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How to go to Sweden
Fly to Stockholm
It is very convenient to fly direct to Stockholms main airport Arlanda (ARN). You can choose Swiss or Scandinavian airlines (SAS). Often, they use the same aircraft so check price by both, they are not always the same.
SAS also uses Xfly to operate their flights, but they have no own booking system. You only see them in SAS booking system. The departure time can change depending on month and year but one flight that always have been running have departure around 10 o’clock and arrive 12:30. The price will of course change depending on day and how close you book. For the moment you also have a SAS flight by Xfly at 10:30 arriving 12:55. The price to fly is for the moment not stable but calculate with 700-800 CHF for a two-way ticket. You can choose different options for rebooking, and it result in different prices.
Easyjet has no direct flights to Stockholm but if you want to save money you can travel via Berlin. If you chose to travel with EasyJet, you need to travel a day earlier because you cannot be in Stockholm at 13 o’clock. It is a good alternative since you probably save the cost of hotel night or even two in Stockholm which is a bit more than 100 CHF. We would than select a hotel close to Arlanda Express station in the city. You have a direct train to Arlanda terminals every 15 minutes, and it takes 20 minutes.
You can also search flight with other flight search pages like Momondo, SWOODOO, Skyscanner and you can even use Google flights.
Train
We never travel with train, but it is a possible option if you don’t want to fly or drive. You normally travel to Hamburg (10h) and continue to Stockholm (17h) probably during the night. You pass Puttgarten with a small ferry to Rödby, Copenhagen to Malmö via Öresundsbron and then to Stockholm.
We were contacted by a company called the Trainline. They work with 270 train and bus companies in 45 countries in Europe. Travel routes can be searched and booked through one platform. It seems uncomplicated, user-friendly, and available in several languages. Here's the link: Trainline
Drive
Drive and take the bridges
You can drive the hole way without ferries if you want. Through Germany to Flensburg (10h), through Denmark over bridges to Malmö (4h). In Sweden you have 7 hours’ drive to Stockholm, but we suggest you drive directly to Kristinehamn (6h). You need to spend the night somewhere during the drive. We suggest in north of Germany or in Denmark. If you are 2 or more drivers it is easy to drive and change every 2 hours. Of course, you need to calculate with traffic jam in Germany, but you can check in google maps or an app like Waze how much time you lose. The bridges cost some money as well, 5o CHF per bridge one way. Check prices on Storabältbron and Öresundsbron, you can save money by booking in advance.
Drive and take a short ferry in Puttgarten or Rostock
If you want to save 250 km you can drive to Puttgarten or Rostock and take a 1h ferry to Rödby or Gedser. Puttgarten is the most frequent and it it leaves every 30 minutes. In the summer it can be some waiting time so it may not be faster. It also cost almost 100 CHF. Check Scandlines.
Drive and take the overnight ferry from Kiel to Gothenburg
We normally drive to Kiel and take the Stena ferry from Kiel to Gothenburg. The ferry departs around18:00 from Kiel and you need some margin for traffic jams, so we normally leave late in the evening and drive during the night. We are too early in Kiel, but Kiel is a nice town to spend some hours in. You can also just park somewhere and take a nap. If you prefer you can instead leave 4 o’clock in the night and be in Kiel 14-15 o’clock. Onboard we book a nice dinner while the ferry passes the bay of Kiel. We do some small shopping and go to sleep early in the cabin. The price for the ferry, a big car two people in a comfortable cabin is one-way 350 to 450 CHF. It is not necessary but we normally prebook breakfast and dinner, it is cheaper, and you can have a window table for the dinner. Video There is a ferry from Kiel to Oslo with Colorline which is bigger and with more options onboard than the one to Göteborg. Travel time is also longer but they do not take pets in the cabins so we don't like to use it. It is even worth an extra day in Oslo or Kiel to be able to catch the earlier departure at 14.00 o’clock. Video
Other ferries from Germany to Sweden
There are several other alternative ferry destinations between Germany and south of Sweden like Rostock-Trelleborg, Travemünde-Trelleborg and Sassnitz-Trelleborg. Most of them have almost the same travel time as Kiel-Göteborg and therefore it only makes sense to take these if you want to spend time in the south of Sweden. There is 400 km more distance to drive in Sweden. A ferry we tried is the speed ferry from Sassnitz to Ystad with FRS Baltic. in News & Blog. With 80km/h it only takes you 2.5 hours. Check our trip from autumn 2021. There is also a new ferry route with Hansa Destinations which started 2022 from Rostock to Nynäshamn very close to Stockholm. It takes 18 hours, and you can book a cabin and eat dinner onboard. They have pet cabins so we might try it. Unfortunately, it only runs every second day.