Sightseeing by amphibious bus in Stockholm

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We tried sightseeing by amphibious bus in Stockholm! The amphibious buses have actually been running in Stockholm since autumn 2014, but it was only this weekend that we decided to try them out. And we do not regret this, a super fun experience!

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Sightseeing by amphibious bus in Stockholm

An amphibious bus is a bus that travels on both land and water, and in recent years these have become popular for sightseeing in some cities around Europe. Since autumn 2014, the company Oceanbus runs several times a day in Stockholm, departing from Strömgatan, between the Royal Opera and the Grand Hotel. We booked the tour at 14:00 and prepared for an adventure on the Estelle amphibious bus!

Oceanbus runs amphibious bus in Stockholm

Paul Ekwall and his brother came up with the idea of an amphibious bus in Stockholm when they saw similar buses in other European cities. Stockholm is a city full of water, and they thought an amphibious bus would be a perfect fit here. But the step from idea to realisation was not as easy as they might have hoped.

Scandinavia's only amphibious bus

Sweden is a country full of rules, and it took several years of work, headaches and worry before everything was in place. But shame on them! Now Scandinavia's first, and so far still only, amphibious bus is running regularly, and by next season (2019) there will be another amphibious bus in Stockholm.

Both driver and captain

The bus was originally based on a Volvo chassis that was shipped to the USA, where it was converted into an amphibious bus by an "amphibious bus expert" who has now produced 80 similar amphibious buses. The driver/captain is both a trained bus driver and ship's officer, and there is also a guide on board who tells you about Stockholm.

A tour on land and water

The tour started on land, where we passed Stureplan, Humlegården, Karlaplan and Kaknästornet before it was time to plummet into the water. Our guide was really, really good and told funny and interesting anecdotes about all the places we drove past.

We went past Djurgården, under Djurgårdsbron and past the row of museums: Junibacken, Vasa Museum, Viking Museum, ABBA Museum and Gröna Lund amusement park. We rounded Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen, drove past the Royal Palace on our left and passed under Skeppsholmsbron. Then we drove past the Grand Hotel and Strandvägen where you can see all the nice houses from the sea side.

Amphibian buses

The bus is 12 metres long, 3.5 metres high and weighs 10 tonnes without people. In other words, it's a hefty vehicle... or should we say ship? Paul explained that the tour is popular with Stockholmers and other Swedes, but that people from all over the world also come to ride the amphibious bus in Stockholm.

"Tourists in distress at sea"

In addition to a guided tour of Stockholm, we learnt a bit more about the amphibious bus. Among other things, we learned that the small red tools on the walls, which are normally used to break window panes in buses when you need to get out in an emergency, must be there according to the regulations, even though the bus's windows are plastic covers that are snapped on and off with simple buttons.

We were also told not to google "tourists in distress", as we might then happen to read about one of the early tours that didn't go as planned

Want to try sightseeing by amphibious bus?

If you haven't already done this tour, we highly recommend an amphibious bus tour in Stockholm! This is a really fun way to see many places from Stockholm. You'll be in a good mood and have a little adventure, while learning a lot of new interesting information about Sweden's capital city. The amphibious bus runs all year round, except when the ice is gone, and you can easily book online to make sure you get a seat.

Have you also travelled on an amphibious bus in Stockholm, or perhaps a similar one abroad? Please tell us!

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