HariBlue108

Hey folks,

I will be in Stockholm (my first visit there) in the first half of June for a conference, which will be held at Stockholmsmässan. Currently I have a club room booked at the Sheraton in the city center, which I feel is quite expensive (~ USD550/night + tax). A couple of questions:

1. Am I right in thinking that the easiest way to commute would be by train, especially as the hotel is right across from the central station?

2. If train is the best way to commute, can I purchase a pass for a week or so?

3. Can this pass be combined with a return trip ticket to ARN?

I'll greatly appreciate any insights you might have to share.

Cheers!

helosc

2. + 3.

72 hour ticket = 230 SEK
7 day ticket = 300 SEK

Valid for commuter trains, metro, busses and the small ferry to Skansen.

You need to buy a plastic access card ( 20 SEK ) to load these tickets on.
The tickets are also valid to and fro from the airport on the regular commuter trains ( NOT the Arlanda Express ).
There is a passage supplement fee of 75 SEK to be paid on leaving and entering the airport.
Everything can be bought in the airport at the counter for the commuter trains.

See link about tickets :

http://sl.se/en/Visitor/Tickets/Visitor-tickets/


Absolutely use trains. There are many commuter trains to the Stockholmsmässan ( Älvsjö station ) and the trip should only be 10 minutes, they say.

See link about transport to the Mässan :


http://www.stockholmsmassan.se/prior...to%20find%20us

Stockholm has a very good underground metro system which will be very useful for your leisure time.

Map of metro system : http://sl.se/Global/Pdf/Kartor/vTub_karta.pdf

Map of commuter trains and metro : http://sl.se/Global/Pdf/Kartor/spartrafik_zoner08.pdf

Hotels are expensive in Stockholm. The Sheraton has a very good location for the central station and for the city in general.
The Radisson Blue Royal Viking is also very well located ( I haven't stayed there) but I doubt it'll be cheaper.
You could check out Nordic Choice Hotels. They have two hotels very near the central station ( Nordic Sea Hotel and Nordic Light Hotel ). I have not stayed there so this is not a recommendation just a suggestion.
See link :
https://www.nordicchoicehotels.com/?...140608/Room1,1

Have a nice trip; Stockholm is a fantastic city.

GUWonder

$550/night? I am just glad I never have to pay more than $110/night to stay in nearly comparable (but slightly lower level) Stockholm hotels.

HariBlue108

I'd greatly appreciate it if you can let me know which properties give you that kind of pricing. In my search the minimum I've found is around USD350+tax/night. If there are specific websites that offer lower rates I'd be grateful if you could share those as well.

Cheers!

HariBlue108

Helosc, thank you so much for those links. That's a great deal of good info! Much appreciated!!

Cheers!

helosc

Nordic Choice Hotels (link given earlier) should be cheaper. Add : especially if you give way on location. You pay for central location in Stockholm.
Another local chain is Elite Hotels. They should be cheaper also. See link :

http://www.elite.se/eng/index



It could be a good idea to split your reservation up to more than one reservation ( at the same hotel ) as weekends are often much cheaper than weekdays. And not all hotels gives you the cheap weekend price when you book for a period of both weekend and week nights.

I love the hilton - they are very expensive on weekdays but sometimes very cheap on weekends. They treat their elite members very well.

Add : I don't understand why you get quoted a price + tax.
Tax in Sweden is always included in the price they show - in my experience.

HariBlue108

I thought as much. I'm yet to research in detail the options that are available around Stockholmsmässan but from what i've briefly glanced at I believe I'd like central Stockholm much better.

Thanks for this tip! I didn't realize that the weekend rates could be cheaper than the weekdays. Its usually the other way around here in the US. I'll be sure to check this out!

For some reason the Hilton is completely booked for the dates of my stay. I called the hotel directly and got transferred to a central reservation call center. I've not bothered to call again but I'll give it a try.

I thought that's how it worked, but the lady in reservations that helped me with the reservation told me that it doesn't include the tax. I just checked the reservation details and it does show a 12% VAT that's included in the rate. So i'm guessing that there shouldn't be any more taxes tagged on to the rate.

Thanks for all your help! I sincerely appreciate it!

helosc

If you do a search on the Hilton site with the flexible dates option you'll see that May 30-June 1 is fully booked and so is June 11 - June 12. So the response to a search for a longer period including any of these dates will come up as the hotel being fully booked for the whole period.
Anyway the hotel is not cheap at all for your period, not even on weekends. I have stayed there 3 or 4 times and I never paid more than about 1000 SEK on a weekend or holiday period.
In Europe the general rule is that hotels are costly on weekdays ( they get enough business clients to fill up the hotels ) and cheap on weekends ( lack of business clients, so they want to fill up the hotels). There is normally also a sale for the July, August period which is also slow. There would be exceptions to this rule - hotels in obvious holiday destinations fx Dubrovnik ( where I am going on Saturday; I got the last cheap rate before the season starts ).

TheEagle

Ok! Sheraton is near the Stockholm Central station. But there are a lot of hotels near the station.
But the area around the station is not so funny!
Why not stay at Hotel Rival (www.rival.se) at Mariatorget on Södermalm? Lots of nice bars and restaurants close by. Not to expensive either.
Really nice, short, walk to the commuter train station Stockholms Södra. Even closer to Älvsjö then Stockholm Central Station. Every train stops at Stockholms Södra.
Also close to subway station Mariatorget.

GUWonder

Nordic Choice hotels includes some cheaper and as central location properties. The Clarion Sign, for example, was just booked by me using points for multiple rooms for the first two weeks of June. It is marginally better located than the Sheraton to get to the Arlanda Express.

.

anbrand

TheEagle hits the spot. Rival is where you want to be in June. I frequantly place our foreign guests there: http://www.rival.se/en/the-hotel Owned by Benny Andersson (ABBA). Good prices if booked at least 21 days before arrival. Starts at USD 170ai but splash out a little bit more and make sure you get a room with a view over Mariatorget (square outside). Altough its a Hilton (as mentioned above) just down the road its where Paris choosen to stay when in Stockholm...

Own bakery, nice bar and a lot of chi chi dining nearby. South Side or Södermalm in Swedish is Stockholms Greenwich Village, more relaxed then down town (I mean come on, who wants to stay near the central station in any city?) Stockholm is walkable, especially that time of year.

2 min walk to train station (Stockholm Södra) then two stops to Stockholmsmässan (5 min). Bring your collegues for a drink and they will envy you, especially if staying at the Sheraton

My other recomendations if you insist on staying more central (mind that it's only a 20 min walk or a 5 min cab at max 15 USD incl. tip) is:

1. http://www.lydmar.com

2. http://www.nobishotel.se/en/3-for-2-...Item_2-sv.html

And for those who want to go ai, The Grand is second to none in Stockholm and where all the Nobel winners stay. Ask to stay in the new wing. Michellin star restaurants at your disposal: http://www.grandhotel.se/en

HariBlue108

Helosc,

I have a question for you regarding the pricing for the 72 hrs and 7 day tickets. When I visited the website for SL, the pricing displayed shows a full price and a reduced price. What is the reduced price? I couldn't find an explanation on the website and nor in their Help & Contact section. If you can explain the restrictions on the reduced price I'd greatly appreciate it.

So if I have my math right, I'm looking at spending 320 SEK for a 7 day ticket @ full price.

SL Access Card - 20 SEK
7-day ticket - 300 SEK

Now if I choose to use the train from ARN to Central Stockholm, then add on 150 SEK for a total of 470 SEK. Am I missing anything else in this calculation?

A couple more questions:

1. If I use the 7 day ticket, am I going to be restricted in terms of which zones I can travel to?2. My flight lands at 7:25am on a Saturday and I fly out at 11:30am on the following Sunday. Considering that my trips from/to ARN will be on weekends, would it be advisable to take the regular commuter trains, especially because I'll have a large suitcase, a carry on and a backpack.

Thank you for all your assistance!

HariBlue108

TheEagle and Anbrand, thanks for your suggestions!

@anbrand - though Paris chose to stay at the Rival I'm afraid that I'd have to choose between Hilton and the Sheraton. There must be something else going on besides the conference I'm attending as most of the hotels seem to be sold out on the 11th and some of them on the 14th as well.

Thanks for your suggestions!

helosc

Reduced price is for people under 20 or over 65.
Your calculations are correct.
Your ticket is valid for greater stockholm but you need to buy an additional ticket for uppsala.
I am not home and I only have my phone with me and the internet is slow so I cant really do a search for you but ask in a ticket office.
Luggage shouldn't be a problem in neither the commuter trains nor the arlanda express.
I am home by tuesday if you have more questions.

helosc

Hello HariBlue108, I am home again.

Your 7 day ticket covers Stockholm zones ABC ( all of greater stockholm ).
You are travelling with the transport company SL.
Uppsala is outside of the SL zones. It is in the UL zones.
See zone map :

http://www.ul.se/Global/Biljetter/Ka...karta%20SL.pdf

The two green colours are Stockholm ABC where your card is valid.
The beige/yellow colours are UL zones which you need to buy an additional ticket for.
As far as I can read you need a ticket for UL zone 1,2 and 5 in order to go to Uppsala.
But buy your ticket in the SL ticket office in the central station Stockholm and be sure to show them your Access card and tell them you have a valid ticket for all of Stockholm - then you'll only have to pay for the UL zones.

link to SL :

http://sl.se/en/

link to UL :

http://www.ul.se/en/

And please note that you have to use the commuter trains to Uppsala.
The national train company which, just to confuse you, is called SJ uses another ticket system.

As mentioned earlier your 7 day card is valid on the ferry to Djurgården:

http://www.waxholmsbolaget.se/visito...rry-terminals/

It is also valid on the museum trams to Djurgården :

http://www.djurgardslinjen.se/en/

You can use both the ferry and the tram to get to the open air museum Skansen which is really worth a visit if you have time :

http://www.skansen.se/en/kategori/english


I didn't understand your question about luggage earlier but now I think I do.
You are asking if there will be place enough on the commuter train for your luggage, am I right ?
I have used the commuter trains from/ to Arlanda the last 3 times I have been in Stockholm and they have never been more than half full, so lots of luggage shouldn't be a problem.