Need advance tickets for museums?

I have a plea for you, Judy: If you have time, please post after you get to Stockholm and see how things look on the ground. I'll be there at some point in July, arriving from Norway. I want to leave my sightseeing plans up in the air as much as possible so I can be responsive to the weather, but I don't want to miss out on points of major interest, either.

In reviewing my planning notes--most of which were pulled together pre-pandemic, so things may have changed--I see that the two sights where crowding is mentioned are the Vasa Museum and ABBA The Museum. I don't know whether either sells tickets in advance.

Acraven,
I plan to write up an account of my trip probably sometime in June. The Vasa Museum is on our tour so I don’t need to worry about that. ABBA The Museum likely isn’t on the tour knowing Rick Steves and his philosophy so I will check with my friends. I’m not interested enough to go to a museum about them that’s for sure.

Short answer: No.

The Vasa museum doesn't sell tickets in advance at the moment but that is temporary. When it is possible, buying a ticket in advance can be useful but not necessary. You won't have to stand in line for hours. (Acraven: If you want to be flexible, there are ways to avoid the worst queues at the museum.)

I've never been to the ABBA museum, but from what I've heard it is a great place if you are a fan. But if you are not there are better ways to spend your time and money.

Thanks, Badger.

I talked to one of my friends and she definitely wants to go to the ABBA Museum. I suppose we need to check the museum website to learn the protocol.

@acraven FWIW, we were in Stockholm in August 2019. Your best bet for the Vasa Museum is to get there when it opens. There was no line at that time. As the morning wore on, the numbers of visitors increased to the point that it was shoulder to shoulder. We enjoyed the museum so much. I think we read every exhibit. It is a very well done museum. When we left, there was a really long line waiting to get in. We skipped the ABBA a museum as we had no interest in going there. We went to the folk park up the road instead.

Judy,
We didn’t book anything in advance in Stockholm. We are early risers so we just got to the sites we were interested in seeing when they opened. You will love Stockholm. It’s a beautiful city.

I'll be making a return visit to Stockholm on Wednesday.

I've already been to the Vasa Museum. That was in October of 2018. Walked right in in the early afternoon. Not sure if May will be that busy but July might be.

If you have time, or time it right, the museum has nice cafeteria and the food was good.

No interest in the Abba museum.

However, I would suggest a visit to the Skansen --the open air museum. It is on the same tram line as the Abba Museum and the Vasa. I was there off season so many things were closed but I still spent about three hours there. I visited the Vasa afterwards.

Thanks, Mary. It does seem as if it's helpful at many sights to be there when the place opens, or a bit earlier. I gather that tours like morning visits but don't necessarily choose the first time slot.

The RS tour already does the Vasa museum. I am very interested in Skansen but am not sure about tickets yet. I want to do some of the boat tours so have been hoping they might add later afternoon times since the country has lifted all restrictions. Same with Drottningholm Palace.

Visiting the Vasa museum when it opens is a good way to avoid the crowds. Another tip is to look at the cruise ship schedule, if there are any cruise ships in the city and how many. Most cruise ship passengers seems to have roughly the same plan for the day which often involves the Vasa museum.

My friend does want to go ABBA The Museum and I checked their website, it seems tickets are available for our dates.

Thanks for all your help!