In April 2009 my wife and me went on a trip to visit three European capitals: Stockholm in Sweden, Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia. This is a short summary of our trip.
April 22nd, 2009: In the evening we arrived by an airplane to Stockholm Arlanda Airport, took a train to Stockholm and located our hostel in Gamla Stan (Stockholm Old Town).
April 23rd, 2009: In the morning we climbed on top of Katarinahissen to get a bird's view of the area. After that, we walked zigzag across Gamla Stan and Ridarholmen all the way to the City Hall. We missed an English guided tour so we decided to do that some other day and went back to Gamla Stan, to the Royal Palace to observe changing of the guards. After that we inspected the Royal Palace and the Treasury from the inside. After a break we walked zigzag to Skeppsholmen island and then to Nybroplan. What followed was walking back to hostel, with a lot of zigzag and checking of shopping centers for the last day shopping.
Photos: Gamla Stan & Ridarholmen, Royal Palace
April 24th, 2009: Our exploration of Stockholm continued with a ferry to Djurgarden. There we first visited Skansen, a Sweden in miniature open air museum. After that we went to see Vasa museum and Junibacken, made a rest in the park and walked along Strandvagen back to Gamla Stan for a dinner.
Photos: Skansen, Vasa museum
April 25th, 2009: First thing in the morning we attended a guided tour of City Hall, after which we boarded a boat tour to see Stockholm from the water. In the afternoon it was time to pack. We had to catch a ferry to Helsinki. Aboard the ship we had a dinner and enjoyed sailing through the Stockholm archipelago.
Photos: City Hall, Stockholm/other, Stockholm archipelago
April 26th, 2009: In the morning our ship arrived to Helsinki. After locating our hostel, we attended a bout tour to see Helsinki and Suomenlinna fortress from water than took our famous zigzag walk around Helsinki city center to the train station, Finlandia hall, Temppeliaukio Church, Parliament, Helsinki Cathedral and Uspenski Cathedral.
Photos: Helsinki/arrival & Suomenlinna
April 27th, 2009: This was probably our longest walk. We went to the Opera House, Olympic Stadium, Hietaniemi Beach and all the way to the Seurasaari open air museum.
Photos: Helsinki/city, Helsinki/Seurasaari
April 28th, 2009: Lazy morning, then we packed our bags and boarded a ferry to Tallinn, where we arrived in the afternoon. Located our hostel then proceeded to take a tour of Tallinn Old Town. This time, due to a short stay, we decided to skip our zigzagging and followed a Lonely Planet guide instead, including the dinner suggestion at Olde Hansa.
April 29th, 2009: A short walk through the Old Town, followed by some shopping and exploration of newer parts of the city. In the afternoon, we packed our bags and boarded a ferry back to Stockholm.
Photos: Tallinn Old Town
April 30th, 2009: Back in Stockholm, for a gift shopping day. In the evening we took a train to Arlanda Airport, where we had our last (but not least) night in Jumbo Hostel, before returning home on May 1st, 2009.
Photos: Jumbo Hostel
If you are going to Scandinavia: We were extremely lucky, with a nice warm sunny weather (with occasional cold northern winds) which caused many operators to start their tours earlier than planed. Otherwise, weather may not be so nice, most boat tours do not operate outside of summer and many attractions are closed or open hours much shorter outside of summer, so plan to go there in summer if you can. Scandinavia is a very traveler friendly destination, standards are high, information on the net is correct and reliable and English spoken and understood everywhere. We used the following hostels and were satisfied and can recommend them: Best Hostel Old Town in Stockholm, Eurohostel in Helsinki and Old House in Tallinn. Tallink operates many ferry connections between the cities and is usually cheaper than Viking Lines, especially if booked well in advance.