Low-cost Airlines

In case you are new to Europe, escaping from Sweden to visit other European countries costs quite low thanks to the advent of low cost airlines such as Ryanair (flying from Skavsta and Västerås airports to various places in Europe), EasyJet (from Arlanda airport to Geneva and Milan, as of July 2009), AirBerlin (from Arlanda airport to various places in Europe), Norwegian (from Arlanda airport to various places in Europe), etc. (By the way, there used to be one more low-cost airline serving Stockholm. It was called Sterling. But it went bankrupt in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008.)

Keep an eye on The Stockholmtown Blog, which keeps reporting new routes opened by low-cost airlines from Stockholm.

Usually, tickets can only be booked online (the English version website is always available).

Ryanair is almost always the cheapest option, even if you feel ripped off because the final amount of payments is much, much more than the price you first saw (often close to zero krona). The price you first see on their website is the airfare excluding taxes, fees for online check-in, checking in baggage, paying by credit card, and so forth. Since you cannot book the seat with Ryanair, you must arrive at the boarding gate early and make a queue by standing in front of the gate, or pay a fee of "priority Q" to board first. Also beware that (1) Ryanair may fly you to an airport far away from the city center (just like Skavsta and Västerås in case of Stockholm), depending on destinations, and that (2) since April of 2009, you must check-in online in advance (you cannot check in at the airport). But Ryanair is the (self-claimed) most punctual airline in Europe (because passengers are rushed to board).

There is no such hassle with AirBerlin although it does not allow carry-on bags of more than 6 kg. (Other low-cost airlines in Europe usually allow up to 10 kg.)

Unlike other standard airlines where a single ticket costs much more than half of the price of a return ticket, these low-cost airlines do not discount return tickets compare to two single tickets. So you can fly with different airlines on the way to and back from your destination if this suits you (say, the flight schedule for one airline is more convenient than the other).