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PRESENTED BY ARLANDA EXPRESS

How to travel for less on the Arlanda Express

So you've touched down at Arlanda airport and are eager to see the sights. Time is of the essence so why waste a single moment of it?

Published: 17 December 2019 06:00 CET
Updated: 17 March 2021 10:48 CET
How to travel for less on the Arlanda Express
Photo: Patric Johansson

Fortunately, the Arlanda Express will get you to the city centre in just 18 minutes. That’s two minutes less than the train used to take to get from the city’s main airport to Stockholm central station. Plus, you can save money when you buy two tickets so it pays to travel in pairs. A single is normally 299 kronor ($32) while you can get two tickets for just 379 kronor ($40).

Click the banner below to buy two Arlanda Express tickets for just 379 kronorDid we mention the trains are environmentally friendly to boot? Stockholmer Greta Thunberg would (surely) approve. 

Going green is all the rage nowadays but the Arlanda Express was way ahead of the game when the first train rolled off the tracks exactly 20 years ago. Before then the only way to access Arlanda airport was via car or bus, or if you were prepared to spend a small fortune on a taxi…

And the service has evolved with the times. Not only is the Arlanda Express faster than before, you can now buy tickets on your mobile before you land so you can just hop aboard. Trains run six times every hour during peak times and every 15 minutes at other times.

Benefiting the environment was a core goal of the service, which halved travel times between Arlanda and the Swedish capital compared to other transport options. The service even comes with the royal seal of approval; the first passengers back in 1999 were the King and Queen of Sweden. 

Since then more than 63 million passengers have used the Arlanda Express. Only green electricity coming from renewable sources is used to power the train, which can reach 200 km/h as it flashes by to its destination. 

A wise man once said that ‘it’s not about the destination, it is about the journey.’ And while it is unlikely that the author of that quote was thinking about the benefits of a good wifi connection, which is free for all Arlanda Express passengers, the sentiment rings true for all travellers of any vintage. 

Stepping onboard the Arlanda Express directly from the platform is an extension of your travel experience. From the air-conditioned carriages through to the soft lighting and images of the Swedish provinces, passenger comfort is at the heart of your 18-minute journey. 

Photo: Arlanda Express

Even the 190 custom made seats have a story to tell. Each one is labelled with a date on which a different historical event occurred. Take seat 1475-03-06 with the tag March 6, 1475 – the date of the birth of Italian artist Michelangelo. If you are curious to know what happened on the date your seat is tagged with then visit the Arlanda Express site here. 

Back in 2006, the train’s interior was redesigned by the iconic Swedish firm Björn Borg International. Such attention to detail earned the Arlanda Express a prestigious red dot design award for the firm’s ‘Trains of the Future’ concept that has Scandinavian design at its core.

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets for the Arlanda Express here.  

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Arlanda Express.

READER INSIGHTS

‘Painful’ – is Paris Charles de Gaulle airport really that bad?

Following a survey that said Paris Charles de Gaulle airport was the best in Europe, we asked Local readers what they thought...

Published: 30 December 2022 16:16 CET
'Painful' - is Paris Charles de Gaulle airport really that bad?

Recently, Paris Charles de Gaulle was voted the best airport in Europe by passengers.

The 2022 World Airport Awards, based on customer satisfaction surveys between September 2021 and May 2022, listed the best airport on the planet as Doha, while Paris’s main airport came in at number 6 – the highest entry for a European airport – one place above Munich. 

READ ALSO Paris Charles de Gaulle voted best airport in Europe by passengers

Given CDG’s long-standing reputation doesn’t quite match what the World Airport Awards survey said – in 2009 it was rated the second-worst airport in the world, while in 2011 US site CNN judged it “the most hated airport in the world” – we wondered how accurate the survey could be.

So we asked readers of The Local for their opinion on their experience of Europe’s ‘best’ airport. 

Contrary to the World Airport Awards study, users erred towards the negative about the airport. A total 30.8 percent of Local readers – who had travelled through the airport in recent months – thought it was ‘terrible’, while another 33.3 percent agreed that it was ‘not great’ and had ‘some problems’.

But in total 12.8 percent of those who responded to our survey thought the airport was ‘brilliant’, and another 23.1 percent thought it ‘fine’, with ‘no major problems’.

So what are the problems with it?

Signage 

One respondent asked a simple – and obvious – question: “Why are there so many terminal twos?”

Barney Lehrer added: “They should change the terminal number system.”

In fact, signage and directions – not to mention the sheer size of the place – were common complaints, as were onward travel options. 

Christine Charaudeau told us: “The signage is terrible. I’ve often followed signs that led to nowhere. Thankfully, I speak French and am familiar with the airport but for first time travellers … yikes!”

Edwin Walley added that it was, “impossible to get from point A to point B,”  as he described the logistics at the airport as the “worst in the world”.

And James Patterson had a piece of advice taken from another airport. “The signage could be better – they could take a cue from Heathrow in that regard.”

Anthony Schofield said: “Arriving by car/taxi is painful due to congestion and the walk from the skytrain to baggage claim seems interminable.”

Border control

Border control, too, was a cause for complaint. “The wait at the frontière is shameful,” Linda, who preferred to use just her first name, told us. “I waited one and a half hours standing, with a lot of old people.”

Sharon Dubble agreed. She wrote: “The wait time to navigate passport control and customs is abysmal!”

Deborah Mur, too, bemoaned the issue of, “the long, long wait to pass border control in Terminal E, especially at 6am after an overnight flight.”

Beth Van Hulst, meanwhile, pulled no punches with her estimation of border staff and the airport in general. “[It] takes forever to go through immigration, and staff deserve their grumpy reputation. Also, queuing is very unclear and people get blocked because the airport layout is not well designed.”

Jeff VanderWolk highlighted the, “inadequate staffing of immigration counters and security checkpoints”, while Karel Prinsloo had no time for the brusque attitudes among security and border personnel. “Officers at customs are so rude. I once confronted the commander about their terrible behaviour.  His response said it all: ‘We are not here to be nice’. Also the security personnel.”

Connections

One of the most-complained-about aspects is one that is not actually within the airport’s control – public transport connections.  

Mahesh Chaturvedula was just one of those to wonder about integrated travel systems in France, noting problems with the reliability of onward RER rail services, and access to the RER network from the terminal.

The airport is connected to the city via RER B, one of the capital’s notoriously slow and crowded suburban trains. Although there are plans to create a new high-speed service to the airport, this now won’t begin until after the 2024 Olympics.

Sekhar also called for, “more frequent trains from SNCF to different cities across France with respect to the international flight schedules.”

The good news

But it wasn’t all bad news for the airport, 35 percent of survey respondents said the airport had more positives than negatives, while a Twitter poll of local readers came out in favour of Charles de Gaulle.

Conceding that the airport is “too spread out”, Jim Lockard said it, “generally operates well; [and has] decent amenities for food and shopping”.

Declan Murphy was one of a number of respondents to praise the, “good services and hotels in terminals”, while Dean Millar – who last passed through Charles de Gaulle in October – said the, “signage is very good. [It is] easy to find my way around”.

He added: “Considering the size (very large) [of the airport] it is very well done.  So no complaints at all.”

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