The best way to get between towns and cities in Sweden is by train, and the main carrier is SJ (Swedish Rail). If you know what to look out for, there’s a nifty way to make your journey both a bit more pleasant as well as cheaper.
First class tickets should be your first port of call when booking long distance journeys. Yes, you heard that right – the first class section often doesn’t sell out, so if you are booking close to the date of travel, it can end up cheaper than sitting in second class. Who doesn’t want to travel in style for less?
Visiting with family? Another trick worth knowing before purchasing a ticket is to always check the cut-offs for age discounts. In Sweden, youth prices often apply until you’re 26 years old (this is the case on the nationwide SJ trains). Regional services such as Skånetrafiken permit travelling on a child’s ticket until you’re 19. Another good tip is to invest a 24- or 72-hour tickets that give you unlimited access to trains and buses throughout Skåne.
In Gothenburg and West Sweden (where the local transport provider is Västtrafik) you don’t have to pay for a full price ticket until the age of 20, and an adult can take three children under the age of 20 for free. Many carriers will often let young children travel for free with an adult. It’s always worth checking the age restrictions for each transport provider before buying a ticket.
In Skåne, make a point of arriving a couple of minutes early for buses so you have time to figure out the ticket machines – it could save you several kronor. While tickets can be bought on the bus with a debit card, approximately 10 kronor is added on to the price. So a little pre-planning can go a long way.
Speaking of Skåne, the southern region’s biggest city Malmö seems to attract more tourists by the year, but if you want to hang out with locals, head for Möllevångstorget (nicknamed Möllan), where the bars there are popular, and authentic.
Keen to try some genuine Swedish cuisine? Look out for the phrase dagens lunch, meaning lunch of the day. A mainstay of everyday life in Sweden, the concept started out as a bang-for-your-buck working lunch. It will often consist of classic Swedish dishes, and the price of the meal usually includes a salad buffet, bread, a drink and a post-lunch coffee.
As the evening progresses you may decide to make a night of it, and the Swedish bar and club scene is incredibly varied. Most charge an entrance fee, but there is often an early-bird grace period, so if you turn up before 10pm or 11pm, entry may be free. Bars usually have special ‘after work’ drinks offers until 10pm which is worth looking out for. The specific times vary from place to place, so if you’ve found a must-visit venue, make sure to check their website or Facebook page ahead of time.
Like any other country, Sweden has plenty of attractions targeted specifically at visitors, including city staples such as hop-on-hop-off buses and boats. While these are one way to see a new city, you can get a much more authentic experience for less.
In Gothenburg jump on the tram. Lines 9 and 11 take you through many of the must-see locales and landmarks such as Järntorget and Majorna. Prefer a view from the water? A classic tourist draw is the Paddan canal boats that run through the city’s waterways. What you might not know, however, is that the local public transport network includes ferries, so for the price of a bus ticket, you can take local transport all the way out to the Gothenburg archipelago, for example the island of Styrsö.
