A Nordic Winter Weekend
4th to 7th December 2009
(Click on a location for more information.)
Friday
Arrive in the evening at the hotel and enjoy a quiet dinner. For those who wish there is an option to dine at the historic Pelikan restaurant, specialising in Husmanskost (traditional Swedish homemade food).
Saturday
Morning - Meet at hotel and walk to
Stadshuset (the townhall) where the Nobel prize dinner is held every year and where the Stockholm parliament sit. We will have a guided tour of the interior of the building. This visit will be followed by a walking tour of
Gamla Stan (the Old Town). Visit the Stockholm Cathedral and get a feel for medieval Stockholm.
Lunch in a local restaurant.
Afternoon - a car will take us to the intimate Thielska Galleriet for a private guided tour of the museum, one of the foremost collections of Scandinavian art in the world. We will take a bus back to central Stockholm.
Evening - We will enjoy a traditional Julbord (an Advent smorgasbord dinner) with a sumptuous variety of Scandinavian seasonal food at the Grand Hotel veranda restaurant overlooking the waterfront and the Royal Palace.
Sunday
Morning - Visit to the
Vasa Museum; this Maritime museum displays the only almost fully-intact seventeenth century ship that has ever been salvaged. The Vasa is a truly splendid wooden 64 gun wooden warship in spectacular condition. (Please note there will be no guide for this visit).
Late morning - Free time to see some Scandinavian top design shops and visit the historic Östermalm foodhall in the charming Östermalm District.
Lunch in Östermalm.
Afternoon - A visit to the Christmas market at Skansen. Skansen is an open-air museum/park and zoo exhibiting historic buildings from different regions of Sweden.
Evening - Free evening but we can recommend and book restaurants for you. Should you wish to visit one of the city's fashionable night clubs, Stockholm Cultural Tours can arrange to place you on the guest list.
Monday
Morning - One and a half hour private boat trip around Stockholm. This is an opportunity to see the city and its magnificent setting on twelve islands from the water. We will point out key sights en route. If the water is frozen we will travel on a Svävare (a special hover craft style boat) that glides across the ice.
Lunch - at the Rival hotel bistro, the modern design boutique Rival is owned by Benny Andersson of Abba. It was here that the premiere of the Mamma Mia film took place.
Afternoon - Millenium Walk taking inspiration from Stieg Larsson's bestselling crime novels, we will follow in the footsteps of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist and explore the streets of Södermalm – the trendy, young, boho district of Stockholm. We will visit Kvarnen and Mellqvist – the favourite brassiere-bars of Lisbeth and pass by the buildings where the main characters lived and where Blomkvist's publishing office was. An opportunity to see the area of Stockholm in which Stieg Larsson lived and the places that inspired his international bestselling Millenium series.
Early evening - Departure
Costs
The group will have a maximum of ten people
£690 per person
This price includes:
- three nights including breakfast and VAT and service charges in a standard double room at the elegant 4 star Diplomat hotel, very centrally but quietly located on the harbour front (supplements for suites, single person occupation)
- private one and a half hour boat trip around the islands of Stockholm
- all museum/gallery fees
- all guiding fees
- advent smorgasbord dinner at the Grand Hotel (excluding drinks)
- Sunday brunch at the Rival hotel bistro (excluding drinks)
- a private car to Thielska Galleriet from central Stockholm and a return bus
- all state taxes
- all guiding fees
- all museum/gallery fees