It has been more than a month since I came back from Stockholm, a time of compiling all the information and pictures, so I can bring you all the details in this LGBTQ+ Stockholm (Christmas) travel guide.

Stockholm is known as the queer capital of Scandinavia, for sure the most open minded city I have visited. There is no “gay quarter/ street” as everything is LGBT friendly, you can find non gendered bathrooms everywhere (including museums, shops, clubs…) and of course, same sex marriage is legal since a law of gender-neutral marriage was approved in 2009, even thou they like to say that Stockholm is gay since 1944, when gay sexual activities where legalized.

A part from the queer capital of Scandinavia, Stockholm is also the capital of Sweden, and this, rather small urbe is composed by 14 islands, and how do you connect 14 islands? Well, with 50 bridges. So be ready for lots of walks on top of the Söderström waters.

You might be asking yourself, is a long weekend enough for getting a good taste of Stockholm? The answer is YES! Here you have a 3 days itinerary.

DAY 1

As mentioned before, Stockholm is a heap of islands, for which water is going to be involved. First stop will be the Vasa Museum. I must admit that when I first saw this stop in my itinerary I was like – “oh cute, a ship museum”. Let me tell you boat is IMPRESSIVE. I was not expecting it to be so big, so decorated… and then I learned that it had been 300 years underwater.

The Vasa Museum is located in an island where many other museum are located, for which I would recommend spending a cultural morning and lunch time in the area, until sunset. At that time, take a boat and explore the city from the water. It is for sure a super romantic scenario that you can enjoy even traveling alone. After that, you can check in one of the “places to eat” and get ready for the avicii experience. For sure an emotional way to finish the day.

DAY 2

Put your comfy shoes on, and if you visit in winter make sure to dress warmly. Today is a day worth of using your smartwatch to count steps 😉 we are gonna discover Stockholm Old Town or Gamla Stan.

First stop will be the Royal Opera House (Sweden is a kingdom, so get ready for lots of “Royal”), open in 1746 by King Gustav III. The opera was know for housing theaters, operas and masquerade balls. Verdi himself wrote an opera called Un ballo in Machera in which King Gustav was killed for having an affair. “Funnily” enough, Kin Gustav III was actually assassinated in the Royal Opera (no for having an affair).

Second stop, and a good one for filling your stomach, or at least your sweet tooth is Polkagris Kokeri, THE Candy Cane store. Did you know that candy cane is actually half Swedish? Apparently a German – Swedish immigrant was the one that exported candy canes to america, making it the most known Christmas guilty pleasure. So, of course a stop in this famous candy cane shop in Stockholm is MANDATORY.

The morning has been long, and full of to do’s, so the afternoon can be more chill. I would recommend to you to go to the Södermalm and have lunch there, or maybe fika. If you don’t know what fika is, you are missing out. Fika is a “coffee and cake break”, put most importantly, fika is a time to be with your friends and/ or family to socialize. It is a way of life, and independently of being in Sweden, we should all fika every day ;).

DAY 3

I hope your comfy shoes are still in wearable conditions. First stop is an open air museum. Millesgården, original from 1906 was the house of the artist couple Olga and Karl Milles. Today the property is composed by the open air sculpture park and the house and studio museum. If you like art, you will for sure enjoy this visit.

If on the other hand you enjoy a more interactive museum, don’t worry, I also have an option for you ABBA the museum. This is one of the museums I have enjoyed the most in my life. I have never considered myself an ABBA fan, until… I discovered I know 80% of their songs and couldn’t stop singing and dancing in the museum. Thank you Mamma Mia!

And just in front of the Abba museum you can find the Royal Djurgården (told ya), perfect place for chilling and grabbing some food. In the meanwhile, you can read about the history of this place, you might be positively surprised about its queerness.

Now that your tummy is filled, let’s fill your spirit. Stockholm is full of Christmas markets, don’t forget to visit some while you are there ;).

I hope you enjoyed this Stockholm Christmas guide, but just FYI – I bet it is beautiful in Spring too!

All of the places mentioned are LGBTQ+ friendly or owned.

There is this missconception that you need a ton of money for travelling. While it might be true in some cases (I am not going to lie to you and tell you that you can go to Bora Bora without having to save money), it is totally possible to explore many places without breaking the bank.

In the post “Travel with a 9 to 5” I shortly talk about this, being flexible on where and when to go is the key for seeing the world in a budget. Everyone has this friend that found a great deal and flew to Amsterdam for 30€ both ways (if you don’t have it I am providing you with one – Hi, I am Alba and went to Amsterdam for 30€). Then you start trying to find a similar deal, but for some reason it seems to be hiding from you. Here you have a short guide on where to find those bastards:

• Everyone knows this one, but not everyone knows how to use it. Skyscanner is my best friend for planning holidays. The right way to use is as follows: when to go “cheapest month” where to go “anywhere”. That is the start of your holidays. I am going to tell you a 100% true story. A friend of mine and me were planning to go somewhere around Europe, we didn’t see each other in a while and wanted to make a trip together. In October we went on Skyscanner and we found the best deal. A trip to Los Angeles from Spain, in January for 234€ round trip. Looking in different periods will always allow you to discover different places without breaking the bank. In my case, I just plan flights with this website, as I don’t care that much about where to stay and usually hostels are very affordable.

• I am not sure how many of you know or have used this, but Holiday Pirates is another great source. In this place you can find everything you need for your trips. From all inclusive holidays, to stay packages. The time frames here are either last minute trip, or plan in advance holidays, usually seasonal. That said, I discovered them many years ago thanks to Facebook, and I love that the updates pop up in my feed and I don’t even need to constantly check which kind of offers they have at the moment.
• To be honest, I discovered this one not that long ago. But srprs.me happens to be an amazing places, specially for surprising you and maybe also someone else. How it works, you basically choose the dates and they choose the place, of course you can exclude the countries where you have already been to. The prices are around 300-400€ for a 3-5 days stay for two people, including flights. Isn’t it an amazing way of being surprised?

When I was a child I didn’t use to travel a lot with my parents, that made me think that travels were expensive, a luxury that just some people had access to (It is also true that it was nearly 30 years ago and transport was not as economic as it is now).But in 2012 I was proven wrong!

After moving to Sardinia for a year abroad I started investigating online and discovered that I could do a trip to another country for under 100€. I found a super cheap flight to Frankfurt, 30€ both ways and together with two more friends we booked a hotel for around 50€ (in total). This was not an single case, the story kept on repeating. In 2019 my wife and I travel to Bali and Australia, for two weeks for 1.000€ per person.

How is it possible to manage that?

Traveling around the world is easier than you might think. There are just 3 keys to it, and I am going to share them with you. Warning: the tips you are about to read are just valid for adventurers.

1.You don’t decide where to go.

The usual way of working is first you decide where to go, then you safe money and finally you choose the holidays, right? Well, here is the secret, you don’t decide anything, a part from your budget. There are several websites where you can find last minute trips, or cheap flights. In order to use your budget in the most effective way, let the website decide where is the cheapest destination, and start planning from there.

2.You don’t decide when to go.

3. You don’t decide who you sleep with.

Personally, I travel to other countries to discover and explore and rarely to stay in the hotel. Of course I love to stay in 5 star hotels but the king of this trips is the budget. So once again, you will not decide where or with whom you sleep. With my travels I have slept in many different places: in a private villa, airbnb, hostels or in the car. The options for this are endless, and your decision will be made based on your budget. I have met some of the most interesting people thanks to the random places I have slept, so don’t worry if you are in a room with other 9 adventurers. You share an interest with all of them, and it is TRAVELING.

” Travels are like wands. You don’t choose them, they choose you”

I hope you find this post interesting, that it helped you to have a different vision on how to travel the world with a limited amount of time and economic resources.