For Day 5 we decided to venture a second time outside of Stockholm, this time heading to the small island of Vaxholm. (Well, technically we were going to the island of Vaxön to visiting the city of Vaxholm, but everyone seemed to conflate the two.) Stockholm sits on just a handful of the many islands that form the Stockholm Archipelago, which includes more than 20,000 islands. We had read that Vaxholm was a particularly charming island, so we headed off the ferry to check it out.

The ferry ride took us a little less than an hour, and we enjoyed looking at the many small islands. The ferry stopped at a few other islands along the way. While we thought the boat ride was a fun feature, the locals treated it like a workaday bus.

By the time we got to the island it was lunchtime, so we headed off to find the Hembygdsgårds Café. The island is tiny, and we enjoyed walking through the quiet streets to get to the cafe. Along the way, I found a few potential souvenirs.

We soon reached the cafe, which was clearly a house before it became a restaurant.

Inside we found an expansive selection of pasteries (dare I say smorgasbord?).

We got some treats and headed outside to find a table. The cafe sits in a small cove with adorable views of the water.

It’s a seriously cute cove.

With food in our bellies we headed out to explore the island further. We soon found a trail that wound along an undeveloped coast.

Along the way, we spotted some unusal plants, that reminded us of some of the plants we saw in Cornwall.

The trail then passed through an area with wild blueberries, which we sampled as we hiked.

We reached the western tip of the island, and the trail looped back towards town. Along then way we found a small troll village. (Maybe those berries weren’t edible…)

All together, our hike/walk took about two hours. We got back to the harbor with enough time to enjoy a beer before catching the ferry back to Stockholm.

Vaxholm was simply delightful. Relaxing and beautiful. We rode back to Stockholm happy with the full day we spent exploring a bit further out in the archipelago.

-Will