As part of TBEX Europe, I had the chance to be part of a Post Trip to another Swedish town. I was not so conscious about where I was going until the day I received my tickets. That day I discovered I was visiting Norrköping, which is a town right in west Sweden. What to expect when I got in the train that Sunday morning? I was not sure about it.
The trip was supposed to last an hour until I finally get to Norrköping. Don’t ask me what happened exactly because I can’t even tell, but my morning started terribly. I missed my train stop. Oh well, what should I do now? Next stop was Linköping. I had to stop there and try to solve my trip. My train ticket to go back to Stockholm does not depart until the afternoon, what to do next? I stopped in Linköping and bought a ticket to Norrköping. It was a 10 minutes wait to only think about what do next. “What to do when I get to Norrköping?” “Will I be able to find my tour guide?” “Will I be the annoying tourist ruining a tour?” All those things went through my mind until I was finally able to get in the train to Norrköping.
The trip back to Norrköping lasted about some other 15 minutes. “Will I be able to find wifi in the train station?” I knew that finding Wifi was the only way I could save this trip. I remember I had somewhere on my e-mails the phone number of the tour guide. It was my best choice once I get to Norrköping. Luckily, first thing I saw when I got out of the train was a Espresso House, which meant: FREE WIFI! I went inside, found that e-mail and called my tour guide on Skype. I explained her my whole situation and in the friendliest tone she told me “Don’t worry, I will pick you up in the station in about 5 to 10 minutes” My day was finally saved. She arrived quickly to pick me up and I joined the others.
Our amazing tour guide was Åsa, and definitely she gave Norrköping a great name. She was so friendly all over the way to meet the other people in the tour. It was not even an hour since I arrived and I was already delighted to be in Norrköping. She took us to see different museums and explains us a bit of the history of the city.
Norrköping used to be a factory town. They used to produce wool and most of the buildings that today hold the museums, used to be factories. As part of this trip we visited three museums: the Arbetets Museum (Museum of Work), Stadsmuseum (City Museum), and the Museum of Art.
Views of Norrköping:
Museum of Work:
City Museum:
City Hall:
What I learned about Norrköping?
First of all, that I would have totally regretted it if I couldn’t be able to make it there after all I went through because of my TRAIN-gate. As a traveler, I would have never chosen seeing Norrköping but I am totally thankful that Visit Sweden gave me the chance to see such a wonderful and cozy city. I loved the vibe, the views and how well Åsa made us feel there.
I would totally recommend everyone to make at least a day trip to Norrköping, and I would love to go back someday after discovering such a beautiful and warm (even on Winter days!) city, because it is more about human warmth.
At the end of the day, I felt glad that I didn’t missed the gem Norrköping actually is.
Thanks to Visit Sweden for providing me as a TBEX participant with this day trip. All opinions are my own.
Wow! So cool that you attended TBEX. I lived in Sweden in different parts of the country for 1.5 years, and still haven’t been to Norrkoping, actually haven’t heard of it either! I really want to go see the museum there because the pictures are breathtakingly cute. Sweden in general is one of my favorite countries and I can go and stay there (for the summers) forever! I miss Sweden and it was lovely to read your post. Keep sharing these kind of lovely posts about small towns which we never hear about. Much love from Amsterdam 🙂
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How awesome is Sweden?! I mean really. It’s so beautiful. People are beautiful. And it’s just a place I want to have a second home in! This town looks awesome and so “real” if you know what I mean. Like, I could live there and get along just fine.
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that’s exaxtly the way I felt!
I’m taking my first trip to Sweden very soon. After reading this I can’t wait.
What a very interesting place to visit! I’ve never heard of it before, so thank you for sharing this new-found “treasure”!
I felt the same way when I got there! Is the kind of place you never get to discover by your own!
What a lovely little town. I love the Dads of Sweden photos you posted. They’re fantastic! Do you know who the photographer is?
The photographer is Johan Bävman! You just made me research it and I just found his website and is just amazing! http://www.johanbavman.se/swedish-dads/
What a great way to explore more of Sweden that is not just Stockholm. This seems like a great stop for a roadtrip!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Can’t wait to explore some of this when we’re in Sweden next.
Nice post – thanks for sharing! I love off-the-beaten path destinations. It’s the best way to get to know the country behind the capital cities and the main tourist attractions. Loved those pictures of the Swedish dads.
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Signs keep telling me to go to Sweden as soon as possible. This town looks so quiet and almost deserted, but beautiful and calm – I’d love to go!
I wouldn’t even know about this place if it wasn’t for this post. I’ve yet to venture to Sweden, but looks like a great country. So much to tackle and explore. 🙂