

 

We found a cozy restaurant called Michelangelo which offers real Italian food. We tried some of their pizzas and pastas. All the food was delicious and the atmosphere was great.

 

Only bad thing was that we got our foods slightly different times which was a bit annoying when hungry. Otherwise everything went nice and smooth and I can recommend you trying this restaurant if you’re looking for some Italian food.

 

 

 

Traveling Back to Finland

 

After eating we headed to the closest metro station, hopped in and drove to the harbor. In the boat we did some shopping – facial masks for the night and also some wines to bring home (alcohol tax in Finland is super high so you can save a lot by shopping wine abroad or taxfree).

 

We were back in Finland about 10am Thursday morning. In Helsinki you can take a tram or taxi to downtown and be there in less than 10 minutes.

 

 

Do you like cruises? Where have you been traveling by a ship?