Scandinavia is notoriously expensive. For our couple months here, we have cut back on the fancy multi-course dinners and heavily-taxed alcohol in exchange for picnics in beautiful scenery and free water. Finally!!! We’ve found some European countries that will give out free tap water at dinner. But, what if you are in the mood to party it up as a tourist? How can the locals afford to drink wine and have nice dinners? Two words….overnight cruise.
One of the best ways to get big bang for your buck as a local or tourist in Sweden or Finland is the overnight cruise between Stockholm and Helsinki. As a tourist, the price is reasonable considering that you get overnight accommodation, international travel, free entertainment, and the famous Scandinavian smörgåsbord dinner. Surprisingly, the boat is filled more with locals from both countries than tourists. For locals, the trip is a fun weekend getaway to visit a nearby country, and more importantly, a chance to stock up on tax-free alcohol. We could not believe the size of the duty-free store and how crowded it was with people pushing around grocery carts stocking up on alcohol and other tax-free supplies. We wandered around to check out all the goodies and were surprised to see that even kids have to stock up….starting them off young!
We had an absolute blast on our overnight cruise starting with the views leaving Stockholm. For almost 4hrs, the cruise ship snakes its way through the gorgeous Stockholm Archipelago. We grabbed ourselves a couple drinks and seats on the top deck to enjoy the views.
The scenic islands stretch for almost 80 miles out into the Baltic Sea. The local name for this area is Skärgården, which literally means garden of skerries. Skerries are rocky islands sticking up from the sea. Supposedly, 30,000 islands and skerries make up the Stockholm Archipelago.
Cruising through the archipelago is one of the best ways to experience its magic….the summer sun warming your face, a gentle breeze through your hair, and beautiful scenery gliding past.
As the sun started to slip down the blue sky, we headed below deck for the famous Scandinavian smörgåsbord experience. Smörgåsbord originated in Sweden and literally means “bread and butter table.” Today, the smörgåsbord is a buffet-style meal with multiple hot and cold dishes. Unlike an American buffet, the traditional Swedish smörgåsbord is eaten in 5-6 distinct courses. The meal should take a couple hours to make sure you relax and enjoy each course.
First Course: Herring, boiled potatoes, and Swedish bread
You know they are not messing around that herring is supposed to be the star of the first course when an entire section of the bar is devoted to various herring options.
We have to admit that we were a bit nervous about this course but were so happy that we stuck with tradition and tried it. We were pleasantly surprised with how much we liked herring. I tried 3 different varieties along with the boiled potatoes, traditional rye bread, and a dollop of crème fraiche and caviar.
Second Course: Fish dishes
After herring, the second course is supposed to be all the other fish dishes along with more potatoes. Our favorite was the smoked pike…we are now calling it the “bacon of fish.” (shout out to Adam Ledford)
We also enjoyed the traditional gravlax, raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill. Jimmy mentioned that it reminded him of eating Japanese sashimi, but then I realized that the Swedish way of eating gravlax was actually with a dill and mustard sauce on top of rye bread. So, I had to remedy the situation with a new plate.
Much better….that combination made us like it even more.
Third Course: Cold salads and cold cuts
This course is self-explanatory.
Fourth Course: Meat!!
Finally, we made it to our favorite course. I tried some duck, pork, and a meatloaf with lingonberry. Yes, lingonberry…everyone cleared out the buffet of this traditional side item and didn’t leave me with a single berry. I stole this one from Jimmy to embellish my picture.
Alysia’s Course
Most of you probably already know that I have a huge appetite and can’t control myself at buffets. I must try everything!! So, I went against tradition and stacked up a plate with a bunch of the random stuff that didn’t fit neatly on the plate of the traditional courses. And Jimmy caught me in action and took a picture of my chaotic “everything else” plate.
How could I pass up the “sandwich cake” and the strange curried hot dog pieces?
Fifth Course: Cheese plate
Back to my pretty plates, I tried a few Scandinavian cheeses with crackers and jam.
Sixth Course: Dessert!!
Of course, I had to try almost every single dessert. Two that I must point out are the Finnish squeaky cheese with cloudberry jam and the cloudberry cheesecake. Cloudberries, similar to raspberries and blackberries, are popular in the Nordic countries and mostly grow in arctic regions. Finnish squeaky cheese is a special fresh cheese that originated in Finland and really does squeak when you eat it. The soft cheese is grilled or flambéed to give it the char marks on top.
So, there you have it…a traditional Scandinavian smörgåsbord with an Alysia twist. As we were finishing up our desserts, we looked out the window to see the sun set and the Stockholm Archipelago fade into the distance.
We didn’t leave the restaurant until they kicked out the last few of us stragglers due to the 2 hr time limit. I’m surprised more people didn’t stick around until the end. Remember how I mentioned alcohol is expensive in Scandinavia but the overnight cruise was a good value? The smörgåsbord comes with all-you-can-drink wine on tap! Why would you leave!?!?
Not very often can you see a red and white wine on tap next to the beer and water. Normally, I despise the cheaper bulk wines served at events or on airlines, but surprisingly, both the red and the white were pretty good.
Needless to say, we got the party started pretty early during dinner and were able to keep the party going late into the night. The overnight cruise offers plenty of free entertainment, just like longer cruises. We enjoyed listening to the live band (of course with their renditions of “Despacito” and “YMCA”) and then watching a special dance team performance (notice the guy dancing on one hand and not just the hot girls).
Of course, we also hit up the casino and lost any money we may have saved by taking this “good value” cruise. After a long night of fun, we wandered down to our cheap below-the-car-deck room, and someone who may have had one too many glasses of free wine from the tap (okay, me, I admit it was me) was a little too excited that we had bunk beds.
I called dibs on the top bunk and still have no idea how I made it up there in the state that I was in without a ladder. Of course, the next morning, Jimmy pointed out that there was a detachable ladder hanging on a nearby wall that I could have used. But, at that point it didn’t matter, we had a ridiculously fun evening and were pulling into Helsinki. Just like that, we were in a new country to explore. Beats air travel for sure!
Leave a reply