A Trip to the Stockholm Archipelago

Vaxholm is a short boat ride from Stockholm

We took a day trip to Vaxholm. Vaxholm is one of the islands in Stockholm’s archipelago, which encompasses more than 30,000 islands. Day tripping and short trips in these islands are popular amongst Stockholmers in the summer. You can read more about the archipelago here.

We navigated a few constraints for our trip. The oldest Cinnamon Stick has an easily upset tummy and frequently gets motion sickness. And both of the Sticks were a bit nervous about a boat ride. So we settled on Vaxholm after a small amount of research (apparently too little) since it had a short 50 minute boat ride.

Our trip started out a bit dubiously. There were apparently a lot of bookings to Vaxholm on our travel day, so we were shuffled over to on an additional boat they laid on to pick up the slack. This boat was smaller than the normal ferry and did nothing to alleviate the Cinnamon Stick nervousness. Here is the imitable Aphrodite IV:

The Cinnamon sticks did fine on the journey. And like most of our outings, there were many adorable babies and families nearby to hold our attention. We are happy to report no sea-sickness was involved. They spent most of the cruise reading their new books:

Here is Mrs. CB enjoying the view:

Here is the approach to Vaxholm:

The kids were quite hungry, so the first thing we did is enjoy a morning coffee and cinnamon bun:

At this point, my lack of planning had become apparent. The best beach for swimming was two miles away and 45 minutes by foot. No public transit was convenient. The kids were cranky, and things were not looking particularly hopeful. But Trip Advisor and our helpful waitress showed us a nearby “rocky beach” called Batteriparken. These types of swimming holes are quite popular around Stockholm and you often see people propped precariously on cliffs and boulders around Stockholm as they enjoy sun and swimming. Here is sunny Batteriparken:

We had a lovely time swimming and all of our early morning tensions drifted away in the brackish water of the Baltic Sea.

We noticed a café across the small inlet we were swimming in. It is called the Hembygdsgårds Café and has lovely outdoor seating overlooking the water. So, we decided to have lunch there:

We had a traditional lunch of salmon, ham sandwiches, and toast skagen (shrimps in mayonnaise). They had a tempting desert station:

It was a tough choice, but in the end we selected this beauty:

It’s a Swedish rulltårta and it was delightful way to end our Vaxholm visit.

To be continued…