If you are tired of Stockholm and need a break, then Mariefred is a perfect choice. Mariefred is approachable, touristy and has small town feel. These four activitites in Mariefred will help you relax and also have an enjoyable time.

How to reach Mariefred?

Mariefred is a small town just outside Stockholm county in Södermanland. It can be reached by a cruise. It is part of Cruise across Lake Mälaren. More information about this cruise can be found on this link.

We took the second way to reach Mariefred. We booked a SJ train till Läggesta Station. There was an option to book the bus till Mariefred on the website itself but we took a more beautiful path. SJ train can be booked here. SJ train was a double decker, super comfortable and high speed train which takes you till Läggesta within 40 minutes.

Best way to reach Mariefred is to take heritage steam train from Läggesta Nedre station till Mariefred. Ticket for this train can be booked directly at the station. It takes 15 minutes to reach the Läggesta Nedre station from Läggesta Station.Timetable for this train can be seen here.

Train Journey from Läggesta Nedre to Mariefred

I think it was my first steam train journey in Sweden. We reached Mariefred around 10.30am and first train to Mariefred was at 11:30am. It was easy to buy the tickets at this station. One has to physically buy the ticket at the counter. I think this train journey works only during summer. Please confirm before you leave for Läggesta. Läggesta station has only two platforms and one shop which is closed on sundays. There is no source of food besides that Direkten shop. Toilets are available at the station.

Actual train journey lasts for about half an hour. It is the old style journey wherein one can feel the ride of the journey. Quite an opposite to the smooth high speed SJ train we took from Stockholm to Läggesta. But that is the fun of it. The staff running this show look quite young. I think it will be an enjoyable journey as a kid and a family.

Train passes through beautiful scenery, lakes until it reaches Mariefred where you see the Gripsholm Castle immediately. I will highly recommend this train ride. Please be mindful if you can actually take a baby stroller on this train.

Mariefield Kyrka

After reaching Mariefred, we visited the church in Mariefred. It takes hardly 10 minutes to reach the place. But there are atleast 30 steps to climb on one side to enter from the main gate of the church. Another way to reach the other entry of the church is through a climb around the main building. It is absolutely easy to do so as well if you have baby stroller.

I would consider a must visit to this place in Mariefred. Building is visible from many angles as it is tall and part of the landscape. I loved the chandeliers, altar and the organ.

Hamn of Mariefred Steam boat

From the side entry of the church we saw the beautiful view of lake Mälaren. We decided to walk down to the walking path along the lake. It was absolutely scenic. We walked till the terminal meant for Mariefred Steam Boat. I would recommend this walk around the lake.

Gripsholm Castle

One of the prime reasons of visiting Mariefred is Gripsholm Castle. There is so much to this castle that I have written a separate post about it. Please read it on this link. I would recommend having lunch or dinner before you visit the castle. Gripsholm Pavillion is a good place with a miniature golf nearby to play but I enjoyed eating at Gripsholmsgrillen.

Deer Park

Deer park is a walk from Gripsholm Castle. I am going to highly recommend this park. It is plain beautiful. I have written in detail about it here in this blog. In short you need binoculars, positive attitude, good jacket for a windy day and good zoom lens for your DSLR camera. There are many roads within the deer reserve leading to different roads out of the park, I think. Have your mobiles charged, keep a power bank, if this is the last thing on your agenda while exploring Mariefred. You don’t want to miss out taking videos.

Practical Information about the journey

1. Where to eat? I enjoyed by burger at Gripsholmsgrillen. Absolutely approachable and easy to find and close to most places
2. Toilets are available at the Mariefred Station.
3. We walked from Mariefred to Läggesta station via the deer park. A long part of the walk is next to a highway but from a well defined walking path.
4. Gooogle maps should be most useful in navigation as is usually in current times.