If you come to Stockholm in December or at the end of November when the city is already preparing for winter and the Christmas lights and markets are already popping up you can enjoy another of Sweden’s typical prints at this time: the julbord – an endless Christmas buffet – for which I propose a peculiar way of doing it: on board a cruise through Stockholm’s Archipelago.
Imagine enjoying a a romantic dinner with your partner aboard an old ship as you sail through the calm waters of the Baltic overlooking islands and their little houses decorated with Christmas lights dazzling towards the sky due to freshly fallen snow. Quaint huh? Just check the image above these lines. And I still have not talked about the Christmas buffet.

Christmas Cruise through Stockholm with ‘julbord’ Buffet
Photo: Magnus Rietz
Julbord, the Swedish Christmas Buffet, Onboard
Typical Swedish dishes such as julskinkan – Christmas ham – pickled and smoked herring and salmon prepared in a thousand different ways, chark, reindeer and elk meat, typical Swedish sausages, Jansson’s Temptation – a dish made of potatoes and anchovies – and other Swedish Christmas delicatessen gather in a huge table for the diners to enjoy. Below these lines you see an example of my last julbord in Gothenburg.

Julbord at Sjömagasinet, Gothenburg
Photo: Israel Úbeda / sweetsweden.com
Christmas Dinner Cruise in the Archipelago
The cruise through Stockholm’s Archipelago with included Christmas buffet lasts about 3 hours and departs around 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. In 2019 the dinner cruises take place between November 28 and December 21 (but not every day) and departs from berth nr. 16 at Strandvägen in the center of Stockholm. The price starts at 735 SEK (68.50 € / $76.30 / £63.30) per person. Children (6-15) pay half. More details and booking
Early Afternoon Cruise
If you fancy an early afternoon Christmas Cruise there is a chance from the end of November to the end of December. Five different vessels offering 5 different menus and Christmas Buffe depart Stockholm at 2 p.m. (weekends) or 1 p.m (weekdays).

Chrismas Dinner Buffe in Stockholm
Foto: Magnus Rietz / stromma.com
Price starts at 635 SEK (58.80 € / $64.30 / £52.30). Weekends cost 685 SEK. Children 0-5 travel for free while children aged 6 to 15 pay half the price. Details and booking here.
If you come to Stockholm in winter and want to know what else to do check out the links at the beginning of the article or leave me a comment and I will give you some suggestions.