Stockholm with kids

[PuffinShop]

We're planning a trip to Stockholm in July with children aged 7 and 5. It looks like a really lovely city for a break with kids. It's hard to know what to prioritise. Has anyone been or maybe lived there who has any good advice? We'll be there 5 nights (so 4 full days), staying quite centrally.

Is it worth taking a day trip to one of the archipelago islands? Is there one that is particularly good for a family with kids of this age?

I assume Skansen is a must see, and the Vasa museum? The amusement park is probably for older children, right?

Any recommendations on food? We'd probably self-cater for breakfast and lunch sandwiches/picnics but eat out in the evenings. I assume things are quite expensive but we're coming from Reykjavík so it will be hard to shock us with restaurant prices

The ABBA museum is really good fun.
You can hire kayaks in the city at various places
Yes to skansen and the vasa too. It's really not that much more expensive that the UK, however we live in London. Stockholm is almost entirely cashless so find a bank / credit card that doesn't charge fees as there is lots of tapping!

There used to be this incredible cafe tram running around near the centre where you got on and could have a coffee and cake. Just googled it though and not sure it is still running sadly.

I think there definitely are some things at Grona Lund for that age; it’s halfway between a fun fair and a theme park, I vaguely remember it was either free or a very small price to go in, because you pay for the ride individually or get a wrist band thing.

I would recommend taking a boat tour and there are always things going on in the Royal Palace too.

I studied in Uppsala which is a very pretty university city about half an hour on the train out of Stockholm with a lovely Cathedral and restaurants on the river etc.

DH and I went to Stockholm years ago (pre-kids) and had a fab holiday. Of the things we did I'd say Skansen would be particularly good for DC that age. The Vasa museum is fab. We also loved Drottningholm Palace and Gripsholm Palace, both a boat trip from the centre of Stockholm.

Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Junibacken! It’s an absolute must with kids that age.
Tekniska Museet has a lot to do. There is a ton of information (not all translated into English) and some fun things to play with.
The bottom level is the best with young kids. It is mostly interactive and there is also a play room like area.
Eriksdalsbadet has a few indoor and outdoor pools, slides and hot pools. There’s enough space for people who want to play in the water without disturbing those who want to swim laps.
AquariaWater Museum is small and low key but our kids enjoyed it. There’s a humid rainforest, coral reefs anda glassed in part where the kids couldcrawl through part of the aquarium.

Thanks everybody! Junibacken is the Astrid Lindgren museum, isn't it? My kids love a lot of her books so they would definitely like that. And we all love a science museum! We speak Icelandic, so we can read Swedish a little bit (though not speak it).

We'll definitely be doing something on a boat. My youngest gets sea sick if the waters are rough but I assume that's not an issue in those waters in July.

Peeking into your thread Puffin, as Stockholm is on my bucket list. DH always wants to go somewhere hot for holidays, but I'm hoping to persuade him on the joys of Sweden before the kids get too old to come!

The Vasa ship museum is great. I don’t normally like this type of museum but it was really interesting! It’s pretty central too.

www.vasamuseet.se/en

We went with a 3 and 5 year old just before the pandemic and had a fabulous time. We were at the end of Aug so just after the Swedish holidays which meant everything was quieter - I don’t know what July will be like, a lot busier I guess.

I was going to recommend the cafe tram, very sad to hear that may have closed. Skansen and Junibacken were both really great.

The metro system in Stockholm has lots of interesting art and some stations are carved out of rock - my train/transport loving kids thought it was amazing.

In general we found Stockholm really child friendly - lots of playgrounds peppered around that kept small children happy between sight seeing. And obviously lots of cake and pastries!

We didn’t make it here but it looked really good:

www.tomtit.se/

And this i think is the website of the heritage tram service that runs/ran through cafe tram - if you can read Swedish you should be able to work out if it’s still running. It looks like the heritage teams will start up again in spring but I can’t find anything about the cafe car:

www.djurgardslinjen.se/

Yeah I knew about the school holidays - unfortunately we are on roughly the same system as Sweden and if we go on summer holiday it has to be July.

Thanks for the ideas! I think it's going to be a good trip!

Skansen, Junibacken - definite yes to one of the archipelago islands - not sure how to spell it but 'feedaholma' (phoentically spelt) is one of the closest islands to Stockholm, from memory circa 30mins by boat and an easy day trip. From memory there was a pirate ship playground, ice cream stall and everywhere easily walkable with children of that age. Heading out further into the archipelago would also be great for one of the islands you can get a steamer boat oneway and a regular boat on the way back.

Yes to all of this and also we love Grinda as an island :-)

Grinda looks like an amazing place for exploring and picnics, I am making a note of that!

Is the sea swimming for quite hardy folk? I have been in the sea in the UK (including once in Scotland) but my children are very used to heated pools.

We were there during a heatwave a few years ago. The sea was much warmer than it is around Scotland. The Vasa museum is not to be missed. My teens loved Tivoli Gardens but I'm not sure what the best age range for that is.
Public transport, including the ferries, is very easy to use, we had passes for the week we were there. The cakes are very good, if you like cardamom and cinnamon!