5 days Stockholm Itinerary and Review of Stockholm Pass

There are many museums in Sweden and it’s full of culture. Hence, we decided to get the 3-day Stockholm pass so that we could cover as many as we wanted without having to worry about overspending! Honestly, the Stockholm pass would probably be more worth the money in summer, when all the cruises and day trips are available. It also comes with the option to buy a travel card, which was good.

I’ll do a review on the attractions that I found interesting and worth going for.

Stockholm winter tour 

It’s a must-go because it’s the only cruise that’s operating in winter. You’ll get to have a big overview on the different islands in Sweden and also listen to a brief historical background on some of the interesting and noteworthy points of the city! I found myself remembering the stories even months after the trip. I chose to go in the evening when the sun was setting so it made the tour really pretty because the boat was lit up with Christmas lights.

Skansen open air museum 

This was by far my favourite attraction. You get to walk around everywhere, and it's huge! It ranges from the historical towns to animal farms for children, as well as some arctic animals in the region. Oh, and the view there is stunning. Extremely worth the time.

 Glass blowing

Junibacken
There is a cool story train that you MUST take when you're there. You aren't allowed to take pictures on the story train but it will bring you through 3d models of Astrid Lindgren's stories. Also, there are life-sized doll houses that children (and smaller adults) can play in. I loved it!

Skyview at Globen

It’s another ride that gives you an overview of the entire city, but doesn’t overlap with the winter tour. It’s essentially somewhat like a Ferris wheel, except that you’re going around the circumference of the globe, which made it rather cool.

Fotografiska
I was a bit hesitant at first because it's just photographs and art work. But some of the works were really interesting and their concepts are rather cool. I did enjoy my time there and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the artists' thoughts.

Other things we visited that I didn't find as interesting:
Cathedrals (see one, see all)
Nobel museum (too crowded, it's just a history of the people who've won it)
Vasa museum (cool to see the ship but that's about it)
Royal palace (it's just a glorified house)

We also managed to take a nice walk through a forested area from our Airbnb! This was one of the highlights of my time in Stockholm.

9 days Finland: Rovaniemi and Lapland Itinerary on a decent budget

Hello!

I'll be sharing my experiences in Finland, as well as the itinerary I chose to take (:

I feel that Finland is a rather homely country and it's definitely not as expensive as people make it out to be. I can even see myself living there, should I choose to leave the sunny island of Singapore. They also use Euros, which made things a lot easier since the currency is well-utilised in many other countries. Therefore, amongst the other Scandinavian countries, I feel that Finland is the more economical choice.

Day 1: Helsinki 

After landing at about 1.20pm at the airport, we managed to reach our accommodation at about 3+pm. It was more or less dark by that time. Our accommodation was in the Kallio area. On hindsight, it may not be the best area to stay at because there weren't many restaurants around the area and we were lazy to travel far since it was dark very early. Also, the bar and nightlife areas weren't as "hipster" as the other travel websites made it out to be.

We decided to just walk to the K-supermarket nearby and bought groceries for breakfast and dinners over the next few days. Tip: always find an accommodation near a K-supermarket, they're extremely useful!

Travelcard: We bought a travel card for 3 days since we were only in Helsinki for that amount of time. We had to buy the regional pass because we intended to go to Espoo, and the airport was in Vantaa.

Day 2: Helsinki city walk

We chose not to buy the Helsinki pass because we felt that it wasn't worth it (that decision proved to be right). Hence, we went for a free city walk instead.

This was the path we took:
Finlandia Hall (free entrance, place where concerts are held)
National museum (only took photos on the outside)
Rock church (3 euros per person, worth going)
West harbour (don't bother, there was nothing much there)
Helsinki old church (only took photos on the outside)
Strindberg (oldest cafe, can consider having lunch there, about 25-30 euros for mains)
Esplanade park (pretty lightings near Christmas period)
Uspenski cathedral (free entrance)
Presidential palace and city hall (in passing)
Senate square and Helsinki cathedral

We ended our walk at the biggest Christmas market in Helsinki and spent a rather long time there. There are a few things you'll tend to see there!
1. Arts and Crafts - wooden or woolly crafts
2. Food - smoked in general
3. Drinks - you HAVE to try the Gloggi if you're there during Christmas!

 Random christmas trees with jar decorations

 The inside of the Rock Church

Outside of Uspenski Cathedral

 The biggest Christmas market in Helsinki

Blacksmithing at the Christmas market

Day 3: Helsinki - Nuuksio National Park

We travelled all the way to Nuuksio National Park! How to get there: take a train to Espoo from Pasila Bole station, transfer to bus 245 to Haukkalamentie bus stop (warning: it's in the middle of nowhere). The bus stop is 2km from the Haukkalampi starting point.

I took the 4km blue trail (you can see the blue markings on the trees along the way). I think it's a very doable trail for beginners who are doing winter trekking for the first time. It took us a total of 3 hours to complete the whole trail (beginning from the bus stop).

I thoroughly enjoyed the winter trekking experience (it was my first time!), though there are few things to note if you're intending to do trekking during winter:

• Walking on compact snow/ice is extremely slippery even with boots. Try your best to find fresh powder to walk on! You'll get the hang of it as you trek more.
• Do not over-wrap yourself as you will get warmer as you trek.
• Drink water! You will sweat even in winter. In fact, the chances of heat stroke increases because you don't lose heat as easily through sweat.

 At the bottom of the trail

Somewhere along the way! 

 The highest point we went to

Snow all around!

Day 4: Helsinki Zoo - overnight sleeper train

We had a free day and we pretty much covered the places of interest in Helsinki, so we decided to check out the zoo, since creation is one of our greatest passions.

My advice: do not go to the Helsinki zoo in winter. Most animals are either hibernating, or it's too cold for them to be out and hence, they are kept indoors where you can't see them. Also, you do freeze when walking around. 

Nevertheless, we did have a good time walking around seeing arctic animals we never could have seen in our tropical island! 

Some personal thoughts: 

• The enclosures do not have any moats, they are just surrounded by glass doors. It's rather cool because you are closer to the animals. 
• The enclosures are rather huge for each animal. They have a lot of natural habitat space to roam around.
• They aren't particularly well-maintained. Glass isn't clean, grass uncut etc. I suppose it creates the "wild" vibe. 

My Airbnb host was nice, he allowed us to use his place till we had to leave for the sleeper train so we managed to cook dinner, shower and be fresh before we left!

The sleeper train was rather cramp but quite cool! There's space to put your luggage, albeit not a lot (luggage has to be closed, not opened). For someone with motion sickness, I didn't mind it the movements of the train that much because it's quite stable. I was even able to knock out for a good 7-8 hours! By the time I woke up, we were almost at Rovaniemi! I highly recommend the sleeper trains because they save travel time and one night of accommodation.

 So cute!

 Poison arrow dart frogs

 Look at how close the tiger was!

 Pretty pretty snow leopard

 We finally had sun that day! It was so gorgeous!

One of my favourite photos of us <3

Days 5-9: Rovaniemi

I suggest you book safaris for Rovaniemi because it is difficult for first-timers to know how to navigate through the snow and darkness. I booked 2 nights of Aurora Borealis (in case we couldn't see any for one of the nights) and also a snowmobile + reindeer and husky safari.

Review for Aurora hunting with Lapland Welcome
They're extremely professional and they supply you with good thermal overalls, which will save your life, trust me. On the way, they will also explain the scientific knowledge behind the formations of Auroras and provide you with the best setting for your DSLR so that you're able to capture the lights. I had an extremely good experience with them and won't hesitate to recommend them to anyone who wishes to go.

Some tips for aurora hunting:

• Bring a proper camera, and by that I mean a DSLR (or at least a semi-pro camera). Forget normal digital cameras or phone cameras or go-pros. They don't let in enough light to capture the pale northern lights.
• Camera settings - Long exposure (at least 20s), set to manual focus and the distance should be infinity
• DO NOT use flash. It is extremely inconsiderate because it will ruin other people's photos. Furthermore, you won't see a thing.
• Please wear gloves. Your hands will freeze while trying to operate the camera. You might also want to bring some extra batteries. My nikon ones lasted me all the way and never died but I heard that other brands don't last as long. 

 One of the better pictures - only started to get used to it later in the night, but the auroras died down by then ):

Started to make funny shadow pictures

Review for Day B programme by Arctic Snowmobile Park 

This is a great overview programme for those who want to experience everything in a day. I felt that it was more worth while compared to the others. But of course, it really depends on whether you prefer reindeer/husky sledding, or snowmobile. Our main default mode of transport was snowmobile so each couple was given one snowmobile to ride. We did a 500m reindeer and  2km husky ride, which was really nice but not nearly as fun because it's rather short. The animals also have their own agenda sometimes, which is fun to watch.

The last bit of the agenda is a free buffet lunch at the Santa Claus Village. I enjoyed the buffet lunch but not the santa claus village because I felt that it was too touristy.

Some things to note:

• It's extremely cold when you ride and the cold wind is just blowing against your face. If you have a llama face mask, bring it. Otherwise, they will provide but it's not as sanitary. 
• Wear warmer socks and gloves that day. Your extremities will start to freeze along the way. 
• You just need one single-driver supplement per couple. Then you can swap the main driver along the way as you wish, but both MUST bring driving licenses. They're really strict on that. 

It's a reindeer!

 With the llama masks and helmets on

 On the husky sled

Other things we did

Rovaniemi is pretty dead without the Safaris, and you'll need to be careful because many things close on Christmas eve and Christmas day so be prepared to cook your own food, stay in, play in the snow etc. but they had a theatre that was opened on Christmas. We also managed to go and see their science centres (Artikum and Pilke science centre), which weren't too bad. 

Recommended Restaurants:

Ravintola Roka Street Bistro - serves good quality casual dining food at affordable prices. Portions are huge. (We had a salmon risotto and pork sandwich)

Nili restaurant - good if you want to try Finnish traditional meats and food, such as bear. 

 Gorgeous sunrise!

 One of my favourite photos of the trip!

 It was really difficult to jump in thick clothing

Scandinavian Christmas: Planning a trip to Lapland

While deciding a location, we came up with a few criteria:

• We wanted somewhere with winter and snow
• We wanted to try some place in Europe

So in the end, we thought, "Why not try to see the aurora, since it's disappearing?" Upon checking the airfare prices, they were extremely reasonable, and so we booked our trip. 

We chose to fly by Qatar airways. I've taken their flights before and their service is excellent. We're intending to fly into Helsinki and then out via Stockholm, so we cover 2 countries.

Then came the planning itself.

The route: 

The original plan was to go up to northern Finland, cross the border to Sweden and then come down to Stockholm. However, after reading up a bit more, I realised that no commercial train goes past the Finnish-Swedish border, so that option was out. 

Hence, the plan was to go up from Helsinki to Lapland, come back down to Helsinki, take a plane to Stockholm and then fly out from there. 

Accommodations:

Helsinki - Read up a bit and decided to stay at Kallio because it's a more hipster area with interesting nightlife and I felt that it would be more happening than the other areas. It's also not too far from the other attractions. I went for an Airbnb for this!

Rovaniemi - I booked the accommodations a bit late and hence, there weren't many options within my budget. In the end, I settled for Hotel Aakenus (through Agoda) which offered a more reasonable price for its location. I didn't bother with the Ice hotels and stuff because those are way too touristy and a bit too cold for my liking. My recommendation is plan and book this part early (at least more than 3 months in advance)

Stockholm - I managed to find an Airbnb at an interesting location. I chose it because it was within walking distance to a forest and it had very nice scenery surrounding it. 

The programme: 

It's easy to settle the itinerary in the cities (Helsinki and Stockholm) because transportation there is a lot more convenient and easier to navigate. However, I was slightly worried about Lapland because there isn't much daylight in winter and I don't know how lit up the area will be. Also, chasing the auroras can't be done on our own since we did not opt to self-drive. Hence, I searched up day programmes instead. 

Things to take note when planning for a trip up in Lapland:

• Do you want to book a package tour for the lapland trip? Some travel agencies offer 5d4n tours up to Lapland from Helsinki. These are worry-free as they cover accommodation, meals and transport. I would highly recommend groups and students to book using Timetravel. 
• If you wish to go free and easy like I did, then you will need to select for the day trips you want to do.
• Booking everything is too expensive so my suggestion is to choose what exactly you want. There are a few main categories: snowmobiling, huskies, reindeers, ice fishing, auroras. Check out this website for a more comprehensive list. The visitrovaniemi.fi official website is actually really good and you should take a read before deciding. 
• Since auroras are not guaranteed every night, I highly recommend that you book more than one aurora trip. 

These were my final decisions: 

1. Arctic Snowmobile Park Day B programme: Snowmobiling, reindeer and husky farms (plus rides) and Santa Claus Village - this is a programme that is extremely value for money, though both the rides are not the longest. 
2. Lapland Welcome aurora hunting by car and on foot: A simple one night aurora hunting
3. Lapland Welcome overnight aurora hunting in an apartment: This saves us a night of accommodation and also increases the chance of seeing auroras through the night. 

Transport to and from Lapland:

This part wasn't easy because the train booking websites were not user friendly. 

There are 2 companies you can book the tickets with - VR or Eurail. My original plan was to go with VR because for Eurail, you had to buy a pass first before the seat reservations, whereas for VR it was just the ticket price. However, VR was too expensive (266 euros for 2 pax for a single sleeper train trip and the other one was 534 euros for 2 pax). You can check out their online shop here. Take note that you can only book the tickets 2 months in advance.

As I was only taking one trip up and one trip back, I booked the 3 day flexi pass. The 3 days need not be consecutive. For a night train that leaves after 7pm and reaches the destination after 4am, it is considered as 1 day. Hence, I only needed 2 days and the 3 day flexi pass for one country would suffice. I managed to get the passes on a 20% discount, hence it was 128 euros for adults (28 and over) and 105 euros for youth (up to 27). After purchasing the pass, proceed to the reservations portal to reserve seats on the train (approximately 30-40 euros per seat depending on what you get). The reservations portal is intermittently down. I had problems at first but after that it was fine. You should try to click the logout button if it doesn't detect your pass when you first purchase it.

Total cost for 2:

I managed to get everything to $6600 for 2 pax - inclusive of air tickets, accommodation, transport, booking of programmes. I thought this was rather reasonable and all my purchases were rather value-for-money. You'll need to be prepared to spend quite a bit as Scandinavian countries are the most expensive European countries to travel to!

I hope that this post would help you in your planning for Lapland! Stay tuned for a review after my trip!