We took Stockholm Adventures' Archipelago Sailing Tour a week or so ago when we were visiting…read moreStockholm. I really wanted to spend a day out in the Archipelago to experience more than just what Stockholm's beautiful touristed areas have to offer. The Stockholm Archipelago is the largest archipelago in Sweden, and the second-largest archipelago in the Baltic Sea. The Stockholm Archipelago has been found to have slightly over 24,000 islands, islets, and skerries and covers approximately 1,700 km² (of which approximately 530 km² is land). As far as I was concerned, we just had to spend a day exploring it while we were in Sweden.
I found Stockholm Adventures after another tour company cancelled our tour a couple of days before the tour we had booked with them. Stockholm Adventures made it easy to book another tour, so we didn't have to miss the Archipelago or rework our itinerary for the trip! The sailing tour was 8 hours long, and our guides provided a wonderful Smörgåsbord lunch and Fika in the afternoon. Our guide gave us a bit of a sailing lesson (he left this up to us, whether we wanted to learn about sailing or whether we just wanted to enjoy the day), which was great (might have piqued my interest to learn more about sailing now that I'm home). Our guides were very friendly and informative; we learned so much about the way that locals view life in Stockholm, the Archipelago, and Sweden. We also were able to visit an island that serves as our guide's boat club's Archipelago home, since it wasn't a weekend. Our tour ended up just being the two of us, so the tour felt very personalized to our interests.
The information on the website and that we received by email before the tour was very helpful and informative (so we knew what to bring and where to meet once we arrived in Vaxholm). The day was a pleasure from start to finish, and I'm so glad we found this tour. It really added to our trip to Sweden. I wouldn't hesitate to use the company again if we are able to return to Sweden.