Having arrived on a flight from Delhi the previous evening, I stayed at the Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport. The hotel is located inside the terminal building and was easy to find. Check-in was hassle-free and the room was comfortable for an overnight stay. The windows overlooked the interior of the terminal building and provided views of the apron.
Breakfast was served in the Runway Restaurant on the 2nd floor and included in the price of the room.
For today, I had booked the Flygbussarna airport coach service from Arlanda to Stockholm and back. After reaching the city, I walked to Gamla Stan. Standing outside the Central Station is the statue of Nils Ericson, the engineer responsible for Sweden’s main railway lines. From there, I crossed the Vasabron, which offered a perfect vantage point of the Stockholm City Hall, famous for hosting the annual Nobel Prize banquet.
I joined the Free Tour Stockholm City 🔗 at 10:00 AM and the Free Tour Old Town 🔗 at 1:30 PM.
Between the tours, I saw the Royal Swedish Opera and just across the bridge sits the grand Parliament House (Riksdagshuset), which occupies nearly the entire island of Helgeandsholmen. Both the walking tours were nice, and between them, I also got to see the Royal Swedish Army Band.
I reached Arlanda airport after a nice day in Stockholm for my flight to Helsinki. I hadn’t had time for lunch between my walking tours, so I was hungry and it was already dinner time in India. I visited the SAS Lounge before my flight; it offered multiple food and drink options alongside ample seating. I enjoyed a good meal there.
This was my first flight on SAS. Boarding was at a remote gate, and the flight was on an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop plane. The flight time was just over an hour, and we flew directly over the beautiful, scattered Åland Islands.
There was a quick service onboard and I had some coffee. Soon we were landing in Helsinki.
