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A couple of weeks ago Jumbo Hostel rolled into its place at Arlanda Airport (Stockholm, Sweden), but it will be a few more months before it can start receiving its first guests. And the rumors are that allegedly there are alleged problems with utility hookups and proper permits. Let’s just hope they will manage to sort it all out in time. And let’s also hope that their prices will be really as affordable as they claim they will be.

image: Jumbo Hostel

But if you find yourself at Arlanda at night and don’t want to sleep in the terminal (which is not that bad really, that’s my preferred budget option of spending the night there) you have the following choices:

Radisson SAS SkyCity Hotel, fully integrated with the terminal and with rates that will make your groin hurt. Apart from business people with fat expense accounts and foreign travel journalists on fully-paid press trips who later rave about the experience, I don’t know anyone who can afford to stay there. Single rooms (or coffins, or cupboards) start at 200 euro (additional taxes and charges may apply).

A short shuttle ride from the airport there is another one of the Radisson SAS hotels – Radisson SAS Arlandia. I like this particular hotel, because it allows pets (albeit only in their smoking rooms – I guess they figured that pet owners don’t mind the cigarette stench and that smokers aren’t allergic to cat hair). A coffin at Arlandia will set you back about a 100 euro (additional taxes also may apply). It’s a typical business hotel with all the typical business amenities. Boring, drab, but comfortable. That is, if and when you manage to get a room there – the place seems always fully booked.
Link to the Radisson SAS website here.

Ibis Arlanda is located about 1,5 km from the airport, has a shuttle bus and their prices vary from a 100 to 80 euro. Or even lower, if you happen to read Swedish and can tell them you are going on a charter vacation the next morning. The only problem with Ibis Arlanda? It tends to be always fully booked. Their breakfasts are horrid and will set you back 7 euro (not included in the room rate). Pets not allowed.

Park Inn Arlanda – 4 km from the airport and you have to call them to send a shuttle for you. The only good thing about this place is that they have special rates if you have a flight the following morning but you must show your valid airline/charter ticket upon check-in. And they will verify it, too! So, no lying! But the special rates are really great: 65 euro for a single, and 70 for a double (taxes may apply), breakfast included.

Nova Park Hotel only has a booking page in Swedish, and even then it’s difficult to find the most important stuff – namely, their rates (start at 150 euro). So let’s skip this hotel.

Arlanda Hotellby has rooms starting at 70 euro AND they offer free internet (you have to pay for it at all the others). It’s a hotel designed to look like a village with the main reception building in the center. “Hotellby” literally means “hotel village“. They also have a free airport shuttle, but you have to call for it. No, there aren’t any courtesy phones at the airport, you need to use your own mobile.

Quality Hotel Arlanda has just about the most complicated pricing structure I’ve seen in Sweden. That alone is a good enough reason for me not to stay there. Let’s just say that a single coffin can very in prices from 80 to 120 euro. Breakfast may or may not be included. And you need to call for their shuttle, too.

And then there’s Rest & Fly right inside the airport, between terminals 4 and 5. Modeled on a Japanese capsule hotel, it’s just that – a Swedish take on a hotel by the hour. It ain’t cheap either , 60 euro for 10 hours (after that, it’s about 3 euro per hour), but the single rooms are always fully booked. Showers in the hallway, breakfast (a total rip off, you’d be better off getting something inside the terminal, even at 7-11) is extra. This place is always full and always crowded. The rooms are the smallest coffins ever, but at that price right inside the airport you really can’t complain.

Which brings me to my original thought – how much will Jumbo Hostel charge? I’m guessing – about 70 euro. It seems to be the going “budget” rate.

Stockholm City Bikes is a scheme similar to those already existing in other European cities. And even though there is only one more month left in the bike rental season in 2008 (ends October 31), it’s a handy tip for next year when the bike stands open again in April.

image from Stockholm City Bikes

How does it work?

In order to rent a bike, you need to purchase a bike card, and in order to purchase a bike card, you need to be over 18 years of age and present a valid ID. You can buy the card on the Stockholm City Bikes website, or at the Stockholm Tourist Information Office (Hamngatan 27) or at the SL (Stockholm City public transportation authority) Centers at the following locations: Fridhemsplan, Gullmarsplan, Tekniska Högskolan, Sergels Torg, Slussen, Täby C and T-Centralen.

There are two choices for the cards: a 3-day card and a season’s pass. The 3-day card costs 125 SEK.
With the card in hand you can go any of the 60 self-service bike stands and pick up a bike. There are a couple of things you need to remember.

1. You can only rent a bike between 6AM and 6PM. The website cheerfully announces that you can return the bike anytime. But that is not exactly true, because:
2. The maximum time you can rent a bike for is 3 hours. And that means the last return time should be around 9PM. After that, you’re out of luck.
3. During the day, if you’re 3 hours are up, you can return the bike and immediately hire another.

Even with those limitations, the program seems very popular with tourists. The bikes on offer are sturdy types suitable for even an inexperienced bike rider.
Riding a bike in Stockholm is an easy and safe, not to mention eco-friendly, option. Most streets have designated bike lanes and regular drivers, by and large, seem to follow the rules of the road.

Minuses: When we tried to use the scheme earlier this summer, several of the bikes at each stand we visited were damaged and it took quite some time to find one that was useable.
When you rent a bike and ride around, parking it temporarily can be a problem, if you don’t carry your own bike lock. Your only option will be to return the bike to another rental station and then pick up a new one.
Limited rental hours are a huge minus, at least to me, and especially in the summer, when it’s still bright outside after 9PM and you want to continue exploring the city.

Hotels in Scandinavia are expensive, that goes without saying. Hostels are a bit cheaper, but they can be hit or miss, or most likely – fully booked. And while renting out private apartments, or rooms in private apartments to tourists, is not as popular as, let’s say in France, if you’re willing to give it a shot, you could save a considerable amount of money. And if you’re traveling in Sweden, then money will be on your mind a lot.

One place that I always try before I start looking for a hotel is Gästrummet in Stockholm. “Gästrummet” means a “guest room” in Swedish, but the service offers much more than that. Run by the lovely Birgitta, who is fast, efficient, and very professional, Gästrummet lists a variety of properties in Stockholm (and now also in Copenhagen, Rome and Madeira) offering a B&B type of stay. You can either rent a room in an apartment, or a whole apartment, depending on what your needs are.

And the best part? The prices! They’re reasonable. And the apartments? They’re located in trendy, hip areas where visitors want to be.

Even though the service labels itself as a B&B, breakfast may or may not be included. It never is for the apartments I choose. But at those prices, really, who can complain?

My favorite Gästrummet property is the lovely apartment in Gamla Stan (Old Town) in Stockholm on Kornhamnstorg. On the fifth floor in an ancient building, the apartment is small, but still bigger than any hotel room you could find for that price in the same area. And it has a jacuzzi style bathtub! Now, try to find a hotel room in Gamla Stan for the same price (1350 SEK for one or two people) with a view over the rooftops of the Old Town, crawling distance to the subway, and yes, with a jacuzzi bathtub!

The apartment I’m describing is on the top floor of this lovely building in the middle.

If you want to book just a single room in an apartment shared with a host, or another guest, prices start at around 400 SEK per person.

While Gästrummet may list fewer properties than other services of this type, it makes up for it with the quality of the accommodations it offers. Many of the owners are very well informed about cultural events, know how to get tickets to special events, exhibits, etc.

Ok, so what’s the catch? You have to book for 2 nights minimum, and if you call, your call will go to voicemail. It’s much easier to communicate with them via email. Oh, and if you smoke, you’re out of luck. All of their properties are strictly non-smoking.

Much has been written about the lack of affordable accommodation in Stockholm. And unfortunately, much of what has been written is very true. If you want a cheap place to stay at in Stockholm you need to book far in advance, can’t be too picky about the locations (and the kind of travelers you’ll meet at certain establishments), or forget about hostels altogether and turn to the likes of couchsurfing.

One hostel however, that always seems to have a room, or a bed, is The Red Boat (Den Röda Båten). This may be due to the fact that if you stayed there once, even if it was affordable, chances are you will not stay there again unless you really absolutely have to. And that’s exactly what happened to me this summer. I had spent 3 days on the Red Boat two years ago and swore “never again”, but this summer, forced by the circumstances (read: nothing else available in the greater Stockholm area) I found myself on the boat yet again. And this time it wasn’t as bad as I had remembered it.

The Red Boat Hotel and Hostel is actually two boats, but who’s counting? Mälaren (the red one) where the main reception and some rooms are located, and M/S Ran (the white one) with additional hotel and hostel rooms. In between the two, there is yet another boat – this one with a bar and a restaurant, which as I understand it, is not affiliated with the hotel at all. The bar with its fake palm trees, tacky marine theme, live music and magnificent views of Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s Old City) is quite agreeable and not a bad place to sip an outrageously expensive beer. When the weather’s nice, the views alone make you forget about the highway robbery prices. The service is quite nice and attentive, too.

And then you go back to your hostel cabin and the reality and the stench hit you. The reality, because the hostel cabins are painfully small. And the stench, because if you happen to have a cabin facing towards the street, your nose will be perfectly aligned with the exhaust pipes of the cars zooming there all night. Because the cabins don’t have any other ventilation, your choices are: keep the window open and breathe the fumes, or close the window and suffocate. So when booking your room, make sure you insist on a cabin facing the open water. The sewer smell coming from that side is hardly noticeable, especially in windy weather.

And did I mention that the cabins are small? I haven’t had the dubious pleasure of testing out the 10-bed dorm room, but the double, triple and quad cabins are just that – tiny closets on a boat, sometimes with an extra bed crammed in for extra profit. In the summer months, they can get rather damp and smelly. They’re also rather filthy. The same goes for the hostel bathroom – bring plastic flip flops to wear in the shower.

The boats don’t have any kitchen facilities for their hostel guests, and bringing and consuming food products in the rooms is not allowed. You can get breakfast on The Red Boat for 65SEK but why bother when you are in the middle of Stockholm and other options are nearby?

The hostel prices start at 450SEK per single room, 590SEK for a twin bunk, and 1040SEK for a 4-bed cabin. A bed in a 10-bunk cabin is 230SEK per night. Sheets (but not towels) are included in the price.

In short:
Pluses: the location is great and the prices are OK
Minuses: I understand it’s a boat and the cabins are tiny. What I don’t understand is the grime, gunk and general filth, especially on M/S Ran.

Skyways, a Swedish budget airline operating out of Arlanda airport in Stockholm, is rumoured to be shutting down its Arlanda-based operations and cutting down routes. It’s believed that the airline will still fly out of Stockholm-Arlanda to Karlstad, Visby, Halmstad, Jönköping, Växjö and Kristianstad (domestic routes), as well as continue the connection between Karlstad and Copenhagen (Denmark).

photo: Skyways.se

According to the info from Arlanda (from the horse’s mouth so to speak, someone just texted it to me after talking to a Skyways employee) 70 pilots and about 30 cabin staff are expected to lose their jobs.

The future of Skyways routes to northern Sweden is uncertain, which is a pity as the airline serves some truly unique and hard to reach destinations, including several ski resorts. So if you plan to go skiing in Sweden this season, you should perhaps be cautious and book your flight on a different carrier. Better to be safe and pay more than be stuck at the airport later on.

Bizarrely, I can’t find any new press releases on the airline’s website regarding this new development. The information I have comes from a Skyways pilot at Arlanda airport in Stockholm and a local Swedish newspaper. Are things over at Skyways really THAT bad they don’t have anyone left on staff to update their website?

So it looks like Skyways has become yet another casualty of high fuel prices.

Who’s next?

When in 1994 the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list, it immediately made me wonder if perhaps there was an acute shortage of more worthy sites. The cemetery is lovely, green and big, but it’s just that – a cemetery. The lady at the Stockholm Tourist Office tried her best to convince me it was worth a visit. But when asked what was so special about it (my favorite question to annoy tourist office employees the world over) she gave me a typically Swedish blank stare.

“Well, Greta Garbo is buried there,” she finally mumbled. And that was it. She couldn’t tell me anything about the supposedly exquisite blend of architecture and landscape planning. She couldn’t tell me anything about the cemetery’s history, and she didn’t know the opening hours of its visitors’ center. No brochures on the subject were available either. Great.

And that’s how one early morning last week I found myself boarding the number 18 subway train (direction: Farsta) heading for Skogskyrkogården, which to make things easier is also the name of the station where you need to get off. Finding the cemetery is easy as well – just exit the station and turn right.

I arrived at the main gate at 9AM badly needing to pee, only to find out that the visitors’ center didn’t open until 11AM. Having no other choice but to take a photo of the posted map (no small maps available at the entrance) I began my search for a restroom. The first location was locked due to water damage, the second didn’t even have a note explaining why it was closed. The third had a sign with opening hours of 11AM to 4PM during weekdays (hmmm, and just what are people supposed to do outside those hours and on weekends?) and a helpful note directing me to the visitors’ center. Which was also closed. Finally, just when I was pondering doing my business in the woods, I found an open toilet opposite Skogskapellet. You’d think that a UNESCO World Heritage site in a major European city would be better prepared for the needs of tourists… But anyway…

On the other side of Skogskapellet was the reason for my trip – the grave of Greta Garbo.

photo: Anna Etmanska

After visiting Ms. Garbo, I went exploring further into the woods with the plan to see the “Muslim Quarter”. Alas, my plan was interrupted by a funeral in progress. The Woodland Cemetery is still very much in use and I can only imagine the discomfort of grieving relatives being watched by wandering, clueless foreign tourists.

When at 11:15AM the visitors’ center was still closed, I gave up and headed towards the exit. On my way out I met a group of French girls, who wanted to know where the toilets were.

Skogskyrkogården is a really lovely place to visit. I’m sure it would have been an even lovelier place to visit with a bit of proper tourist-oriented planning on the part of its management.
And just so you know, the visitors’ center is only open during summer - this year it closes on September 7.

Ever fancied driving from Bodø in Norway to Murmansk in Russia? Me neither. But that’s exactly what we did earlier this summer. Or rather, almost did, as we finished our trip in Finland – getting a Russian visa to continue all the way to Murmansk was just too much hassle. Instead, we decided to stop in Salla, a lovely municipality in Finland, with a motto of “In The Middle Of Nowhere.” And yes, Salla didn’t lie – it was totally in the middle of nowhere.

But first things first. What is the Barents Road? Stretching for more than 1500 kilometers from Norway to Russia and crossing the Arctic Circle twice, it’s an ancient trading route from the times when the reindeer sled was the preferred mode of transport. Things are much more comfortable these days, and you can travel either by bus, or drive.

The adventure begins in the Norwegian coastal city of Bodø just north of the Arctic Circle. From there, the road snakes along a fjord to Fauske and then continues through wild nature via Saltdal to Sweden. After crossing into Sweden, you’ll also cross the Arctic Circle on your way to Arjeplog. Many people are quick to say that Arjeplog is the last untouched wilderness in Europe. Personally, I didn’t find it at all enchanting. The Silver Museum however, with the largest collection of Sami silver in the world was quite nice. From Arjeplog we pressed on through Arvidsjaur to Luleå. Luleå has long been one of my favorite towns in Sweden. It bills itself as a shopping destination, but in my opinion that’s a bit of an overstatement. It’s also the home of Gammelstad Church Town – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is definitely worth a visit.

Image courtesy of the Barents Road Organization

From Luleå it’s a short trip to Haparanda, or Tornio, as it’s known on the Finnish side. Technically, it’s one town divided by a river and a time zone – Finland is one hour ahead of Sweden. From Tornio, it’s just a quick drive to Rovaniemi, the official home of Santa Klaus. How this perfectly unremarkable little town has been turned into a major tourist destination is a testament to the power of PR and advertising. We attempted to be there for the Jutajaiset International Folk Festival, but missed it by a couple of days. The dates for the 2009 festival are June 18 to 28 and next year I definitely plan to be there on time.

After Rovaniemi, you cross the Arctic Circle again, this time going north, and it’s easy driving all the way to Salla – In The Middle Of Nowhere. The Salla border crossing into Russia was reopened in 2002 and if you have a Russian visa, you can continue all the way to Murmansk. But even if you have a valid visa, make sure you can take your car into Russia without any problems. Nobody seemed to be able to answer our questions regarding car insurance and required documentation, and since it sounded like too much trouble to go through with both the car and the visa, we turned around and headed south to Vaasa instead, and back home to Sweden.

We drove in our own car and stayed in rented cottages at camping grounds along the way. Prices varied from 200 to 350SEK per night per person, only because I insisted on a cottage with a bathroom, I’m not a “shared facilities” kinda person.

If you plan to rent a car, make sure you inform the rental agent you want to take the car out of the country and be sure to purchase appropriate insurance. Despite Norway, Sweden and Finland all belonging to the Schengen zone, they all have different laws when it comes to rental motor vehicles and it’s best to be safe than sorry.

So, was it all worth it? Absolutely! I plan to do it again, this time in winter!

Malmö used to get a bad rap. Back in the olden days it was a grimy, industrial city filled with the sort of grimy, industrial stuff you’d normally find in such places. Fortunately, those days are long gone, and now clean and sparkling Malmö is giving Stockholm a run for its money. Some pundits disregard the city as a suburb of Copenhagen of sorts, but it’s precisely the proximity to Denmark that fuels Malmö’s cosmopolitan revival.

Since 1985 the city has been organizing the annual Malmö Festival, which as of now, is the largest free of charge cultural event in Sweden. This year’s festival is held on August 15 – 22, and as in the past is chock full of attractions to satisfy all tastes and interests – from food to film and music.

The food reflects Malmö’s ethnic diversity with offerings from Asia, Middle East, West Africa and Latin America. You can even try some exotic fusions like moose stir-fry, or reindeer kebabs. All in all, I have counted more than a hundred of different food options available this year.

The music program is just as diverse. Malmö’s own Arash is the top star (at least he would be to me - though some may say that the honor goes to Flogging Molly from the US), and the genres represented span everything from classical music to American hip-hop.

photo courtesy of Malmöfestivalen

When it comes to film, this year Malmö is trying something different – showing silent classics set to modern music. Personally, I’d like to see “The Battleship Potemkin” accompanied by a live punk performance by The Static, scheduled for Friday, August 22 at 7:30PM.

All events are free (though the food is not) thanks to the generous sponsorship of the city and many local businesses.

Because of Malmö’s proximity to Copenhagen, getting there is a snap – just hop on the train, the trip takes about 35 minutes and costs about 10 euros one way. In fact, it’s been estimated that the majority of festival visitors are indeed from across the Öresund strait. Unfortunately, the festival organizers can’t quite keep up with the event’s popularity and the English language section of the festival’s website provides only the most rudimentary, useless information.

Luckily, the official Malmö city website is excellent and filled with tips, tourist suggestions, and other handy bits of information, in English naturally.

Crystal Plaza Hotel in Stockholm (Birger Jarlsgatan 35, 111 45 Stockholm) is one of the Excellence Hotels properties, which judging from the Crystal Plaza example, are excellent only in the name.

The hotel has 111 rooms, but if you are a lone traveler like myself, you will most likely be spending your nights in a hole that vaguely resembles a coffin. My room was not really a room, but a narrow space with a bed alcove and nothing else. It was so tiny that there was no place for even a TV – a flat screen was suspended at an odd angle on a wall facing the bed. I’m rather short but when stretched out on the bed I managed to touch all four walls with my arms and legs. Well, didn’t I tell you it was a coffin?

The bathroom was equally miniscule (shower cubicle at 18 inches!) and devoid of the usual hotel toiletries. “We don’t provide that,” I was told by a cheery guy at the front desk. How about some facial tissue? I was told housekeeping would bring some up, but they never did. I finally located a housekeeping cart myself, however there was no tissue there. I had to make do with an additional roll of toilet paper.

Rooms do vary at Crystal Plaza, that’s for sure. My friend on another floor had a bigger room and even a bathtub in her bathroom. And she paid less than I did. But hers was a smoking room.

The single rooms come in three sizes: small single, standard single and large single. I have yet to distinguish between them – regardless of the type I book, I end up in a coffin.

The room rate includes a breakfast buffet, which is as unremarkable as any other hotel breakfast buffet the world over. The problem at Crystal Plaza is that due to its popular location, the hotel is always full, and the breakfast buffet is always crowded. The service, on the other hand, is glacially slow.

The dining option consists of Ming – a vaguely Asian restaurant. Be forewarned – as all “Asian” food in Sweden, it has been modified to suit the local tastes. Some items on the menu have rather strange English translations – “kokos” was translated as “cocoa”, which of course it’s not (“kokos” means “coconut”).

What the hotel has going for it is indeed its location. It’s right smack in the centre of hip, cool Östermalm close to nightlife, bars, concert venues, shopping and good restaurants. A subway stop is only a short walk away.

The front desk staff are as helpful as they can be and truly go out of their way to please the guests. And the guests can be a handful. While I was there, a group of Spaniards on a package-trip was complaining rather loudly about their miniscule rooms.

The rates really vary. For some days a single can be as high as 1500SEK for a standard single during the week, and as low as 900SEK during the weekend. The rate can go even lower if you book it through Hotels.se - the 900SEK weekend rate found on the Crystal Plaza website morphed into 670SEK on Hotels.se

Photo: Anna Etmanska

In short:
Pluses: beds are divine, reasonably priced and the location is great
Minuses: everything else

SAS have flights from London to Stockholm from £56 and if you arrive during August you qualify for a free 5 day Island Hopper tickets which allows unlimited travel on the ferries of the Stockholm Archipelago. The Hopper Ticket usually costs 340 SEK around £28.

I did a search for availability of the offer price flights departing London on 20 August 2008 and returning on Monday 25 August. The price was £125 for the return flight. However I looked on the Ryanair site for flights on these dates and found a Ryanair flight to Stockholm for around £50 but you have to consider the airports used and the time and expense getting too and from the airport.

It just highlights that you shouldn’t be too impressed when you see a special offer, it’s always worth spending some time looking at alternatives but do weigh up factors such as convenience too.