Norrköping: A Swedish Hidden Gem I Almost Missed

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.