Archipelago dinner cruise: playing like a tourist on the shrimp boat

A sunset cruise in Waxholm.

Sailing on the Baltic Sea.

A Waxholmbolaget boat in front of the Waxholm hotel.

The shrimp boat is one of those tourist things that locals love to make fun of. It’s an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet and boat tour of the archipelago. We’d never done it before and from my viewpoint, any time that I can be on the water is a good time, so I was fine with checking it out.

Yesterday was the absolute nicest day we have had this year and it was both sunny and warm. Our friend Jim from Australia arrived in Stockholm at 6 and by 7.15 we were on the boat cruise with a group of other friends. I’ve gotta say that it was a perfect evening and a really fantastic way to introduce Stockholm to Jim.

The cruise was three hours and we started inside with a pre-dinner glass of champagne and then moved on to a chablis. Cheese and olives, then bread and shrimp arrived. At Waxholm, we got to get off the boat for 15 minutes to wander around the fortress. Then we spent most of the rest of the cruise back into Stockholm on the top deck enjoying the Baltic views. It was lovely.