Sweden, island by island.
Which archipelago boat actually ties up at an island. Where the aurora holds longest above the Arctic Circle. Whether the moose turn up at dusk. Every tour in Sweden, reviewed.
Six days almost every Sweden itinerary ends up containing.
The old town on foot, the archipelago by boat, the sky above Lapland, the forest at dusk with the engine switched off. Here is what each one costs and which operator to hand the money to.
Stockholm is fourteen islands. Pick your water.
All Stockholm tours →
The old town is one island out of fourteen, and almost every good day here crosses water at some point. These three carry the most travellers; the full list splits the rest by how far out you want to get.
- 1City Archipelago Sightseeing Cruise with Guidefrom $41
- 2Skansen Open-Air Museum Admission Ticketfrom $27
- 3Archipelago Boat Tourfrom $39
Gamla Stan before the day boats land
Ochre and blood-red facades on Stortorget, the narrowest lane in the city, the guard changing at the palace, and the courtyards you would walk straight past on your own.
Out to the red cottages and back
Past Fjaderholmarna and the summer houses of the inner islands, with the city closing up behind you and a jetty or two to step onto.
A warship that sank in 1628
The Vasa went down on her maiden mile and came up almost whole three centuries later. Skansen and Fotografiska cover the rest of the wet-afternoon problem.
Sweden’s most popular tours.
See all 526 →The tours more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what each one actually gets you.
1
City Archipelago Sightseeing Cruise with Guide
Cruise Stockholm’s island-rich archipelago aboard a classic ship with live guides, scenic views, onboard café, and 1.5, 2.5, or 3-hour options.
From · $41
Read our review →
2
Skansen Open-Air Museum Admission Ticket
from $27
3
Archipelago Boat Tour
from $39
4
Highlights Boat Tour
from $39
5
Ghost Walk and Historical Tour
from $31
6
Walking Tour of Stockholm Old Town
from $24
7
The Original Stockholm Ghost Walk and Historical Tour – Gamla Stan
from $38
8
Stockholm Archipelago Cruise with Guide
from $47
Thirty thousand islands begin twenty minutes from the opera house.
Steamers have run from Stromkajen to the outer skerries for over a century; RIB boats cover the same water at four times the speed and half the comfort. Both finish at a jetty with a red cottage behind it.
All 48 archipelago cruises →
Above the Arctic Circle the night does the work.
Kiruna and Abisko sit in a rain shadow that keeps the sky open when the rest of the north is clouded in, and the same snow carries dog teams by day. Book the winter early. The flights north fill before the beds do.
Three things Sweden does that nowhere else does the same way.
Canals and cathedrals are everywhere in Europe. The dusk forest, the rune fields and the fixed appointment with a cinnamon bun belong to this country.
The Moose Safari
Sweden holds something close to three hundred thousand moose and almost none of them are visible from a road. A wildlife safari is a slow drive and a slower walk into the forest around Tiveden or Bergslagen, an hour or two out of Stockholm, timed for the last hour of light when the animals come out to feed. Wolf tracking and beaver evenings run the same way, and the guides are straight with you that nothing is guaranteed.
- 1Moose & Wildlife Safari with Campfire Dinner★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 269 reviews
- 2Moose safari in the wild Sweden Tiveden★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 224 reviews
- 3Evening Wildlife Safari with Campfire Dinner from Stockholm★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 155 reviews
The Rune Stones
Sigtuna was a town before Stockholm existed, and Gamla Uppsala was the seat of kings before that. The day north pairs the burial mounds with rune stones still standing in the fields where they were raised, most of them memorials cut for men who sailed east and never came back.
- 1Entrance ticket to The Viking Museum★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 301 reviews
- 2Viking History, Runes & Countryside 9h Tour to Sigtuna & Uppsala★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 283 reviews
- 3Stockholm Viking History Full Day Tour to Sigtuna + Uppsala★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 218 reviews
Fika
Fika is not a coffee break. It is a fixed appointment with a cardamom or cinnamon bun, taken seriously enough that workplaces schedule it into the day. The food walks through Sodermalm and Gamla Stan build an afternoon around it, with pickled herring, aged cheese and enough bakeries to keep the argument about the best bun going.
- 1The Nordic Food Walk Stockholm★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 642 reviews
- 2Stockholm Food Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 404 reviews
- 3Skip the Line: Disgusting Food Museum Entrance Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 359 reviews
Sweden by price, from a museum ticket to a private dog team.
Every tour on the site, sorted by price. Sweden is expensive to eat in and surprisingly cheap to look at.
Old town walks, museum entry, harbour boats and the fika stops in between.
- 1City Archipelago Sightseeing Cruise with Guidefrom $41
- 2Skansen Open-Air Museum Admission Ticketfrom $27
- 3Archipelago Boat Tourfrom $39
The full day out: archipelago cruises, aurora chases, moose evenings, food walks with the tastings included.
Private guides, your own dog team, chartered boats and the Lapland days worth flying north for.
Gothenburg and Malmo are not day trips from Stockholm.
Gothenburg has its own archipelago, a canal system and the best seafood in the country. Malmo is twenty minutes over the bridge from Copenhagen and reads half Danish. Both earn their own nights, not an afternoon.
- 1Archipelago cruise with guidefrom $47
- 2City Canal Sightseeing Cruisefrom $30
- 3Go City All-Inclusive Pass with 20+ Attractionsfrom $47
These four will be gone before you land.
Most of Sweden can be booked from the hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on a season, a build schedule or a single weekend that the whole country takes off.
- 01Guided Tour to Icehotel and JukkasjärviCarved out of river ice every December and melted back into the river every spring. The art suites go months ahead.
- 02Northern Lights Tour from Kiruna to Abisko with DinnerOne village, one railway line, a handful of beds. The clear-sky weeks and the rooms sell out together.
- 03Guided Kayak City Tour & Optional Midsummer MealMidsummer is a single weekend in June and the country shuts around it. Nothing runs on demand that week.
- 04Stockholm Pass: Save up to 50% – Includes Vasa Museum TicketThe most visited museum in Scandinavia, and the queue outside it in July is real. The ticket is how you skip it.
Everything worth doing in Stockholm eventually needs a boat.
Everything afloat →City Archipelago Sightseeing Cruise with Guide
Read our review →
Sweden runs two completely different countries a year.
From June the sun barely clears the horizon on its way back up and the archipelago fills with boats. From November the north goes dark enough to watch the aurora from the doorstep. Neither half is the off-season; they simply sell different days, and the winter ones book first.
- 1Kiruna Northern Lights Tour with Photographerfrom $223
- 2The Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventurefrom $183
- 3Northern Lights Tour with Photosfrom $187
By region — Skane to the Arctic
Stockholm326 tours
Swedish Lapland72 tours
Gothenburg & the West Coast48 tours
Malmo & Skane29 tours
Uppsala13 tours- Every review →
By experience — what does the day involve?
Latest Swedish tour reviews.
Keep reading the new ones →
World War II Stockholm Old Town Walking Tour and Army Museum
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West Sweden: Self Guided Kayak Tour – Southern Route
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Self-Guided Audio Walking Tour Through Kurt Wallander’s Ystad
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Uppsala Must See 2h city walk – 2h tour of all big attractions!
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Uppsala’s biggest attractions – 1h city walk in Uppsala city.
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Uppsala bloody history 1h- racial biology, 18th century plague, 19th century prostitution etc.
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Uppsala Scavenger Hunt and Sights Self Guided Tour
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Swedish Lifestyle and Private Walking Tour of Uppsala
Read our review →
Guided tour 90min at Old Uppsala mounds and old Uppsala church
Read our review →
