Stockholm: Amphibious Bus Tour & City Landmarks Route

4.80

(269 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I remember is the weird hush that fell over everyone when our bus rolled straight toward the water near Djurgården. It’s not every day you’re in a ten-ton vehicle and suddenly there’s no road—just ripples and a few startled ducks. Our guide, Erik, grinned like he’d done this a thousand times (he probably has), and then we were floating. I could still smell the city—coffee from somewhere, faint exhaust—and then it shifted to that cold, slightly salty scent off the Baltic. It was oddly peaceful for something so ridiculous.

Earlier we’d zigzagged through Östermalm and Stureplan, watching locals in their sharp jackets dart between shops. The Royal Palace looked even bigger from below street level than I expected. Erik pointed out tiny details on the facades—apparently one of those statues lost its nose centuries ago during a snowball fight (I’m not sure if he was joking). When we drifted past Gröna Lund amusement park, some kids waved at us from the rollercoaster line—one girl flashed us a peace sign and my niece tried to copy her through the window.

I liked how close everything felt—the Old Town’s crooked alleys right there beside us, Skeppsholmen’s old boats bobbing nearby. The guide switched between English and Swedish without missing a beat; at one point he asked if anyone knew how to pronounce “Djurgården.” Li laughed when I tried to say it in Swedish—definitely butchered it. There was this moment where the sun hit the palace roof just right and everyone went quiet for half a second. I still think about that view sometimes.