Is it possible travelling Sweden WITHOUT credit or debit card?

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Is it possible to travel the country (by public transportation) as tourist (including Stockholm, Gothenburg) WITHOUT a credit and debit card (and no app as well)

In Stockholm it is possible. You will need to purchase either a single ticket, an SL card containing pay as you go credit, or an SL card containing a period ticket (24 hours, 72 hours, 3 days 7 days etc). You can buy these from train & metro stations and some retailers like Pressbyrån or 7-eleven. Buy the card with cash, then use it on public transport.

You cannot "buy a ticket" on a bus/ferry - using any payment method - you must have a single ticket already, use the SL card, or use the app.

More information from SL: https://sl.se/en/fares--tickets/

Gothenburg has a similar system: https://www.vasttrafik.se/en/tickets/

For other regions, you'll need to do some research.

Booking long distance trains will be more difficult. You will need to buy tickets from an SJ ticket office and they will charge a booking fee for this.

As others have mentioned, buying a prepaid debit card using cash will make life a lot easier.

Upvote:5

You have recieved other good answers on how to buy the tickets. Regarding cash it is up to the place where you want to purchase something to choose what forms of payments they accept and if you do not want to or can not pay in that way you will need to go elsewhere. Not all places will take cash, not all places will accept all cards (few take Diners for instance), some will take Swish (where you pay from an app in your phone). Overall a VISA or Mastercard works in almost all places in Sweden.

Upvote:16

I'd go to the store Pressbyrån and get a prepaid debit card to use during the stay.

Using cash will be hard, many places don't accept cash. It will also be much more expensive.

If you only want to use cash you will have to plan your trip very well so that you know what places accept cash.

Getting tickets for public transportation during the evening and night will be near impossible using cash and you will then have to use mayor brand cabs that can be twice as expensive as app cabs - and that is if you manage to find them without using their app...

You will also most likely have to use manual checkouts which will make you spend time in queues, time you could spend doing other things. If the stores have self-service checkouts that accepts cash it's just one machine.

You will will barely be able to order food delivery as very few couriers bring cash.

You can't use the e-scooters if you don't have a card!

When I hang out with people living without a debit card they frequently ask me if I can pay using my card as it's much cheaper and the service is so much better.

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