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In summer consider renting a public bicycle. The cost of three days is 125 kr (or 250 kr for the whole season). You can get the card to use the bikes at any SL centre. You can use a Bicycle for three hours, then place it back in one of the 70 stations in Stockholm, and you can grab another one.
It's available from 6am to 6pm every day.
SL centre
I strongly recommend a little extra time when planning your transport time in the summer months. Most Swedes take all 5-6 weeks of vacation in one stint in July or August so buses and train schedules are greatly adjusted for what staff there are.
www.sl.se for the schedule and www.xpats.nu for other advice from the discussion forums frequented by English-speaking locals.
This small hotel is just a short walk from the ferry terminal on a quiet cobbled street and is only a few minutes from the town centre. There are bars and good eating places nearby, such as Joda bar. The rooms are not huge but are light and modern with showers. There is a lounge area for guests to sit in. Breakfasts are ample with an array of fruit juices, cereals, breads, cheeses, meats etc.
The owner and her young staff are very friendly and helpful and the atmosphere is relaxed. It can be booked through the Destination Gotland website as can the ferry to Visby which is a great place for a relaxed time.
4-6 Korsgatan
tel: 46 498-210 211
www.stenugnen.nu/
email: info@stenugnen.nu
Take a walking trip led by a local Sami reindeer herder, through a stunning national park landscape with reindeers as your travelling companions. Learn about the importance of reindeer to the local people and see some of the most beautiful landscape Sweden has to offer.
Take the wonderful night train from Stockholm to remind you how train travel ought to be.
Alternatively arrange your own outdoor activities in this beautiful area.
www.pathfinderlapland.se/
www.gellivare.se/
Gällivare railway station (direct from Stockholm)
Fantastic 'hands-on' exhibits demonstrate basic scientific principles in a simple, fun way and will keep adults and kids alike interested for hours.
Only a short ride from Stockholm, you will find a magnificent red brick building, which used to be a factory, brimming with activity. This is the 'science centre' Tom Tits Experiment.
Here children (and adults) can try out more than 400 experiments using water, wind, gravity, sound, light and movement while at the same time learning about themselves and the world around us.
The huge house has four floors, and an enourmous outside area for water experiments. There is a buffet restaurant serving food that will appeal both to the young and older taste buds, but there is also space for eating a packed lunch.
Tom Tits Experiment is located in Södertälje 35km south of Stockholm, close to the E4 and E20. If travelling by train from Stockholm, it is within walking distance from Södertälje station.
en.tomtit.se/
For an authentic rural Swedish getaway drive one hour east of Gothenburg and stay at this charming forest cottage with views over the local lake. Use this as a base to explore the very pleasant local area including the local town of Ulricehamn on the shores of Asunden lake. The cottage is well equipped with facilities but can still be the perfect getaway. We particularly enjoyed looking for chantarelle mushrooms in the surrounding forest.
This is a perfect place for sea-kayaking in the south part of Stockholm archipelago. A lot of beautiful islands where you can camp. You can borrow a map of the area and get suggestions and help were to kayak and where to camp.
Askfatshamnen Dalarö
08-501 501 80
0739-74 10 34
www.dalarokajak.se
This is a perfect place to start kayaking in the south of Stockholm archipelago. Beautiful islands and easy to camp.
Kiruna has many interesting types of accommodation available. As well as a good choice of comfortable hotels and guest houses, Kiruna also offers a choice of original and exclusive ideas such as the Ice Hotel, wilderness cabins, lodges, igloos and traditional wig wams.
The unique Ice Hotel gets rebuilt year after year from the ice of the local Torne river. With its ice sculptures and fine works of art, the Ice Hotel is truly an experience that should not be missed.
Just an hour and a half's drive from Kiruna is the Abisko Mountain Station considered as the best place on earth to view the Northern Lights.
With its fresh clean air and its practically cloud-free skies the conditions for seeing the lights are optimal. Aurora occurs, more or less, every night but to detect it the skies have to be dark. The period from September to March is best time of year.
Fantastic and underrated modern art museum/ gallery on Djurgarden (past the huge tourist destination, Vasa Museum). Every year it hosts about four exhibitions of contemporary and modern art.
We were there for an exhibition of Alberto Giacometti and it was amazing to see 'Walking Man 1' in full height. His drawing and paintings were an absolute revelation and it was a great way of spending the afternoon.
Djurgårdsvägen 60
STOCKHOLM
www.liljevalchs.stockholm.se
For an interesting train journey, go by rail from London to Brussels on Eurostar, then overnight to Hamburg. The trains are lovely and new, and even have showers.
Next day, press on to Copenhagen by train and boat - the train drives onto the ferry between Puttgarden and Rodby. After that, it's over the Oresund Bridge to Malmo!
Book tickets through Ffestiniog Travel, who will hold the reservation for a few days so you have time to sort out your other arrangements! For those food emergencies, I recommend taking Ryvitas and a jar of peanut butter - no refrigeration required!
There are 24,000 islands in all and you are free to camp on any of them. The bigger ones have campsites; the smaller ones you can have all to yourself. Buy a five-day Batluffarkortet archipelago ferry pass, for about £25 and use taxi boats to get to the smaller islands.
It's 100 giant outdoor photos of wildlife from all over the world. you can see it at even at night.
The photos are huge, incredible, and moving, and the whole exhibition is easy to find, and free!
Raoul Wallenbergs Torg. Really central.
A great new Indian restaurant at 90 Luntmakargatan. We had more than we could eat for about £12 each and the daily house recommendations are good value. The food was freshly prepared and delicious and the staff very friendly.
Just north of Stockholm is Linnaeus' garden. It is also the 300th anniversary of his birth this year so there are exhibitions about him. He was the man who intoduced the notion of species and genus etc.
It's some sort of cafe and a meeting place for businessmen and entrepeneurs, but I think anyone is welcomed. I just wanted to check my mail and drink a cup of coffee with an icecream.
The atmosphere is an experience and the staff are helpful with questions.
Gothenburg, Vegagatan 1
www.bluechipcafe.com
This is Sweden's national gallery and shows a wide range of work from the middle ages to the start of the twentieth century.
Like the other countries in Scandinavia, Sweden's painters especially loved landcape and nature, and there are many beautiful examples of this kind of work. The murals on the grand staircase are by Carl Larsson.
Nationalmuseum, a short walk from Gustav Adolf's Torg (city centre) westwards, along the waterfront, past the Opera House.
The theatre offers a very wide programme each year of new and classic plays, often in radical productions. Last season's production of Macbeth (in Swedish - well, you know the story) was set at the time of the Great War, and was highly imaginative and wholly convincing.
Drama in Sweden has a long and distinguished history, and the high quality of work at the national theatre is a reflection of this tradition.
The website is clear, well illustrated and easy to use.
City centre, short walk, or subway to Ostermalmstorg. www.dramaten.se
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
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