5 Days in Sweden: The First-Timer Itinerary

Five days buys real time in Stockholm and a proper look at the south of the country too. Three days in the capital to do it right, then an X2000 train down to Malmo for a completely different slice of Sweden, closer to Denmark than to the Sami north.

Days 1 through 3 stay in Stockholm and its archipelago; days 4 and 5 belong to Malmo. Want Gothenburg instead of Malmo? The 4 day version heads west instead of south. Want both cities in one trip? Jump to 6 days .

Day Focus Distance / travel time
1 Gamla Stan, Royal Palace Arlanda to Central Station: 18 min by train
2 Vasa Museum, Skansen Both on Djurgarden island
3 Full day archipelago Strömkajen to Vaxholm: about 1 hour by ferry
4 Travel to Malmo, Turning Torso, Lilla Torg Stockholm to Malmo: about 4.5 hours by X2000
5 Malmo old town, departure via Copenhagen Malmo to Copenhagen: 35 min by Oresund train

Book these before you go:

Day 1: Stockholm arrival

Land at Arlanda, take the Arlanda Express into Central Station in 18 minutes, and head into Gamla Stan. Wander the medieval lanes, hit Stortorget Square for your first fika, and walk over to the Royal Palace, over 600 rooms and still the official royal residence. Dinner should be kottbullar with lingonberry and cream sauce at a proper husmanskost restaurant, non-negotiable on night one. Our Stockholm guide covers the rest of the old town in depth if you want more before moving on.

Day 2: Vasa Museum and Skansen

Djurgarden island holds Stockholm’s two best museums, and both are worth doing. The Vasa Museum comes first: a 17th century warship that sank in the harbor in 1628 and was raised almost fully intact in 1961, 95 percent original timber. Entry is 195 SEK off-season, 240 SEK May through September. Right nearby is Skansen , the world’s oldest open-air museum, historic buildings, Nordic wildlife, and craft demonstrations, tickets running roughly 185 to 245 SEK depending on season.

Day 3: the archipelago

Give the whole day to the water. Catch a Waxholmsbolaget ferry from Strömkajen out to Vaxholm, about an hour each way, a fortress town of deep red wooden houses and harborside smokehouses. Want to go further? Sandhamn or Grinda are reachable the same day and feel considerably less touristed. Skip trying to squeeze in another city neighborhood instead, the archipelago is the one experience Stockholm has that nothing else in the country replicates.

Day 4: south to Malmo

Board the X2000 south, figure around four and a half hours covering roughly 620 km, and book through sj.se ahead of time since fares climb the closer you get to travel day. Arrive in Malmo and head straight to Vastra Hamnen, the redeveloped waterfront where Turning Torso, Calatrava’s 190 meter twisting tower and the tallest building in Scandinavia, dominates the skyline. Here’s the honest tip: don’t chase entry, public access is limited to a handful of scheduled open days a year with advance booking required. Admire it from the promenade or Ribersborg beach instead, that view is the whole point anyway. Dinner in Lilla Torg, a cobbled square packed with outdoor tables in the old town, is the better use of your evening.

Day 5: Malmo and departure

Spend the morning in Malmo’s old town, half-timbered buildings and canals that feel more continental than anything in Stockholm, then decide how you’re leaving. Malmo has no major international airport of its own, Sturup handles mostly domestic and budget routes, so most travelers cross the Oresund Bridge by train into Copenhagen Kastrup instead, about 35 minutes, departures every 20 minutes. This isn’t a routing mistake, it’s simply how Malmo works, and it means your last morning in Sweden ends on a train over open water into another country entirely.

Arriving in Malmo without a Malmo airport

Malmo’s own airport, Sturup, is small and mostly serves domestic and budget routes, so it isn’t the standard gateway. Nearly everyone flies into Copenhagen Kastrup in Denmark and crosses the Oresund Bridge by train, a 35 minute ride running every 20 minutes for roughly 80 to 90 SEK. Treat this as normal Sweden logistics, not a booking error to fix.

Why fly into Copenhagen for a Sweden trip?

Because Malmo genuinely doesn’t have the international airport to support it, and Copenhagen Kastrup sits closer to Malmo’s center than most Stockholm airports sit to Stockholm. The Oresund train crossing takes 35 minutes and runs every 20 minutes, so the extra country in between barely registers as a detour.

The currency everywhere in Sweden is the Swedish krona (SEK), not the euro, despite EU membership, so don’t expect euro pricing anywhere including Malmo near the Danish border. Bring a card: cash is close to irrelevant here, and Swish requires a Swedish personal ID number visitors don’t have.