This autumn, with my last vacation being months away and before my upcoming move, I felt like I needed a change of scenery. So I decided to finally tick a thing off my list which has been on there for quite a while now: taking the Snälltåget to the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Here’s how my journey went and what I did in Stockholm. And let me tell you – the “Deutsche Bahn“ pretty much stinks even against an old night train.
When my work told us that they would close the office on October 3rd, a German national holiday, and with my feet already itching to make a little trip, I knew that I didn’t want to spend the long weekend in Munich. First, I was all set on South Tyrol, where I’ve also been wanting to go for so long, eager to see what the rumours of “cycling paradise“ were all about. But while I was already searching for places to stay, it dawned on me that being in cycling paradise in my marathon tapering phase was probably not the best plan on earth. And going and not being able to cycle or hike all the trails I can find was also not an option. So I needed to find a destination where I would be happy doing a few last, shorter runs – and so it became Stockholm!
Travelling how I like it: cheap, sustainable, and slow
Decision made, I booked my train ticket from Hamburg for Thursday, October 3rd at midnight, and back for Friday the week after. The Snälltåget travels between Berlin and Stockholm with stops in Hamburg, Kopenhagen, and Malmö and you can get tickets as cheap as 599 SEK (roughly 51 €) from Hamburg to Stockholm (in the normal carriage).
When you plan your journey, bear in mind that the trainline has different schedules for summer and winter and that it doesn’t run in November and takes a break from mid December until mid April. In winter, however, there’s a connection between Innsbruck and Stockholm. You best check their website for more information. In my case, it turned out to be a bit tricky because I didn’t want to take any additional holiday, but didn’t want to rely on a working Wi-Fi connection either, so I chose to leave Stockholm on Friday late afternoon.
Hej, Stockholm!
The journey of around 14 hours did sound long to me at first, but to be honest, it went by quicker than I thought. Since the train left at midnight, I settled for sleep within half an hour after stepping on the train. Because I hadn’t booked a bed but a normal seat (bargain hunter that I am), I ended up not sleeping much but only dozed off into a restless half-sleep. The bill: in the morning, my body felt like it had been run over by a bulldozer. But it was all forgotten when we arrived in Stockholm – with a delay of only 40 minutes (for a journey of 14 hours, I find that pretty okay, coming from a country where you plan 2 trains ahead because you’re so scared of missing your connections).
It feels a little strange to “fall asleep“ in one country and open your eyes in a country that isn’t even neighbouring to your home country. But then again, isn’t this the exact magic of night trains? You’re travelling, but without the usual stress of getting to the airport early enough and driving for hours on the highway. You close your eyes, and when you open them again, you’re one thousand kilometres away, and you didn’t lose a minute of your night (well, except for the sleep you didn’t get, of course).
Anyways: Stockholm had me, and since the selection of Airbnbs was already scarce when I booked, I ended up in a house in Trångsund, about half an hour south of the city by commuter train. The location actually turned out to be a cute little suburb in the middle of various national parks and lakes, also not far from the known Tyresta national park. For me, this was the perfect setting for a couple of easy days filled with work, some runs, and time to read, and plan my future kitchen.
About taking breaks and enjoying small moments
Whenever I explore a city, I prefer to just stroll around the streets all day, drinking myself from café to cafe, diving into local life and the local cuisine. Although I do plan in some sights and attractions, such as museums, there’s actually little I hate more than the feeling of having to tick off an endless list of sights.
In Stockholm, the things I enjoyed the most besides endless walks were the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) on Skeppsholmen island, Djurgården island with a visit to the amazing Rosendals Trädgård café, which serves delicious locally-grown food in their apple tree gardens, watching the sunset while reading from Skinnarviksberget, and of course strolling around the old town, Gamla Stan.
When it comes to food, of course, you shouldn’t miss out on the great coffee scene and the multitude of baked delights. Although I’m not much of a sweet tooth, I really like the kardemummabullar (cardamon knots), which I find bearably sweet.
But the greatest thing about Swedish coffee breaks, besides the amazing food and coffee, is the culture behind it: The Swedes really care about their coffee break (the fika) and pausing for a moment. It’s all about enjoying those important breaks in-between, those small moments with friends and colleagues, where you connect over a good coffee and good talks, and just enjoy the small pleasures of life.
Even better when all of this happens outdoors, which is another thing I love about Sweden: People spend most of their free time outside, regardless of the weather, whether they are exercising or just taking their meal outside for a fancy picnic. We Germans sometimes could really take a leaf out of their book here – just my humble opinion.
Goodbye for now, Sweden …
Turns out that Stockholm, for me, was the best way to spend a couple of days away from home. I really soaked up the relaxed vibe, and it’s become kind of a law that each time I visit this beautiful country, I fall in love with it a little bit more.
No surprise, because Stockholm and the surrounding nature really show off in autumn. So I boarded the Snälltåget with a bit of a heavy heart (and spent the journey back googling houses to buy in Sweden, and falling in love with the idea of moving there and opening a cute little café or retreat space).
The journey back went just like clockwork. We left Stockholm around 4 p.m. and arrived in Hamburg even ahead of the scheduled arrival time, around 5 a.m., so there was more than enough time to catch my connecting train to Munich, which I – in a courageous minute – had booked for 6:20 a.m. When you plan your trip with the Snälltåget and need to catch a connecting train, I would, however, recommend allowing for some buffer time, since I’ve heard that it can sometimes accumulate quite some delay.
All in all, I was really surprised by how smoothly it all went – one more reason why this was for sure not my last trip with the Snälltåget. I’ve been wanting to go back to Copenhagen anyways. Now there’s one more reason to do that soon!