Arlanda to Stockholm City: Express Train, Bus or Taxi?

Two railways, several coach routes and a motorway connect Arlanda to Stockholm. The decision is rarely about price alone — it is about your hour, your luggage and which central station is nearest your bed. Here is the whole thing in one page.

When you need this

You are in the arrivals hall at Terminal 5 with a suitcase and a phone on 8%. Or you are planning ahead, holding an SL travelcard and assuming it covers the airport train. Or your flight is delayed to 02:00 and you have no idea what still runs.

The four options at a glance

All four leave from the terminals or from SkyCity, so none of them requires a hike. What separates them is cost structure — and that is where the trap lives.

The station passage fee nobody warns you about

Arlanda’s commuter and regional station, Arlanda C, sits inside SkyCity between Terminals 4 and 5. Getting on or off a train there costs a station passage fee of 157 kr per passage for anyone 18 or over, on top of whatever ticket you hold. There is one price only — no student, senior or family rate.

This is not an airport charge, and Swedavia says so plainly on its own site: the fee concerns the station and the railway, and how they were financed when they were built in the 1990s. Arlanda C sits on the Arlanda Link, run under a public-private partnership by A-Train AB — the same company that operates Arlanda Express — under a concession that lasts until 2050.

Warning: An ordinary SL single ticket or 30-day travelcard covers the ride but not the gate. Without the supplement you are stopped at the barrier at Arlanda C holding a perfectly valid SL ticket. Buy the passage in the SL app before you get there, or at the service desk at the station.

SL sells three products that contain the fee, and the difference matters:

Two mercies. Anyone under 18 passes free — they buy an ordinary SL ticket and nothing else. And the fee is charged only at Arlanda C’s gates, so SL buses to the terminals are outside it entirely.

One more thing worth knowing before you budget: the fee has been climbing. It was 120 kr in 2022 and 147 kr in mid-2025. Any guide quoting those numbers is behind, and the figure is typically reset in January — check SL before you travel.

Arlanda Express: fastest, and priced like it

Eighteen minutes, non-stop, roughly every quarter of an hour. From Stockholm Central the train calls first at Arlanda South, for Terminals 2 and 3, then at Arlanda North for Terminal 5 — one minute apart, and riding between the two airport stations costs nothing, which makes it a free inter-terminal shuttle outside security.

One wrinkle: Terminal 4 stopped being a terminal of its own on 28 October 2025 and its gates (C30–C44) are now part of Terminal 5, in the north. Swedavia’s own train page has not caught up and still lists Terminal 4 under Arlanda South, so trust your boarding pass over the station signage — the terminals themselves are covered in our Arlanda airport guide.

Tickets are not tied to a departure: singles and returns are valid for any departure in either direction for 90 days, so you can buy before you fly and ignore the departure board entirely. Fares are banded by age — an adult price, a cheaper band for 18 to 25-year-olds, a senior band from 65, and a group discount per extra person. Children under 18 travel free with a paying adult; unaccompanied children from 8 pay the youth fare. Bring ID for any discounted band.

A note for anyone reading this page next year: A-Train changed owner in December 2025, and the new owner has publicly promised a more flexible pricing model and a new fleet around 2030. Treat the structure above as current rather than permanent.

The commuter train: cheap ride, expensive gate

SL’s line 40 runs Uppsala–Arlanda–Stockholm City–Södertälje, which is the quiet advantage nobody advertises. Arlanda Express delivers you to Stockholm Central and no further. The commuter train calls at Stockholm City — the underground station beside Stockholm Central — then Odenplan, then continues south through the city. If your hotel is in Vasastan or on the south side, this saves you a change even though it is 20 minutes slower.

The ride itself takes about 38 minutes and any SL ticket is valid for it. It is the passage fee, not the fare, that makes this option cost more than travelers expect: the supplement is several times the SL ticket itself, so the saving against Arlanda Express is real but far smaller than the “local train versus airport express” gap suggests.

Where it wins outright is with children. Two adults and two teenagers pay two passage fees, not four. And if you are heading north instead, Arlanda is only 18 minutes from Uppsala on the same line.

The airport coach: luggage, prams and Cityterminalen

The coach everyone still calls Flygbussarna has traded as Vy flygbussarna since Vy bought it from Transdev in 2020. It runs from Terminal 5 and Terminals 2–3 to Cityterminalen, the coach station next to Stockholm Central, in about 40 minutes, with longer routes to Liljeholmen (about 50) and Brommaplan (about 55).

Choose it when you are carrying things. Suitcases go in the hold rather than in your lap, the stop is at the terminal door, and there is no ticket gate anywhere in the journey. Tickets are valid for any departure within three months, which suits an unpredictable flight, and the operator’s own advice is that online or in-app is the cheapest channel. Children 0–7 travel free, up to four per paying adult, and 8 to 25-year-olds have their own fare band. Note that tickets are non-refundable once used.

Taxi and ride-hailing

Swedish taxi pricing is free by law — there is no meter rate set by the state and no legal ceiling. Your statutory protection is the yellow jämförpris sticker every car must display, showing the price of a standard 10-kilometre, 15-minute trip, plus a binding maximum quote the driver must give when that comparison price exceeds 710 kr (the 2026 figure — the threshold is 1.2% of the price base amount and is recalculated every January).

At Arlanda there is a second layer: taxi companies contracted by Swedavia accept a maximum fare within a marked zone around the airport, with the meter applying beyond it. That protection only covers cars taken from the official ranks outside Terminal 2 and Terminal 5.

Warning: Never accept a ride from someone who approaches you inside the arrivals hall. Only drivers with a pre-booked passenger may meet people there — anyone touting for business in the terminal has no airport contract and no price cap. Ride-hailing apps are not covered by Swedavia’s cap either; there, your protection is the price the app quotes you.

Swedavia’s own taxi page currently gives two different maximum fares for one to four passengers within the zone, which is a good argument for the oldest advice in the book: agree the price before the doors close.

Arriving in the middle of the night

Both railways sleep. SL’s commuter trains start between 04:00 and 05:00 and run until about 01:30. On the day we checked, the last Arlanda Express left the airport at 01:35 and the next one at 04:50 — a gap of more than three hours, right when delayed flights land.

What covers it: the airport coach, which runs night departures, and taxis, which run around the clock. Swedavia recommends pre-booking a taxi at night because cars run short at peak arrival times. If your flight is scheduled to land after midnight, sort this before you fly rather than in the arrivals hall.

Holiday timetables are thinner too — Arlanda Express adjusts its schedule at Easter, Ascension Day, National Day, Midsummer, Christmas and New Year, which are exactly the days people fly.

The cheapest legal route

The passage fee applies only at Arlanda C’s gates. So: take an SL bus from the terminals to Märsta station, then the commuter train onward. Any SL ticket is valid on the bus, there is no supplement, and the whole journey costs an ordinary SL fare. It costs you one change and roughly an extra half hour, and it is the answer to “what is the cheapest way from Arlanda to Stockholm” that most guides never mention.

For a family, though, do the arithmetic before you bother: with under-18s passing the gate free, the direct commuter train may already be the cheapest thing on this page.

Practical information

FAQ

What is the fastest way from Arlanda to central Stockholm?

Arlanda Express: 18 minutes non-stop from the airport’s own two stations to Stockholm Central, roughly every 15 minutes through the day. It calls at Arlanda South for Terminals 2 and 3, and Arlanda North for Terminal 5. Nothing else comes close — the commuter train takes 38 minutes and the coach about 40.

Do I have to pay extra to take the commuter train to Arlanda?

Yes, if you are 18 or over. Getting on or off a train at Arlanda C costs a station passage fee of 157 kr on top of your SL ticket, checked August 2026. SL sells it as a standalone supplement, or built into a combined single ticket and a 30-day travelcard. Under-18s pass free.

Why is there a passage fee at Arlanda station?

Because Arlanda C is not an ordinary public station. It sits on the Arlanda Link, a railway built in the 1990s under a public-private partnership and operated by A-Train under a concession running to 2050. Swedavia states plainly that the fee has nothing to do with the airport and concerns the station and how the line was financed.

Is my SL travelcard valid to Arlanda?

For the train ride, yes; for the gate at Arlanda C, no. An ordinary SL travelcard needs the separate Arlanda passage ticket added, though SL does sell a 30-day travelcard with the fee already included. SL buses to the terminals are a different matter entirely — any SL ticket is valid and there is no passage fee.

What runs from Arlanda in the middle of the night?

Not the trains. SL’s commuter trains run from between 04:00 and 05:00 until about 01:30, and on the date we checked the last Arlanda Express left the airport at 01:35 with the next at 04:50. Airport coaches have night departures and taxis run around the clock — Swedavia recommends pre-booking a taxi at night.

Is a taxi from Arlanda a rip-off?

Not if you take one from the official ranks outside Terminal 2 or Terminal 5. Taxi pricing in Sweden is legally uncapped, but Swedavia’s contracted companies accept a maximum fare within a marked zone around the airport. Never accept a ride offered inside the arrivals hall, and read the yellow jämförpris sticker before you get in.

What is the cheapest way from Arlanda to Stockholm?

Take an SL bus from the terminals to Märsta station and the commuter train onward: no passage fee, just an ordinary SL fare. It costs one change and roughly an extra half hour. For families the arithmetic is gentler anyway — under-18s pass the Arlanda gate free, so the direct commuter train may already be cheapest.

Which station should I aim for in Stockholm?

Arlanda Express and the coach both land you next to Stockholm Central — the coach at Cityterminalen. The commuter train uses Stockholm City, the underground station beside Stockholm Central, and continues to Odenplan and stations south of the centre. If your hotel is in Vasastan or on the south side, the commuter train saves you a change.

Related guides

• Stockholm Arlanda airport guide — terminals, arrivals and SkyCity, before you reach any platform.
• Getting around Sweden — the national layer above this page: no single ticket, one planner, 21 regional systems.
• How to pay for buses in Sweden — taps, apps and why no driver takes cash.
• Taxis in Sweden — the jämförpris system in full, for the rides that are not covered by an airport contract.
• Stockholm — what to do once you have made it into town.

Facts verified 2026-08-02. Sources: SL, Swedavia, Arlanda Express (A-Train), Vy flygbussarna and Transportstyrelsen — full register in this topic’s source file. The passage fee is typically reset each January; found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.