2025-2026 New Year in Stockholm

My workplace gave a Christmas bonus and so I thought it would be a good idea to have a memorable holiday to Stockholm for New Years Eve, as we don’t take many holidays. I normally only travel through Stockholm for a specific purpose so it would also be a great chance to act like tourists and see more of the city. I also wanted to spend the new year around lots of people because we don’t get as much social contact during the winter.

Flights

Stockholm is about 5-6 hours drive from us, about the same distance as London to Edinburgh. As there isn’t much demand for local flights over the new year period, on this occasion it worked out cheaper to fly down to Stockholm from the local airport than to take the train. We could also take the midday flights instead of any early morning schedule, as we were on holiday instead of travelling for work. We made sure the battery was charged up on the car before parking it at the airport as we knew it would be below zero when we got back.

The plane (a Fokker 50) only had about 7-8 passengers on it and we arrived early, with Stockholm having more snow than the airport we had left up in the north, which isn’t common.

A Bit Chilly

We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport so that we didn’t travel hungry into Stockholm. We then purchased train tickets and headed to the underground station and took the train in. We were pretty tired and suddenly realised we had arrived at Stockholm Centralstation and jumped out. I think it only took about 20-25 minutes.

My wife didn’t have enough layers for the weather. It was about -8C and relatively humid air which increases how cold it feels. We took a look in the shops and found a great mid layer fleece, which she immediately put on under her coat and was much happier with.

We also looked in a couple of outdoor shops as also the major outdoor brands have their flagship shops here. I have a secret obsession for technical rucksacks but I cant justify more. Some of them were shut for the new years eve, but Patagonia, Haglöfs, North Face, Helly Hansen and similar all have shops in the city centre.

Spa visit

When planning the trip, I’d asked my wife for a list of anything she would really like from the holiday and her biggest wish was for a hotel with a spa or swimming pool. This is actually pretty tricky in Stockholm in winter because a lot of pools are outdoors and not open for the winter.

I did find one hotel with a spa however, and so when we arrived at the hotel we had a spa session already booked. I dont think I’ve ever been to a spa before. There are a lot of rules and etiquette around the spa facilities which everyone else seems to know, and I probably got them all wrong. I walked into the pool area, which was silent but surrounded by people on lounge beds and a perfect calm mirror surface on the pool. But I love swimming, so I just climbed in and started swimming in circles making lots of splashing noise. I cant see much without my glasses (short sighted) which ramps up the social anxiety when everyone is in swimsuits. I dont want to accidentally approach the wrong person thinking they are my wife or accidentally look like I’m looking at some body part of some person so I just swam in circles until my wife arrived and came over to say hello. She finds me hilarious.

I did lots of swimming and also mentally measured the pool, and daydreamed of what it would take to put one in the garden. And then heat it. And the kommune (council/municipality) would want planning permission if I put a roof on it. Maybe if we win the lottery.

We also tried the heated bubble seating area which was great. I could stay in that all day.

On leaving I did a pretty good impression of Mr Bean, by being a complete disaster.

• I sprayed myself with a horizontal cold water jet by accident in the shower because it had two modes instead of just the overhead option.
• I then sprayed myself a second time when I went back to turn it off because I realised the shower wasn’t an auto shutoff type. As I turned it off it switched to the horizontal mode again and blasted me, after I’d already dried myself.
• I realised I’d worn shoes into the changing room which is a UK thing – in Sweden you put them in lockers outside the changing room (where there is also a second locker).
• I opened the locker and then lost the keycard I’d opened it with, and that you have to return to the reception as you leave. I don’t even know how that is possible. I went around multiple times looking for it, then gave up and confessed to the receptionist. She said it was absolutely fine and wasn’t bothered at all.

I can see how once you’ve been once or twice you would understand all the different rules, and I did really enjoy getting a chance to swim.

Walk Around Stockholm

In the morning we checked out of the hotel and walked around to explore. We stopped by a great little cafe called Gast (ghost). It had sheep fleeces over all the seats, and upbeat music. We then headed in towards the main city centre where the sun was rising through the buildings.

Gamla Stan

The target was the old city (Gamla Stan) which has cobbled streets, old buildings with ironwork features, and a big collection of tourist shops. One of the major clothes brands has a shop here too which we visited, and my wife also looked inside some of the jewellery stores. The cold and crowds added some stress so after exploring a few streets and shops we nipped into another cafe to recharge.

Stockholm Cathedral

We visited Stockholm Cathedral which we managed to walk around every side of until we found the entrance. Inside the scale and age was impressive and the break from the cold was welcome. We had a rest. I was wryly envious of the straight brickwork compared to what I’d uncovered in our basement last week.

Boat Tour

After this we jumped on a boat tour, where we sat inside the cabin and a tour guide took us around the waterways while we looked out the windows covered in condensation. Some passengers went out on the open air roof to take photos but they came back looking frozen. There’s lots of different tour boats and we just got in the queue for the one that looked like it was departing next instead of booking a specific one.

Hotel Recharge

We spent the second night at a different hotel, Clarion Hotel Amaranten. We checked in and got some rest in the warm. We managed to rush out to a local supermarket just before they closed to get some food and drink and then stayed in until just before the new year. This hotel was a bit more upmarket than I’d normally stay at. I’m normally quite budget conscious but as this was a special occasion I’d budgeted a little more. So we had a quiet room with a view over the streets and a great morning breakfast.

New Years Eve

As the new year approached we headed down to the city centre waterfront where lots of people had gathered. We headed back to the hotel after the celebrations and got a good sleep.

Ice Bar

We had a good breakfast and then went to visit the Ice Bar. There’s an online booking system which I had a technical issue with, so I had emailed the staff and they manually booked me in and emailed confirmation and were really friendly and helpful about it. It’s a small bar with furniture made of ice and music playing, essentially within a freezer room. Drinks are served in glasses made of ice. Visitors get provided with a fleece-lined poncho and gloves. There was a big mix of drinks available and three non-alcoholic drinks (menu). It was a bit of fun and a fun photo opportunity. I feel a visitor does need a partner, or group, to make it entertaining for the full 45 minutes you have. Due to the lack of wind, it felt milder in the ice bar than in the snowy conditions outside.

Museums

We visited the Vasa Museum and the Viking Museum. If we had to do this again we’d have purchased tour bus tickets and travelled on them instead of walking. The museums were a couple of kilometres from the hotel which isn’t normally hard to walk but it was cold and a reasonable wind was blowing damp snow into our faces the entire walk.

The Vasa is a great big wooden warship that sank. The museum lets you visit 7 different viewing floors around the ship, with information and interactive displays at each level. Looking through the gun ports we could see the wooden hull was especially thick.

The viking museum I didn’t enjoy at first because there were a lot of people and I didn’t find the glass display cabinets compelling – but I think the cold outside had got to me a bit and was affecting my mood. But then we went on the tour-ride in the basement which is like a story telling cinema on wheels using dioramas and short movie clips and I found quite fun. The staff member supporting the ride was quite funny too.

Due to the new year holidays one of the other museums was shut nearby but normally there would be more museums to visit adjacent to these.

Bus Tour

We didn’t want to walk all the way back in the cold wind so we purchased tickets for the Redbus jump on/off tourbuss that go in laps around the city. We could alternately have taken the tram, or a standard bus.

It was also an excuse not to walk in the wind and snow, and to get some warmth. The tickets last 24 hours. An app shows the real time position of the buses, and a map with the route and stops.

It was dark by now and the lights made Stockholm pretty in a different way to the daytime.

We were about 2 stops from being right outside our hotel when at 17:10 the driver stopped the bus and told everyone it was the end. It was no big stress but I might plan the day out a bit better if I did it again.

Quick Bite

Up north we don’t have a wide variety of restaurants , especially outside the summer tourist season. So we looked around for somewhere interesting to eat. We had a great meal at a Thai restaurant. It wasn’t expensive, the portions were big and well prepared. It didn’t take long to arrive and the staff were friendly.

Time to go Home

It had been a lot of walking and a lot of cold and my wife had an injury. So the last day we stayed late in the hotel, and then headed to the airport. The local flight left from a much smaller terminal than the international flights and there were about 10 people on the plane, so it was less stressful than flying internationally.

It was a good little holiday, but also great to arrive back home