How to Get Around Sweden

Trains are excellent. SJ runs fast services between Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, and the overnight train to Lapland is a genuine option — cheaper than a hotel plus a flight, and it arrives in the morning.

Stockholm's public transport covers metro, bus, tram and commuter rail on one SL card, and the archipelago ferries are public transport too, so island-hopping needs no tour.

A car is useful for the interior, the west coast and Lapland, and unnecessary in the cities, where parking is expensive and awkward.

Winter driving in the north requires proper winter tyres, which are a legal requirement in the season, and daylight is short enough that long drives happen partly in darkness.

Domestic flights reach Kiruna and the north in about ninety minutes against roughly fifteen hours by train.