Stockholm Old Town and the Vasa Museum, a Small Group Walking Tour.
Description
The two "must see" attractions in Stockholm are the Old Town (Gamla Stan) and the Vasa museum. Few tourists leave Stockholm without visiting these two attractions! This tour, which starts at Gamla Stan metro station, combine these two major attractions! During the walk, we will tell you the story of Stockholm and Sweden. This includes the time when Sweden was one of the greatest powers in Europe and the Vasa ship was built. We will start our walk at Riddarholmen with a beautiful view of the lake Mälaren and the City Hall. We will pass the House of Nobility, the Parliament building, the Royal Palace and Stortorget in Old Town. Then we will take the ferry "Djurgårdsfärjan", a 10 minute trip to Djurgården, where the Vasa Museum is situated. In the museum, we will tell you the astonishing story about how one of the world's most modern warship capsized after only 1300 meters of sailing! After the trip, you can continue with some of the other museums or activities on Djurgården!
Tour Options
Itinerary
We start the tour at Gamla Stan Metro station, inside/under ground, in front of the Pressbyrån kiosk. We talk about the early history of Stockholm and Sweden, from the ice age until the first settlements on the islands. From Riddarholmen (The Knights Island) we have a beautiful view of the lake Mälaren and the City Hall, the famous landmark of Stockholm,
The story continues... Outside the Riddarholmen Church we will meet the presumed founder of Stockholm, Birger Jarl, or at least a statue of him. 1252 is the year when "Stockholm" was first mentioned in a written text that is preserved until today. Birger Jarl signed the paper...
We stop outside Riddarhuset, the House of Nobility, and look at the statue of Gustav Vasa, "the father of Sweden". Since Gustav Vasa 1523 marched into Stockholm, Sweden has been a sovereign state, never occupied by foreign powers. Gustav, after his father and between 80 to 100 other noblemen were killed in “The bloodbath of Stockholm”, organised an uprising against our southern neighbour who had taken control over Sweden. He also changed the religion in Sweden from Catholicism to Lutheran Protestantism
Next stop at the Royal Palace . We will enter the outer courtyard and see the guards, often dressed in elegant uniforms from past days. We will also visit "Slottsbacken" with a beautiful view of the inner harbour of Stockholm.
The smallest and nicest statue in Sweden!
The Nobel Price Museum is situated at Stortorget. The Swedish Royal Academies designate the winners of the most prestigious prices in many important fields of science and art.
Below the statue of Carl XIV Johan we continue the story about Sweden. This king, the first of the Bernadottes, was imported to Sweden from France in the beginning of the 19th century to win back what we lost to the Russians. Instead he put his efforts into diplomacy, building infrastructure and develop education! In 2014 200 years of peace was celebrated in Sweden. The industrial revolution, natural resources and great Swedish inventions created a foundation for a welfare state, and several entrepreneurs continued the development in the 20th and 21th centuries. !
From Skeppsbron we will take the ferry "Djurgårdsfärjan" to Djurgården. Time for some rest :) (This is a walking tour; in the Old Town we walk about 1 mile, and, after the boat trip, another 0.5 miles to the Vasa Museum. So, in total, about 1.5 miles (about 2.4 km) But we walk at a slow pace, and we stop at different sites, take photos, etc., and we are open to adjustments of pace.)
Entrance to the Vasa museum is included. Our guide will show you the ship and tell you the amazing story about how Vasa capsized and then was salvaged more than 300 years later! This is the end of the guided tour, but you are welcome to stay in the museum after the tour is finished. (If you have time, why not stay on the Djurgården island also in the afternoon, visit the Abba Museum ("walk in, dance out" ), the Viking Museum, the amusement park Gröna Lund, or Skansen. All of these attractions are situated on the beautiful island Djurgården (but not included in this tour)).
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- This is a walking tour; about 1.5 miles (2.4 km). But we stop at different sites, take photos, etc. Good shoes are recommended, for walking on cobblestone streets
Reviews(116)
We covered a lot of ground, our guide was knowledgeable and answered every question well. A lot better than the average walking tour of a city. The Vasa museum was unlike anything you likely will ever see, the useless (albeit attractive) ornamentation on a warship speaks to a different era of wartime. Would recommend this tour to anyone with limited time in Stockholm who is looking for a good overview.
Informative and nice overview of town center and Vasa, which was at the end of the tour and we stayed another hour and walked to ship along the water.
Thank you for your review. I am glad that you enjoyed the tour and found it to be an informative introduction to Stockholm and the Vasa Museum. It sounds as though you made the most of the day by staying longer at the museum and then walking all the way back to your ship along the waterfront—a lovely route, but quite a walk! Well done. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your cruise. Best regards,
Natalie was our guide and was very knowledgeable and kept us on a nice pace. We saw very interesting sites and enjoyed the tour very much. We would recommend this tour.
Thank you for your kind review! We're so pleased to hear that you enjoyed the tour and that Natalie’s knowledge and pacing helped make it a great experience. Thank you for your recommendation—it means a lot to us. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your time in Stockholm! Best regards,
Our guide Natalie was excellent. There were only 4 of us as 2 cancelled. She was very knowledgeable about the history of Stockholm. She is very nice and kind too. We really enjoyed our tour. She also gave us a list of suggestions for restaurants, food halls, museums etc.
Thank you very much for your kind review! We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed the tour with Natalie. She is both very knowledgeable and thoughtful, and we’re glad you appreciated her recommendations for restaurants, museums, and food halls as well. Thank you again for joining the tour, and we hope you had a wonderful stay in Stockholm!
Informative and well paced walk. Our guide was very knowledgeable and engaging. Learning more about Gamla Stan was great orientation and the visit to the Vasa Museum was just brilliant. An excellent experience, highly recommended.
Thank you for your wonderful review! I’m glad you enjoyed both the walk through Gamla Stan and the visit to the Vasa Museum – it’s a fantastic museum. It was a pleasure guiding you, and I really appreciate your recommendation!
Informative walking tour of the history of Stockholm starting at the Baltic Sea & winding thru the city into Old Town. Our guide pointed out buildings & areas of historic significance adding significant facts to the story of Stockholm’s history. The Vaser Museum was outstanding.
I’m very glad you enjoyed the walk through Stockholm and the historical perspective along the way. The Vasa Museum is truly outstanding, so I’m happy you appreciated that part as well. It was a pleasure guiding you!
Very informative tour covering several interesting locations. Good history lessons about Denmark and Copenhagen.
Great tour of the city and the history of the area. She made sure we got pictures of us at various places around the city. Natalie did a wonderful job.
Most of the experience is walking around old town. The tour ends at the Vasa Museum. Our tour director was great and had lots of interesting information about old town as well as the vasa museum. Everyone in our party of 6 love the tour.
Guide very thoughtful and made sure she took photos of everyone. Had a sheet of great restaurants and places to go. She went into important details and didn’t drown guests with too many details. Very organized and timely
