re: Travel Advice: Nordic Trip - Summer 2016

In advance, Välkommen till Sverige!

For Sweden:

Stockholm is an absolute must (that can be said for all of the capital cities). No shortage of things to do and great places to eat. Not sure of what kind of living arrangements you're shooting for, but I often recommend Södermalm, especially around Hornsgatan (Horns Street). It's a cool "younger" neighborhood that has become quite popular over the last few years. It's got a ton of restaurants and bars and plenty of living options for all price ranges. It's also just a short walk from central Old Town (Gamla Stan) and has plenty of metro stops (which is fantastic in Stockholm).

I highly recommend just walking around as much of the city as you can. It's built on thousands of islands, so water is everywhere. Gamla Stan is the historic center of town and dates back to the 1200's. Multiple great churches worth checking out, along with historic government buildings and the Swedish Royal Palace. As you can expect it's also filled with tourist traps, so that's just something to keep in mind. I definitely recommend visiting the Royal Palace and any of its four museums, especially The Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) Museum.

Another island in central Stockholm is Djurgården, which is where you'll find the Vasa Museum (an absolute must), The Nordic Musesum, and Skansen, which is an open-air museum and zoo. Also on Djurgården- Gröna Lund, which is an amusement park, and the Abba Museum, which I have yet to actually visit.

Getting to any of the central islands or outer islands is easy. There are ferries and smaller boats everywhere. Also worth noting, Drottningholm Palace- located just outside of Stockholm- is beautiful, especially in the Summer. Might be worth a visit.

Gothenburg is a great city, and I like that part of Sweden a lot. But if it came down to visiting either Gothenburg or a completely different country and culture in Tallinn, I'd recommend the latter.

I'm most familiar with Skåne, the southernmost province of Sweden, which is home to Malmö across the Öresund from Copenhagen. Lots of day trips to be had in that area, if it's somewhere you think you may end up.