Summer Nobel Inspiration Tour

- Start your journey to Stockholm, Sweden!

Due to the time difference, travelers from the U.S. will likely have to book their flight departing on Thursday, 6/6, to arrive on Friday, 6/7. The preferred arrival time on 6/7 is before 5 PM

- Reach out to your fellow travelers in the tour group chat to get to know them and meet up along your journey!

- Arrive in Stockholm, Sweden, at Stockholm Arlanda Airport!

- Hosts will meet arriving students at the international terminal. Details will be confirmed when participants’ flights are known. Hosts will guide participants on transportation by speed train to Stockholm city center and check-in at Generator Hostel, Stockholm.

- Early arrivals will have free time to explore, grab some lunch, and rest before the evening meeting.

- "Welcome to Stockholm" orientation meeting and dinner at the Generator Hostel

- Curfew

- Breakfast at the hostel

- Guided visit to Stockholm City Hall, where the famous Nobel Prize Banquet with 1.300 guests takes place every year on Nobel Day, December 10.

- Guided visit to the Stockholm Concert Hall, where the Nobel Prize Ceremony occurs, and the Swedish king hands the Nobel medals to the Laureates

- Lunch at the Vasa Museum

- Lecture and guided tour at the Vasa Museum, which holds the unique wreckage of the mighty Vasa warship from the 17th century that was pulled out of the ocean after 333 years underwater. It is one of Scandinavia's most visited attractions.

- Free time for dinner

- Meet at the hostel for curfew

- Breakfast at the hostel

- Leave by coach bus to Uppsala, one hour north of Stockholm. Here, find the oldest university of Scandinavia (Uppsala Universitet, 1477), a lively university town with active student life, and the grand Cathedral, built 750 years ago, home to the archbishop of Sweden.

- Lunch at a student nation. This is a student-run restaurant inside what is somewhat similar to a university co-ed Greek house in the U.S.

- Guided walking tour of Uppsala

- Return to Stockholm on the coach bus

- Evening workshop at the hostel, “make your own Sweden souvenir,” including dinner.

- Curfew

- Breakfast at the hostel

- Take the subway to Stockholm University.

- Welcome to Stockholm University. Here, the Nobel laureates in Physics, Chemistry, and Economic Sciences hold their prize-winning lectures on December 8 every year.

- Lecture: Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize, and the annual Nobel festivities.

- Lecture: A professor on the Nobel Committee for Chemistry presents the process of selecting a Nobel laureate

- Lunch on campus in the student canteen (dining hall). 

- Stockholm University campus tour and a visit to the university gift shop.

- Lecture: “Contemporary Sweden”: politics, welfare and creativity that makes Sweden internationally famous

- Enjoy an outdoor activity: Kubb, a traditional lawn game. “Play Chess like a Viking!”

- Return to Stockholm on the subway

- Free time for dinner

- Meet at the hostel for curfew

- Breakfast at the hostel

- Visit Karolinska Institutet, the medical university, and/or The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), the engineering university. Professors at both universities are active in the Nobel Prize process.

- University campus tour and lunch on campus.

- Take the subway to Gamla Stan, Stockholm's Old Town, where you will find the Royal Palace, Parliament, and the iconic colored Swedish homes in Stotorget (the square).

- Guided visit at Nobel Prize Museum located in the Old Town Square.

- After the visit, we'll have time for a walk around Gamla Stan, where you'll find tons of souvenir shopping!

- Free time for dinner

- Meet at the hostel for curfew

- Breakfast at the hostel

- Reception at the U.S. Embassy residence in Stockholm for presentations, refreshments, and Q&A. Meeting with embassy staff to discuss careers in the Foreign Service.

- Break off into smaller groups to visit museums. 

Participants can choose the museum(s) of their interest that they would like to visit (museum admission is not included, but most are free for students!)

Museum options:

• • • Nordic Museum (Culture)
    • National Museum (Art)
    • Museum of Technology
    • Viking Museum
    • ABBA Museum
    • Royal Palace/Royal Armory 

- Lunch on your own at the museum cafe

- Continue on to visit another museum or release for free time

- Free time for dinner

- Meet at the hostel for curfew 

- Breakfast at the hostel

- A day visit to Skansen. 

Skansen is the world’s oldest open-air museum, showcasing the whole of Sweden with houses and farmsteads from every part of the country. Festive occasions are celebrated throughout the year; in June, it will focus on the summer solstice and the Midsummer traditions.

- Lunch on your own in Skansen

- Take the tram back to Stockholm to get ready for dinner

- Take the subway to Stockholm University to visit the faculty club

- Evening farewell dinner with a buffet of traditional Swedish Midsummer dishes.

- Return to the hostel & pack your bags!

- Curfew

Travel back home – or extend your stay in Sweden and Europe

No program activities this day. Breakfast is available at the hostel for those with later flights. Hosts will coordinate departure groups to take the speed train back to the airport.

These terms refer to hotel room occupancy. All aspects of the tour are the exact same for each attendee, so we base the tour price on the attendee's hostel room preference. If you select QUAD, you reserve ONE SPOT for yourself in a hostel room with 3 other tour participants. The hostel room will have two bunk beds, with one person in each bunk and 4 students in the room in total. If you select TWIN, you reserve ONE SPOT for yourself in a hostel room with 1 other tour participant. The hostel room will have two beds, with one person in each bed and 2 students in the room in total. If you select SINGLE, you reserve an entire hostel room for yourself. All tour pricing is per person.

Yes! To attend the Summer Nobel Inspiration Tour, each attendee (including parents) must purchase a tour by filling out an enrollment form individually with their personal information. Parents are allowed to accompany their students on this tour, and they would participate in all aspects of the tour just as every other member does. Adults are only allowed to register for this tour if their student is also registered as adults cannot attend alone. 

Each attendee (parents and guests included) must complete their own enrollment form to attend the tour. Please note tour prices are per person regardless of group size. Adults can only be placed in a room with students they are attending the tour with. If a parent and a student would like to attend the tour and room together, the student would fill out an enrollment form and select TWIN, and the parent would fill out their own enrollment form (with their information as both the traveler and payment contact) and select TWIN. If the student does not want to room with their parent and would like to be paired with other students attending the tour, the parent must select SINGLE, and then the student can select any rooming option. For a group of 4 attending the tour (any combination of parents, students, siblings, or guests), ALL attendees would fill out their own individual enrollment form with their personal information, and ALL select QUAD.

No! As an NSHSS member benefit, members and their guests can use the NSHSS member tour pricing. Please note tour prices are per person. Non-member pricing is reserved for high school students unaffiliated with NSHSS who want to attend the tour.

Each attendee is responsible for their transportation arrangements to and from the tour start and end points in Stockholm, Sweden. NSHSS does not assist with airfare, and flights are not included in this tour price. With NSHSS members nationwide, it would be difficult to facilitate flights for every member from different airports at different times. Some members also choose to extend their trip in Europe past the tour dates, so we can offer a lower price for everyone without flights included.

The package includes hostel accommodations for the week, ground transportation, breakfasts on program days, one dinner OR lunch per program day, guided tours and activities within the programming, a full-time tour director, NSHSS swag, a Swedish souvenir, and all gratuities.

The NSHSS Summer Nobel Inspiration Tour is only sold as an all-inclusive tour package, so, unfortunately, we cannot remove the hostel cost from the tour price as that is a part of the package. Keeping all tour participants at the same hostel makes it easier to keep everyone accounted for overnight so we don't run into logistical issues in transportation to and from the hotel and daily activities.

NSHSS will provide a welcome dinner reception upon attendees' arrival in Stockholm on Day 1. On each full tour day, breakfast will be provided at the hostel. Either lunch or dinner will be provided each day with the exception of one day, including both lunch and dinner, and one day not including either because of this. For the meals not included, tour participants will be given free time to eat independently with their peers. Be sure to bring a global credit card and plan to provide yourself with one meal per day, as tour participants are welcome to eat at an eatery of their choosing. This is always a great opportunity for students to make friends with other participants, shop for souvenirs, and have some freedom to explore the area a little. On departure day, attendees can enjoy breakfast at the hostel before arriving at the airport. 

NSHSS has decided not to implement a vaccine mandate for our Nobel Week tours as the World Health Organization no longer defines COVID-19 as a pandemic. However, participants are strongly encouraged to take a COVID test on their own and ensure they are negative prior to traveling internationally to the tour's starting point to prevent a situation where they may not be able to participate in the tour.

As NSHSS tours are entirely optional to our members, we currently do not have any financial assistance programs for our tours at this time. However, payment arrangements are very flexible, allowing participants to create their own payment plan and pay the tour fee in increments of their choosing at any time and as many times as they would like up until the final due date. Please be sure to check out our NSHSS Scholarships page for multiple scholarship opportunities where many of the scholarships are open to both high school and college students. Keep an eye out as new scholarships are always being added!