Summer · Private Sailing
Bright Nights
Two days under sail from the edge of Stockholm, and a night on an island the day boats leave behind.
- When
- Jun – Aug
- Length
- 3 nights
- Route
- 2 bases
- Price
- On request
The story
At ten at night the boat is still at anchor, dinner is finished, and the sky over the islands has not yet decided to get dark.
Most visitors see the Stockholm archipelago from a ferry rail, on a timetable, among a few hundred other people. This is the other way: a private yacht, a skipper who has sailed for more than thirty-five years, and nobody aboard but your own party. The boat leaves from Nacka Strand, on the eastern edge of the city, so there is no transfer and no early start. You walk down the quay and step on.
Three nights, and very little packing. Two are at a small hotel on the water at Nacka Strand, a few minutes from the boat, and one is on Grinda. Between them are the two sails that show the archipelago best: a long evening out to Velamsundet, and a full day past Vaxholm to the islands beyond it. It is short on purpose. It fits around a few days in Stockholm, and it is the archipelago for people who cannot give it a week.
A curated journey we can arrange. Book it as designed, tailor it around your dates, your pace and who is coming, or use it as the starting point for something new.
What you'll remember
- Dinner cooked aboard at anchor off Velamsundet, in light that will not go
- Taking the wheel past a fortress that was obsolete nine years after it was finished
- A swim off the stern near Grinda, then an evening at an inn built in 1906
- Fresh bread from the island bakery before the white boat carries you back in
The route
Three stops, in the order you travel them
- Nacka StrandStockholm & the East · Night 1
- GrindaStockholm & the East · Night 2
- Back to the cityStockholm & the East · Night 3
Three nights, two bases, and the water between them. Everything happens inside the Stockholm archipelago, so the map carries a single marker: the boat sails from Nacka Strand on the edge of the city, and the second night is on Grinda, beyond Vaxholm.
At a glance
3 nights, night by night
Private throughout, at your pace. Any night can move; the shape of the trip stays.
- Night 1Nacka StrandAn evening that does not end
- Night 2GrindaPast the fortress, and further out
- Night 3Back to the cityThe slow way home
Nacka Strand · Night 1
An evening that does not end
Nacka Strand is where the city stops and the water starts: a quay with a Carl Milles fountain at the end of the pier, a couple of restaurants, and the boat a short walk from your room. You go out in the evening, as the day boats are heading home. The skipper takes the channel east towards Velamsundet, where the shore belongs to Nacka's largest nature reserve, and anchors in the lee of the trees.
Dinner is cooked aboard and eaten in the cockpit: salmon with lemon butter, or meatballs with lingonberries, or whatever you asked for weeks ago. The light goes gold and then simply stays there. You are back at the pier before midnight, and it will not feel like it.
Grinda · Night 2
Past the fortress, and further out
The full day. The boat runs north-east through the inner islands to Vaxholm, where the channel narrows past the round granite fortress that guards the way into Stockholm. It took thirty years to build and was finished in 1863. Nine years later a test shot from newer guns went straight through its walls. Take the wheel for this stretch if you want it; by now most people do.
Beyond Vaxholm the water opens out. The skipper anchors off Kalvholmen, close to Grinda, for a swim from the stern and lunch aboard, and in the afternoon brings you into Grinda's guest harbour. The whole island is a nature reserve, with animals grazing its meadows and a lookout on the hill at its eastern end. Dinner is at the inn above the harbour, in a dining room that has looked out over the water since 1906.
Back to the city · Night 3
The slow way home
A morning with nothing in it. Bread from the island bakery, a last swim, a walk while the day visitors are still on their way out. Around midday you take the white archipelago boat back to Stockholm: one to two hours through the inner islands, on the ferries the city uses all summer, with the route you sailed the day before running past in reverse.
The last night is back at Nacka Strand, with the afternoon free in the city and dinner on the quay. If you would rather sail home than take the ferry, the boat can come back for you. Tell us when you book, because it is a second charter and not always free.
What we look after
Everything between the places
- Two nights at a waterfront hotel at Nacka Strand, beside the boat's berth
- One night at the old inn on Grinda, with dinner
- An evening sail of three to five hours to Velamsundet, with dinner cooked aboard
- A full day's sail of five to eight hours past Vaxholm to Grinda, with lunch aboard
- Sailing jackets, foul-weather gear and life jackets for everyone aboard
- Tickets for the archipelago boat from Grinda back to the city
- One person as your contact before and during the trip
International flights, travel insurance, drinks aboard, and harbour fees at Grinda or Vaxholm, which are charged at cost.
Your skipper
Scott Lakey
Travel curator
More than thirty-five years at sea. He learned as a boy on the North Atlantic, taught by his father, a captain in the US Navy.
Your trip, arranged by
Malin Persson
Co-founder, CalenVoy
Plans it with you from the first conversation, and is your contact before and during the trip.
Before you ask
Questions
Anything not answered here, ask us directly. We would rather you did.
Is there really a midnight sun in Stockholm?
Not quite, and we would rather say so. The true midnight sun is in Lapland, above the Arctic Circle, which is where our Three Midnights journey goes. Stockholm is further south: around midsummer the sun sets a little after ten in the evening and rises again at about half past three, and in between it never gets properly dark. In the first half of June there are about eighteen and a half hours between sunrise and sunset. At anchor on a June evening, the difference is academic.
Do we need to know how to sail?
No. The yacht is skippered, so nothing depends on you. The skipper will hand you the wheel for as long as you like, show you how to trim a sail if you are curious, or leave you on deck with a book. Sailing jackets, foul-weather overalls and life jackets are aboard for everyone. All you need to bring is a pair of soft shoes with pale, non-marking soles.
What happens if the weather turns?
Rain is not a reason to stay ashore: the cockpit closes up completely, so no one gets wet or cold unless they choose to. Wind is different. On a blustery day the skipper takes you to sheltered water instead of out into it, and decides on the morning where the day goes. We watch the forecast with him in the days before, and where it helps we swap the two sailing days round.
How many people can come?
Up to ten on the yacht for the day sails, which suits a family or a group of friends. For a bigger party, sister yachts of the same size can sail together, each with its own skipper. The limit for the night on Grinda is the number of rooms free on your dates, which is why we book it first.
Can we sleep on the boat instead of the inn?
Yes. The yacht has four double cabins and two bathrooms, and a night at anchor in a quiet bay near Grinda is a lovely alternative to the inn if your party is small enough. Tell us early. It changes the charter from a day sail to an overnight one, and that is priced differently.
Ready when you are
Make it yours.
Tell us roughly when you would like to travel and who is coming, and we will shape this around you. One conversation is all it takes to start.
More journeys
All journeys
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