#61 Gröna Lund - Stockholms Amusement Park!

Last week, everyone's favourite place in Stockholm - Gröna Lund, opened its doors for the summer! This amusement park is located in the middle of Stockholm, on the edge of the island of Djurgarden. My favourite thing about Gröna Lund is that all the roller coasters give you not only a heart attack, but a fantastic view of Stockholm!!

{I didn't have my camera with me, so I will return this week and update this post asap with some fantastic pictures!}


I bought the Green Card for 220kr, which gives me free entrance, but no rides. However, it also gives me free entrance to all the concerts they have on during the summer. Most of the acts are Swedish and I don't know them, but there are a few big names like Fun, Kesha, Tenacious D, Slayer and Loreen.

On Saturday I went to see American band Fun, which was, well, fun! We also got the daypass, so we went on as many rides as we could until we were sick (for me, this was unfortunately literally!). Most of the lines were about 15 to 20mins which was fine, and then after the concert at about 9pm the lines were only 5 minutes long, which was fantastic! The park doesn't close until 11pm, so I would definitely recommend sticking around until closing when there are very short lines.

The roller coasters give a great view of Stockholm, even if it might be a little difficult to appreciate when you are being hurdled upside down at breakneck speed! Some of the rides also extend out over the water which is super cool too!
My favourites were Insane (the white and purple one), Twister (the wooden one), Jetline (the big blue one), and Kvasten (the red one). I didn't try the free fall ones because they make me really sick afterwards, but there's 3 of them and they're popular! There's also the new ride Eclipse, the worlds highest star flyer! It swings you around Stockholm and gives you the best view, but there are also usually lines of about an hour.

"Insane" rollercoaster

 Eclipse starflyer

 Jetline (blue) and Vilda Musen (purple) intertwine throughout the park

 Kvasten taking off

 The drop in Twister, it looks okay but it's steep!

Some of the extra play-to-win games

Some of the rides include: rollercoasters, waltzers, tunnel of love, bumper cars, sudden drop rides, kiddies rides (mini rollercoasters, spinning tea cups, carousel etc) ghost trains, and then lots of stalls were you have to shoot in the circle or something and you win a teddy bear, or a giant box of chocolate (but these all cost extra, between 15kr for one try and 100kr for a few).

Ticket info: Entrance to the park costs 100kr, and it is 310kr for a day pass for all the amusements (so 410kr total). Most of the rides cost about 60kr, so it could be cheaper to just buy some 20kr coupons, depending on what you want to go on. Other options include a Green Card for 220kr for free entrance all summer (no rides, but includes entrance to the concerts). You can only get tickets online if you have a nordic credit card, so your best option is the ticket office outside the park.
The park is located on Djurgarden, get the ferry from Slussen or the tram from Sergels Torg.

The park at night, as seen from the ferry

#57 Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden

Last weekend I visited Copenhagen and Malmo. I spent a full day and stayed overnight in Copenhagen, and then on the way home I spent a few hours in Malmo (soon to be home of the Eurovision!). We took the train from Stockholm, which takes about 5 hours and for students cost about 400kr.

Copenhagen
We saw pretty much all of Copenhagen in one day, but we were really, really tired afterwards! I would think it would be better to stay for a relaxing long weekend instead. It's possible to walk everywhere, the majority of sights are at most 30 minutes away. We took a free walking tour which was quite good and showed us around nearly all of the sights - but they do expect tips at the end!

Here are my Copenhagen highlights:

Changing of The Guard (daily at around 12)

Nyhavn - the colorful harbour

 One of the four buildings of the Royal Palace

The square with the Royal Palace's

Cute little area near the mermaid statue

Here she is!! Small, and not very centrally located, but a good sight to see!

The very little Mermaid

The small area where you can buy and smoke marijuana

No pictures allowed!

Nice church (I think you can climb it?)

Along the main shopping street

View from a round tower

Nice view

Danish-Swedish Oresund brige in background

The lego store

The statue of author hans christian andersen

A sneak peek at the amusement park - Tivoli

Halfway to Malmo on the Oresund bridge

So, Copenhagen is a lovely place! Here are some more details of the notable places:

If you haven't already heard - the famous symbol of Copenhagen - the Little Mermaid statue - is disappointing. It is small - about lifesize or smaller, and she sits on a small rock. However, once you know this it's not disappointing, you can go and get a picture because she is still a famous landmark, small or otherwise! She isn't in the city centre but she isn't that far either, and you can easily walk, passing by many popular places such as Nyhavn harbour on the way. There are some boat tours that claim they take you there but be careful as many of them just drive by, and I imagine she's too far to get a good photograph, plus also face the shore you would also only see her back!

Lego is Danish, but the flagship store is less than remarkable - it has a four large lego characters and lots of lego sets - and that's kind of it! So unless you especially like Lego it isn't very interesting.

Christiania - This is a colourful street where you can witness people buying and smoking weed in little stalls. You aren't allowed take pictures here - so be careful. I thought it was a safe enough area - once you don't get in anyone's way or draw attention to yourself. Also lots of tourists pass through here - so if you want to visit I think it's fine, but I know some people are hesitant.

Nyhavn - This nice little harbour area is that one place you see photographed all the time, but it is a bustling street full of cafés and outdoor seating, and a lovely place to walk around.

Malmo

Malmo is one of Sweden's bigger cities, located within one hour from Copenhagen via the Oresund bridge, and now the home of the 2013 Eurovision. Malmo is a small place, but very pretty. I am not entirely sure why it was chosen for the Eurovision (after living in Stockholm and visiting Gothenburg, these cities are much bigger and nicer for tourists) as it is quite small - and we had seen most of the place in about two hours! 

It looks like a nice place to live - but it doesn't offer much in the way of tourist attractions. I would recommend stopping here for a few hours if you're going to Copenhagen - but don't plan to spend too much time here either.

Here are some of the Malmo highlights:

 Starbucks coffee! One of the three in all of Sweden

 The (temporary) Eurovision countdown timer

 City Hall

 Lilla Torg (the old square)

 This thing. . ..

 The canal with lots of places to sit

 The skyscraper

A bridge

So that was basically Malmo in about two hours! There's a big shopping street with lots of shops and restaurants, a big park (we didn't visit) and there's lots of places to relax beside the picturesque canal. It was pretty, but I didn't think there was much to see or do there if you plan to spend more than a few hours.

#55 Gothenburg

This week I left Stockholm and took a day trip to Gothenburg, Sweden's second biggest city. Located about 3 hours away by train from Stockholm, it's an ideal place to visit while you're in Sweden. Gothenburg is a lot more open and peaceful than the capital city, and it just had a nice atmosphere in general.


Most of the key locations in Gothenburg are within walking distance from the central station, but if you want a travel card costs 75kr for one day. We had about seven hours before our train home left and had limited time to see everything, so we chose what we thought were the highlights.

 They have lots of trams! Super cute

The first thing was 'Skanskaskrapan' aka. Lipstick, which is a sky scraper with red on top. You can see it from outside central station, and really isn't that remarkable. The next location on our list was 'Tradgardforeningen' which is a park and greenhouse located 5 minutes from the station. You can go inside the greenhouse for free and see the exotic plants too which is nice.

If you walk through the park you will get to Kungsportsavenyn, which is a main shopping and retail street. It is a wide street and much more open than you will find in Stockholm. At the end of this street is Gotaplatsen, which features a statue of Poseidon and is one of the main symbols of Gothenburg. It is quite small but worth getting your picture taken beside it.

 Gotaplatsen

 The next location we found by accident while walking by. Skansen Kronan is a fort on top of a hill in the Haga district. It takes some energy to get to the top, but when you do there is a great view of Gotheburg that makes it worth it.

We then walked to Slottsskogen, a big park which is a little further away than everything else. There is a big playground here for children, as well as the Natural History Museum which is 40kr (but closed on Mondays so we couldn't enter!). The main attraction here is a type of free zoo, including a childrens petting zoo and pony rides (which are closed until summer) and I think also some seals and penguins (also closed). In the middle of the park are the main animal pens, which featured ponies, deer, ducks and geese, goats, sheep, peacocks and elk.

 We were luck to see him with his feathers up!

 Elk!

From the park we walked back towards the city and the Haga district. This is like the old town of Gothenburg, and it has one main street with cafes and boutique shops. After seeing the old town in Stockholm, this place isn't that remarkable but it is still nice to walk around. Also here you can get a giant kanelbulle (cinnamon roll) for 40kr. It isn't the best I've ever tasted, but it's not bad, plus it's fun to take a picture with it! I think one of these kanelbulle can definitely feed at least three people! You can get it at Cafe Husaren or another cafe beside it down the street.

And then finally we walked back towards the station. We walked as far as the quay side and the Gothenburg opera house, which was also quite nice. Back at the station, there are lots of shops and restaurants in the area and it's a nice place walk around.

Central station

So, to conclude, I would definitely recommend a trip to Gothenburg. As I was getting on the train I wished I was staying longer and could see more of the city, which doesn't happen to me very often. It is an open, clean city with a great relaxed atmosphere.

Gothenburg City coat of arms