Choose your tour length - 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 2.5 hours. The 90-minute tour, which is what I selected, is the most popular one. You cover a surprisingly large amount of ground (and cobblestones, more on that later) during this time.
You're in a street-legal golf cart with your guide, and there will be times when you are on busy streets. My guide was Max, who speaks four languages (English, Polish, Swedish, and Ukranian). You can opt for live commentary or recorded commentary. I choose live commentary. You start by the seaside in Gamla Stan and take a twisty, winding tour high and low, here and there. Understand that you are mostly in the cart; you're not going in anywhere, although you do stop in a few places to take photos - if you like. That's up to you.
These tours are appropriate for everyone - singles, couples, families, friends, people with disabilities. Up to five can be accommodated in one cart.
As a single traveler and a person with a mobility disability, this was perfect for me. My body ached with osteoarthritis, but I got to see a lot of places I would have physically struggled to get to, even if I had enough time to see all of it. Since it was just me on the tour, I never had to worry about holding up anyone else because I walk slowly. We went over lots of cobblestones, many of which would have been too risky for me to walk on, and too hard on my body.
It would have been awful fun to take the tour with family or friends, too.
Despite places in Europe like France having a horrendous heat wave, it was cold and windy in Stockholm in August. It wasn't raining, but the rain curtains were on the cart. It was up to me if I wanted them on or off. I had no jacket or warm clothes, so I opted to keep them on so I wouldn't freeze. It was still easy to see (but I was on the front seat). And it made it warm enough to enjoy the ride.
I was staying by Central Station, so I could take the Metro to Gamla Stan, or the 53 bus from outside Central Station to the Kornhamnstorg stop (the 4 also goes there). From either, take a right and walk down towards the water. Soon you will see a restaurant called Brod & Salt. Walk behind the restaurant. The next restaurant after it is Karamell. The golf carts park between the two restaurants.
If no cart is there when you arrive, they have an arrangement with Brod & Salt. You can sit there and wait, and use their restrooms.
Taking the tour anytime during your trip is good, but at the beginning is recommended so you get an overview and background information. Great idea is to take the tour then putter around Gamla Stan, since you're already there, and/or take a boat tour that leaves from Gamla Stan. Have lunch or dinner. Great ways to optimize your time and the day.
Hint: It's way easier to access Stortoget, the colorful Gamla Stan Square, from the seaside road up by the Palace. It's a smaller, gentler slope, as opposed to the longer, steeper slope that leads there from the Metro stop or bus stops on that side of the island. Buses 2, 57, and 76 stop on the port side (Slottsbacken stop). read more