A day trip to Trosa

Written by Patricia Salas

After my original vacation plans got canceled, I decided to read more about what we could do as a family in Stockholm and surrounding areas and came across Trosa. According to my Lonely Planet Sweden guide, Trosa is an adorable and well-preserved seaside town that is easy to reach and great for a day trip. Easy to reach? When I saw this lovely sentence, I immediately said Yes! “Easy to reach” has become my favorite phrase especially when I don’t have a car and have a two-year-old girl, a stroller and backpacks to carry with me all the time.

Trosa is located about an hour south of Stockholm and situated in Sörmlands archipelago. This area is not as exploited as other places along the Swedish Coastline. Trosa means “World’s end” because of its location at the end of a long peninsula. It received its township in 1610, burned down in 1719 by the Russians and it has been even showcased in a German tv program called Inga Lindström.

The best season to visit Trosa

If you want a rest from the beach, then Trosa is the ideal city excursion for the summer. However, there are activities all year long depending on what you want to experience. In our case, we visited the city in the middle of July, and we wanted to take it easy, no rush, just wandering around. We made a late breakfast and took off from our house around 10.00 AM.

Things to Pack

What to bring for food depends on your budget and how big is your family. If you don’t want to spend too much, I recommend packing your own lunch. A few nice ideas are ham & cheese sandwiches, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, grapes, bananas, chips, crackers, cookies, water and a picnic blanket. Don’t panic if you forget something because once there, you can find supermarkets such as Coop or ICA nearby. You can also find restaurants and coffee shops by the canal and in the town center.

In addition to food and because it’s summer, we always pack sun protection, towels and bathing suits for the whole family, an empty milk bottle, enough diapers, baby wipes, and last but not least a change of clothes for the kid.

Getting there

There is a bus called Trosabussen that regularly runs between Stockholm (Liljeholmen) and Trosa. It takes around 55 minutes with free WIFI. The closest subway station is Liljeholmen and to know exactly where the bus station is located, take a closer look at the map on their website. This ride is not free. You pay 100 SEK for each trip.

There are other ways to get there if you live in the southern areas like Huddinge, Botkyrka or Södertälje. In our case, because we live in Tullinge, we took the commuter train to Södertälje Hamn and waited for the bus. We paid 60 SEK for each adult because it’s not SL who runs the bus until Trosa. Kids are free.

Sadly, buses don’t run frequently and their timetable doesn’t match. There is a waiting period of ca. 30 to 40 minutes on both bus routes. Consider this and take precautions, look at their schedule and be there 10 minutes before. When we arrived at Södertälje Hamn, we waited 40 minutes for the bus to come but luckily, we found a playground near the bus station which kept us entertained.

You can also take the SL train until Vagnhärad and then a bus. It takes around 15 minutes from the train station to Trosa.

Things you can do

Trosa is easy to walk. The bus is going to leave you near the harbor so you can walk along the canal until you reach the city center. Stop at the tourist office (city center) and ask for a brochure called Trosa- the heritage trail. This is a self-guided walk that takes you along the highlights of the city. I found this brochure helpful because it gives you the attractions, a little bit of history of each one and keeps you moving through the whole town.

If you feel tired, there is a blue tourist train that is free and gets you around the city. This train runs from June until the beginning of August, the tour takes around an hour. You can ask for more information about its schedule inside the tourist office.

If you like to bike, you can rent bicycles at the sports boutique near the tourist office.

This peaceful city has the perfect size to walk around with your baby and a stroller.

Traveling with toddlers

Most of the restaurants and cafés have kids areas where one can find playgrounds, sandboxes or toys around. During our day trip, we had our picnic behind the Trosa Matstudio which used to be a police and fire department. We selected this place because it had a park, a playground and of course coffee nearby. We sat in the garden and while our little girl played, we enjoyed our coffee. In addition to this restaurant, we found two more coffee shops on our trip. One called Marsipangården which is very interesting. They make and sell marzipan figures and chocolate pralines plus a great variety of confectionery. The second coffee shop was Garvaregårdens cafe which is located behind the town’s museum and the arts and crafts shop. During the summer, they host theater shows. We had a beer in their garden before walking to the bus station to return home.

For older kids

There is a contest called Quiz about Trosa for Children. The objective of the game is to walk around the city and answer the quiz. After they finish, they have to correct the answers and claim their prize at the tourist office.

An important detail to consider: if you have a toddler who loves the beach (which is our particular case), maybe this excursion isn’t the best option. The nearest beaches around are about 3 kilometers from Trosa.  In the end, we decided to not take the risk and get back home earlier.

There are more activities to do depending on your mood and your budget. You can find more information here:

• https://trosa.com/home/
• https://www.tripadvisor.se/Tourism-g2052399-Trosa_Sodermanland_County-Vacations.html
• https://www.visitstockholm.com/see–do/excursions/trosa/
• http://akerbergstrafik.se/trosabussen/
• https://www.sormlandstrafiken.se/

To summarize, Trosa is a cozy and pleasant town to visit and spend the day as a family. I hope you get to enjoy it as much as we did. Let me know more about your experience and if my recommendations were helpful for your excursion.

Featured Image by  Gitta Wilén, Veidekke Bostad. Other photos by Patricia Salas.

Hola! Hi! My name is Patricia. After living in the north of Sweden for almost 5 years in a small city called Umeå, we decided to try a new adventure and we recently moved to the capital. As a new mom in a big city, I’m excited to navigate and discover Stockholm with my beautiful companion my baby girl. Looking forward to exploring new hobbies like writing but most of all hearing tips, ideas and comments about my posts!