Sweden
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Travel Tips
When camping for the first time in Sweden, it is obligatory to have a Scandinavian camping card which costs 90 SEK and can be bought wherever you choose to camp. Although we were two it was sufficient if only one bought the camping card.
Aljaz Prusnik, Slovenia (Aug 05)
In a typical Swedish house - both in the city and in the country side, it is almost a sin not to remove your shoes when you step inside. A host would be (very) offended if you didn't take your shoes off. Even if the host would say to her guest that he/she can leave the shoes on, you should still remove them as a courtesy to the host.
Ylva Drougge, Belgium (Jul 05)
The Ales Stenar Stone circle near Ystad in Sweden is at the village of Kaseberga. Ales Stenar is a little tricky to find without this information or a good map as it is not signposted from the main roads.
Ian Brazewell, UK (Sep 02)
Idre: A hint for people who like reindeer (like me): I saw many of them near the parking on Nipfjället (signed from Idre; after the "Magic Road"). They are quite tame (that means they come relatively close and don't seem to be disturbed by humans). I don't know if I've only been lucky or if there's always a good chance of spotting reindeer there, but I think it's worth trying.
Andy Stock, Germany (Aug 02)
Moving About
I have been travelling through Scandanavia and recently took the RGLine ferry from Vaasa (Finland) to Umea (Sweden). Please note that as of 1st October 2005 there are no longer any bus connections. You need to book a taxi using the cafeteria on the boat. If they don't they will be stranded at the harbour which is about 20kms from Umea - not a good thing when its < minus 5 degrees and it is 12am with no telephone's about. Unfortunately I found that out the hard way. Other then that the ferry ride was pretty good - there was a couple of movies shown and the cafeteria although not extensive was adequate.
Cameron Tickner, Australia (Nov 05)
We discovered in Gothenburg that the bus that goes from the centre of town back to City airport actually leaves 120 minutes before the flight departure.
Jackie Wilson, UK (Oct 05)
In Stockholm, particularly, I got a ticket because I did not park at least 10 meters away from the pedestrian crossings. This is just the thing you have to know, because it is not written on signs anywhere but there are markings on the pavement that mark the 10 meter distance. I did not know what that meant until I got the ticket and figured what it was given for.
Another feature of the Stockholm streets are pavements with a yellow line. There is absolutely no parking allowed in that area. It is usually found in dead end streets and encapsulate the end of the road as in U letter. It's purpose is to allow drivers to make U-turns and not drive in a reverse gear out of the street.
Aljaz Prusnik, Slovenia (Aug 05)
We were surprised that the train from Uppsala to Arlanda cost twice as much as going all the way to Stockholm, which is considerably farther. It turns out that the airport charges a special platform fee. However, no one checked our tickets as we departed the train at Arlanda and went up into the airport, so a cunning person could have bought the cheaper ticket all the way to Stockholm and simply gotten off early.
Trygve Anderson, USA (Apr 05)
The Swedish Rail Company SJ has introduced a new kind of ticket: Sistaminuten for the X2000 (something like 'last minute' in Swedish). If you buy a ticket less than 24 hours before you depart, you can buy this ticket. It can save you a lot of money, up to 30%. There is no real problem with the seats, we did it three times, and there were plenty of seats. The people at the desk mostly can tell if it necessary to reserve a seat of not.
Johan Martens, Netherlands (Aug 02)
Speed cameras: The cameras are a neutral shade of grey and can be difficult to spot for the unwary motorist. Upon discovering the whereabouts of cameras, Swedish motorists have been known to use several tricks to avoid being punished for indiscretion. Sun visors fully down, caps pulled over faces and extremely dirty number plates.
Jeff Philliskirk, Sweden (Jun 02)
Gems, Highlights & Attractions
Gothenburg: there is a brilliant new museum that opened in late 2004 called the Museum of World Culture. Exhibitions include themes as Voices from a Global Africa, AIDS/HIV and Myths from the Orinoco river.
Pontus Forslund, Sweden (Apr 05)
In Kungsträgården, Stockholm, there is a ring of trees around the centermost café. One of those trees -- on the side further from the water (more towards the American restaurant) -- has a very small gash cut in it. This is from (I don't know the date -- probably 1970s) a battle between environmentalists and the city planners, who wanted to cut down the trees. They came late at night with bulldozers and other equipment, but fortunately an activist network alerted people through a phone tree who came out and climbed all the trees to save them. The gash is the only thing that they managed to do before they had to stop to prevent injuring any citizens. (Perhaps this was mentioned in your book, but I did not see it.) The mark now serves as a remnant of the battle for environmentally-friendly urban planning.
Jacob Hale Russell, USA (Aug 02)
Yarns, Fables & Anecdotes
When you travel on a Helsingborg(S)/Helsingør(DK) ferry you get mixed emotions when you hear the announcements that while on Swedish side you can buy tobacco and when the ferry enters the Danish waters you can buy alcohol and a sound indicates the crossing. This produces some interesting tourists, mostly from both countries buying packs of either stuff but to us who live a little bit to the South it looks more like one of those Monty Python sketches.
Aljaz Prusnik, Slovenia (Aug 05)
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