Stockholms Län Travel Forum

I would like to spend a half-day (about 6 hours) visiting one or two islands in the Stockholm archipelago, but the assortment of boat and excursion options is confusing. Ideally, I’d like to visit an island, walk around a bit, get back on a boat, visit another island and then return to Stockholm. Any experiences you have with traveling in the archipelago (which islands to visit, which boat to take, should I take a train to Vaxholm and then pick up a boat) would be appreciated.

There are no trains going to Vaxholm.

I hit the button too soon and didn't complete my answer above.

I might be (very) wrong but I don't think there's boat traffic like there's bus traffic in the archipelago. What I've seen is an "island hopper" card that is valid for 5 days but I don't know if that's what you're looking for. Info about this at http://www.waxholmsbolaget.se/skargardstrafik_/en/batluff.aspx. Otherwise, you could take one or 2 excursions (as you say you want to visit 2 islands). With a little luck you could make the 2 excursions in one day, depending on how the timetables look like. Another good boat excursion company is Strömma: http://www.stromma.se/en/Skargard/Stromma-Kanalbolaget/Day-trips/Drottningholm/ (it will show the different excursions).

Depending on what you like, you could visit Birka (if you would like to learn about Viking history or visit Sweden's oldest city), Vaxholm is very nice indeed or Fjäderholmarna. I have only taken the archipelago tour that doesn't let you get off on any island, tho. Good luck.

I hope this isn't too late... at this time of the year there are boats travelling to the archipelago very regularly, however, it does take quite a long time to get to the main islands. One island which is very nice and has sandy beach, rocks, water sports and is very pretty - is Grinda. this is about 1 and a half hours from the main city. Alternatively, you can take a bus from Slussen in the south island of the main city (södermalm) out to Värmdö (this should take somewhere between 20 minutes to an hour) and then take a boat from there, this might cut down the journey time...

Sandhamn and Möja are great but take a couple of hours to get to. You could stop at Grinda on the way to one of these islands, but you have to check the timetable to make sure the next boat will get you to your destination when you want...

hope that helps!