hi LS

I live in Stockholm with my family and I think it is one of the most beautiful cities ever, extremely child friendly (eg bus trips are free if you have a pram, there are heaps of great museums for kids) and in particular December is a lovely month, with gorgeous traditions such as Lucia (google it) and people putting lights in their windows to counter the dark.

Here are some points for you to think about:
  • it is dark - the winter solstice around December 23 is the shortest day of the year with only a couple of hours of light. When I pick up my son from preschool at 3, we have to rush to the park as it gets dark at 3.30pm
  • in Stockholm, snow is not guaranteed at Christmas - it just started snowing yesterday - it may or may not be below zero, it has been freakish weather this year and +10 a few days ago. If you wanted guaranteed snow, try Åre or one of the other snow-holiday destinations
  • one of the tough things you will need to keep in mind re: cold weather is that getting out the door with kids is even harder.
  • if you are contemplating going for more than a week, i suggest you consider sub-letting someone's place to save on accomodation costs, given that half of sweden migrate to Thailand for Christmas anyway
  • it is exxy when travelling there - keep an eye on coupon sites for tour, restaurants or attractions discounts. Even if you don't speak swedish you try groupon.se, with the help of google translate, you could usually tell what the service/product is


Having said all that - I would warmly recommend you visit, providing you are mentally prepared for the dark. (Infact, the winter lights up north are beautiful). I heart sweden!

We will be back there on Monday the 9th - so if you have any more questions, I can answer them for you from there!

Cheers,
Tanya