af Chapman and Skeppsholmen

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A popular tourist destination such as the City of Stockholm, Sweden would expectedly have several affordable lodging accommodations available to backpackers and tourists with shoestring budgets. One such kind of affordable lodging accommodations in Stockholm is the youth hostel. A youth hostel somehow works like a dormitory, with two or more people sharing a room with kitchen, bathroom and lounge facilities. At an additional fee, you can also request to have your own room if you want more privacy.
 
However, af Chapman and Skeppsholmen youth hostel is one of cheap Stockholm hotels and hostels that stands out from other youth hostels in the city, or in the country for that matter, because you can find this Stockholm youthhostel floating on water.
 
Af Chapman is actually a century old steel ship anchored along the side of the Stockholm island of Skeppsholmen. A building also called Skeppsholmen can be found on the banks just a few meters from the floating sail boat and it also functions as a youth hostel. Because of the novelty of staying at a floating hostel, the af Chapman is a well-known tourist hot spot. People from all over Europe and from other places in the globe, especially backpacking teenagers and young adults, frequent this Stockholm youth hostel in Skeppsholmen.
 
The af Chapman however, was not built to function as a whimsical lodging accommodation. In fact, it wasn’t even built in Stockholm or anywhere in Sweden. It was actually constructed in the United Kingdom in 1888, making this ship which was once named ‘Dunboyne’ around one hundred and twenty years old. The Dunboyne anchored along the shores of Sweden more than a quarter of a century later, but it was in 1923 when the sailing ship was finally renamed af Chapman after a vice admiral in the Swedish Navy at the time.
 
In 1947, af Chapman was threatened to be torn down, but was thankfully rescued by the Stockholm City Museum. An idea was devised to put the ship into another use and after two years, the af Chapman became known as a floating youth hostel in Stockholm City, Sweden.
 
At the moment, the Af Chapman and Skeppsholmen offers 285 beds, 136 of which are on the boat. This 24-hour Stockholm youth hostel has a dining room, restaurant, bar, kitchen and reception room, and also offers laundry service to its guests. Not only is staying at the Af Chapman and Skeppsholmen inexpensive but the experience is something definitely new and refreshing.