Which cruises leave from Stockholm?

Are there cruises from Stockholm?

Yes, and the word covers two things: guided archipelago loops of a few hours, and overnight Baltic ships with cabins. Decide which you mean before you book.

The archipelago cruises leave from quays in the centre of town and loop through the inner archipelago with a live guide. The Strömma listing describes daily departures throughout the year on three lengths; the other operators run two-hour loops from Skeppsbron and the Royal Palace, a wooden boat, a RIB and a winter tour. All return to the quay they left from, and none lands on an island.

The overnight ships leave from the passenger ports, Stadsgården on Södermalm and Värtahamnen to the north-east, and sail out to the Baltic. They are a different product, with cabins, restaurants and a port of call abroad. The cruise comparison covers the loops; the next sections cover the ships, briefly and without links.

Which cruise lines depart from Stockholm?

Tallink Silja from Värtahamnen to Helsinki, Turku and Tallinn; Viking Line from Stadsgården to Helsinki and Turku; Birka Gotland from Stadsgården.

Ports of Stockholm lists the passenger traffic by terminal. From Värtahamnen, Tallink Silja sails to Helsinki via Åland, to Turku via Mariehamn, and to Tallinn. From Stadsgården, Viking Line sails to Helsinki via Åland and to Turku via Mariehamn, and Birka Gotland runs scheduled cruises. Those are the overnight cruise lines a Stockholm search means.

GetYourGuide also lists overnight cabin crossings, among them Stockholm to Helsinki, Helsinki to Stockholm, a Tallinn mini-cruise, a Helsinki mini-cruise, a Turku crossing of about 23 hours and an Åland day cruise. This site does not sell or link any of them. They are named here so that a visitor who wants a cabin and a foreign port knows to look elsewhere, and a visitor who wants an afternoon on the water knows not to.

What is an archipelago cruise from Stockholm?

A guided loop of 75 minutes to three hours through the inner archipelago, from a central quay and back to it, with a live guide and a cafeteria or bar.

The archipelago cruises sold on GetYourGuide for Stockholm share a shape. They leave a central quay, pass the city's waterfront, run out through the Djurgården canal or past Royal Djurgården, circle Fjäderholmarna and, on the longer loops, Stora Höggarn and Tegelön, with a pass-by of Vaxholm on the longest, then return. The Strömma guided archipelago cruise offers 1.5-hour, 2.5-hour and three-hour versions from Strandvägen berths 14, 15 and 16, with a live English guide, free WiFi, restrooms and a cafeteria on the main deck.

Around it sit the two-hour live-guided cruise from Skeppsbron, M/S Vindhem from the Royal Palace with a fika included, the classic wooden boat, the RIB, the lunch cruise and the winter tour. Each is a few hours, each has a guide, and each ends where it began. How to see the archipelago explains what a loop does and does not give you.

How do you tell which kind of cruise a search result means?

Look for the duration, the port and the word cabin. Hours and a city quay mean a loop; a night, a terminal and a cabin mean a Baltic ship.

Four quick tells separate them. Duration: an archipelago cruise is stated in minutes or hours, from 75 minutes to three; an overnight ship is stated in nights, or as a day or mini-cruise of around 23 hours. Departure point: Strandvägen, Strömkajen, Skeppsbron and the Royal Palace are sightseeing quays; Stadsgården and Värtahamnen are ferry terminals. Destination: a loop names islands it passes; a ship names Helsinki, Turku, Mariehamn, Åland or Tallinn. Inclusions: a loop lists a guide, WiFi and a cafeteria; a ship lists a cabin.

• Minutes or hours, and a return to the same quay: archipelago cruise.
• One or two nights, a cabin class and a foreign port: Baltic ship.
• Lunch or fika on the upper deck: the Strömma lunch cruise or M/S Vindhem, both loops.
• Mini-cruise or day cruise to Åland, Helsinki or Tallinn: a ship, not sold here.

Is there a lunch or dinner cruise in Stockholm?

A lunch cruise, yes: 2.5 hours on M/S Östanå I from Strandvägen berth 15 with a main course included. The site lists no dinner cruise.

The Strömma archipelago cruise with lunch is the loop with a table. It runs 2.5 hours aboard M/S Östanå I, built in 1906, from Strandvägen berth 15 opposite the Diplomat Hotel, with live commentary in English and Swedish. A main-course lunch with meat, fish or vegetarian options chosen on board is included, served at restaurant seating on the upper deck; drinks are not. The listing asks you to arrive 15 minutes before, notes boats can be swapped, and states no pets and no wheelchair access.

For something lighter, M/S Vindhem's two-hour loop includes one hot drink and one pastry per person, and the live-guided cruise and the Strömma steamers sell fika, sandwiches and drinks on board. Among the listings used for this site there is no dinner cruise; the overnight ships, which do have restaurants, are the other meaning again.

A main course chosen on board, a restaurant seat on the upper deck and 2.5 hours of inner archipelago on a 1906 steamer.

Archipelago Cruise with Lunch on M/S Östanå I · 2.5 hours · free cancellation

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Is there a day cruise to an island from Stockholm?

On this site, the guided Vaxholm day trip is the one that lands. A Birka Viking island day boat exists on GetYourGuide but is not sold here.

If a day cruise means a boat out and a landing, the archipelago loops do not qualify, because they do not stop. The product on this site that lands is the guided small-group day trip to Vaxholm: a steamship out, a town walk, beach time, a taxi boat to the fortress with the museum included, and the ferry back, seven hours in all with up to 10 people.

GetYourGuide also lists an Åland day cruise and a Birka island day boat. Neither is sold on this site, and neither is linked. Public boats, Waxholmsbolaget, SL ferry 83 and Fjäderholmslinjen, land on Fjäderholmarna, Vaxholm and the islands beyond, and are covered in the islands guide.

Where do the sightseeing cruises leave from?

Strandvägen berths 14 to 16 and 19, Strömkajen, Skeppsbron by the Gustav III statue, and the Logården side of the Royal Palace, all within about a kilometre.

Strömma's archipelago tours use Strandvägen: berth 14 for the 1.5-hour loop on M/S Angantyr and M/S Evert Taube, berth 15 for the 2.5-hour loop and the lunch cruise on M/S Östanå I, and berth 16 for the three-hour loop on S/S Stockholm. The RIB meets at Strandvägen berth 19. The winter tour leaves Strömkajen at Södra Blasieholmshamnen 11, gate B or C, the quay where Waxholmsbolaget's summer sailings also start.

The live-guided cruise and the wooden boat both meet beside the Gustav III statue on Skeppsbron, the former checking in at the RED Sightseeing booth in front of the Royal Palace, the latter with staff in blue shirts or jackets at Skeppsbron 2. M/S Vindhem moors on the Logården side of the Royal Palace, the opposite side from Skeppsbron. The ferry terminals at Stadsgården and Värtahamnen are elsewhere, and a sightseeing booking does not send you to them.

Which archipelago cruise should I book?

A two-hour loop for a first visit, the three-hour Strömma loop to see most, the lunch cruise for a table, the winter tour from Strömkajen when the water freezes.

The choice turns on time and season. The live-guided two-hour cruise from Skeppsbron and M/S Vindhem from the Royal Palace both pass Fjäderholmarna, Stora Höggarn and Tegelön with a live English guide, and the live cruise is free for children aged 0 to 6 with a paying adult. The three-hour Strömma loop on S/S Stockholm is the one that sees most and passes Vaxholm. The lunch cruise adds a main course over 2.5 hours.

In winter the 75-minute tour from Strömkajen on an icebreaking boat, with pelts and fleece blankets to borrow and mulled wine in the cafeteria, is the loop that runs. Whatever you pick, each listing offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before, so a weather call the day before costs nothing.

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