Stockholm City Break on a Budget.
Throughout 2024, I challenged myself to visit a new destination each month. BUT, the challenge was to have each trip cost a TOTAL of £250. On top of this, I have a full time job so I had to do this around my holiday allowance. For some reason, I seem to enjoy making things difficult for myself by visiting expensive places. Anyway, for part 9, i spent 4 days on a city break in Stockholm for my budget holiday. Some trips I did solo but for this trip, I went with a friend.
Some important things to note here are that I don’t include transportation to and from the airport in the UK. The reason being, it is so different for everyone. So, I can’t give a reasonable figure that is suitable for all travellers. Equally, everything I do include can be replicated by the vast majority of people.
Anyway, here’s how it went.
Gamla Stan, Stockholm Old Town
Cheap Flights for your Stockholm Holiday
For this trip, I managed to find flights at an incredible price! They were only £32 return. Departure was from Birmingham, at 9am Wednesday and arrived into to Stockholm at 12.20pm. Then, the return left Stockholm at 3.20pm on Saturday and arrived back at 4.50pm. I took just a small carry on bag and didn’t select my seat. This meant there was no extra costs other than the flight price, which is ideal for a budget city break.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that some people want the comfort of extra luggage and having a chosen seat. Equally, I’m here to show you that the more efficiently you can be with your money, the more opportunity you have for additional trips because you’re not spending unnecessarily.
Flights for this price are a lot easier to find and more common than a lot of people think. If you struggle to find these prices, and want to guarantee best prices on flights, check out my expert guide. Click here and use the code BLOG for another 25% off the marked price.
Djurgardsfarjen
Accommodation in Stockholm on a Budget
I always list accommodation per person. So, as I travelled with a friend for this Stockholm city break holiday, the price was split between us.
Accommodation was a bit pricey compared to usual. This was partly due to the prices in Stockholm and partly because I booked it late. However, we had a good sized studio apartment with all the necessary facilities. This included two single beds, kitchen facilities, sofa, TV, dining table, washing machine and shower room/ toilet. The total price for this was £180 so £90 each. If you’re travelling solo there are definitely options for less than £90, if you’re more organised and book early!
Some great places to check for accommodation for your Stockholm holiday and other destinations, are TripAdvisor. Or, if you’re happy to use hostels for even more savings, try Hostelworld.
Vaxholm, Stockholm Archipelago
Activities for Stockholm on a Budget
Stockholm is known to be an expensive city break holiday destination. However, I still had a good amount of my budget left once I arrived, due to the cheap flights.
Day 1 –
We didn’t get to the city until around 2pm. So, we got our bearings and explored Gamla Stan for the rest of the day. This is the old town and one of the main areas to visit in Stockholm. It’s honestly beautiful. If you enjoy old town architecture, quirky cafes and a good vibe, make sure to visit Gamla Stan!
Day 2 –
On day 2, we caught a boat to an island called Djurgardsfarjen. The cost of the boat was included in a transport card we bought, as described in the transport section below. On Djurgardsfarjen, we went to an open air museum called Skansen. This is a place showcasing what life used to be like in Sweden and it also had a walking safari type thing with it. The cost was 200 SEK to enter (£14.85) and you can find tickets here. After this, we went to a Nordic museum, still on Djurgardsfarjen. This museum went through the history of life in the Nordic region and how people have survived alongside the ice. You can book this here, it cost us 170 SEK (£12.62) and is very interesting.
Djurgardsfarjen was very pretty in general, so we explored here for the rest of the afternoon. There are also lots of other museums and galleries in this area as well! We went a different route off the island (via a tram), and went sunset chasing. Unfortunately, the places we went weren’t the best due to the time of year.
Day 3 –
Today we caught another boat (again included in the transport card) to an island called Vaxholm. This island is known as the capital of the archipelago (I didn’t know Stockholm has an archipelago either). This was an absolutely gorgeous place and I would suggest anyone to visit if you’re in Stockholm! The island is only 3km in length so, we ate lunch and decided to walk around the whole island. Honestly, it was all stunning and well worth the walk! Obviously, walking is free! Then, in the evening, we went exploring the old town (Gamla Stan) again, and had a couple of beers in a bar. Beers cost around £8 a pint 🥴 so an extra £16ish.
Day 4 –
For our final day, we started the morning with a visit to the Stockholm city museum which was free. This museum takes you through the history of Stockholm, from the date it was established in the 1200’s, up to the current day. We then tried to go to a skybar and a market but both were closed which was an absolute failure but then we had to go back to the airport. So, I would have spent a bit more if my organisation wasn’t so poor 😅.
So, the total cost of activities for this holiday to Stockholm was £43.47. Another thing to consider to save money in Stockholm is the city pass. The city pass includes entry for over 50 attractions.
Fabrique Slussplan Cafe
Food and Drinks on Your Stockholm City Break.
Usually, I try to find accommodation with kitchen facilities to help bring costs down. Fortunately, the accommodation we found did have kitchen facilities which helps massively with overspending on these budget trips.
Day 1
On day one, we bought stuff for sandwiches to last the whole trip, from Lidl. This included a loaf of bread, 400g of ham, 300g of Gouda and 4 protein yogurts. This came to 163.20 SEK (£12.12) each, and was enough for lunch every day – 40.8 sek (£3.03) per day. For dinner however, we ate out at a traditional restaurant in Gamla Stan. I had a traditional serving of meatballs, mashed potato and vegetables, and just drank the table water they gave us. This totaled 240 SEK (£17.82).
Day 2
Despite buying lunch from the supermarket, I ended up eating lunch out at a Japanese place but it was quite a good price. I had spicy miso ramen for 145 SEK (£10.76). Then, I ate the supermarket lunch from yesterday in the evening. I generally only eat two meals when I’m out doing stuff but the sandwiches I make are BIG! I also ate some sort of pastry at the open air museum. The pastry cost about £3.50 I think but I forgot to write it down!
Day 3
Again, for lunch we had the sandwiches etc we bought on day 1 (£3.03). For dinner today we bought some stuff from the supermarket and made a Bolognese. This was 500g of mince, 500g of pasta, a jar of sauce and a bag of frozen veg, totalling 93.60 SEK (£6.94) / 2 = £3.47 each. I also had a coffee in the morning which cost 45 SEK (£3.34).
Day 4
For our final day, we only needed one meal today due to the flight time. This was the supermarket lunch we had every other day (£3.03).
So, the total cost of food and drink across this budget trip to Paris was £51.01.
Skansen, Djurgardsfarjen
Transportation in Stockholm on a Budget
I bought a transport card when I arrived at the airport. This was for 72 hours which covered the whole duration of my Stockholm city break. This cost 270 SEK (£20.04), so £5.01 per day and covered all travel in the city. I did though, get caught out because it doesn’t cover transport to and from the airport which was 230 sek (£17.07) one way. So, the only extra cost for transportation was for the journey back to the airport. However, we got a bus back to the airport, which was cheaper than the train at 169 SEK (£12.40). You can buy a ticket for the transfer from the airport here.
This brought the total for transportation to £49.51.
Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm City Break – Conclusion
So, the total for this budget Stockholm city break was £265.99. Which, is slightly over the £250 budget however, I think this was still quite reasonable. Especially considering the price of the accommodation and with Stockholm being an expensive holiday destination. So, I probably would not recommend Stockholm as a budget destination. It can be done, but you can find yourself easily overspending or, maybe feeling restricted during your stay.
Flights – £32
Accommodation – £90
Activities – £43.47
Food & Drinks – £51.01
Transportation – £49.51
Total for 72 cheap hours in Stockholm – £265.99
Let me know in the comments if you like this post. Or, if you have any suggestions of things the community can do on their Stockholm trip. Thanks for reading! Check out the other trips I have done for this £250 series – Bucharest, Sofia, Lake Como, Marrakech, Geneva/ Annecy, Albania, Copenhagen, and Paris.
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