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Stockholm Guide

Stockholm Sights & Attractions

1. Vasamuseet

Generally regarded as Stockholm’s best museum, the Vasamuseet is a rather perverse celebration of one of the worst miscalculations in Sweden’s 750-year naval history. Built in 1628 by the best shipbuilders in the land, the Vasa was a glorious but fatefully top-heavy oak warship, which sank on its maiden voyage with 150 people on board before it had even left the city's harbour. Specialists later said the 64-gun vessel was too top-heavy to sail. Lost for centuries, it was dredged up in 1961. Its hull had been preserved by the Baltic mud, free of the worms that can eat through ships' timbers. On board were more than 4,000 coins, carpenter's tools, sailor's clothes (in a colour known as Lübeck gray), fish bone combs, and other items of archaeological interest.

The handsome museum that houses the Vasa is on the island of Djurgarden, a 20-minute walk from the city centre. Now largely restored to her former glory, the 228-foot-long vessel is the world's oldest identified and complete ship. It once again carries its original carvings of grotesque faces, lion masks and fish-shaped bodies, some still covered with the original paint and gilt. A full-scale model of half of the upper gun deck has also been built, together with the admiral's cabin and the steering compartment. Several newly carved wooden figures represent the crew. By walking through the "gun deck" and the exhibit of original objects (including medical equipment, preserved clothes, and a backgammon board), you can get an idea of life aboard the ship.

Another exhibit tells the story of naval warfare in the Vasa's brief heyday. A diorama shows a battle fought by the Swedish and Polish navies in 1627. The ships, sculpted in copper, are positioned on a large cupola. Inside the cupola a film illustrates the horrors of war at sea.

2. Skansen

Also located on the island of Djurgarden, Skansen is a re-creation of 150 buildings – homes, shops, churches, barns and workshops – built between the 18th and 20th centuries and relocated from across the country. The result is a miniature Sweden, with buildings from the north of the country at the north of the museum, those from the middle in the middle and so on. The most complete area is the 1850s quarter, with cobblestone streets and artisans’ workshops, including a baker, glass-blower, potter and ironmonger. Skansen’s staff – dressed in folk costumes – spin wool, tend fires and perform other traditional tasks inside some of these workshops. During the summer, there are also folk-dancing demonstrations – with lots of foot-stamping and fiddle playing –on the Tingsvallen stage in the main market place.

Paths lined with elm, oak and maple trees wind between the buildings, creating a peaceful environment. Animals from all over Scandinavia, including brown bears, moose and wolves, are kept along the northern cliff in natural habitats. There is also a petting zoo with goats, hedgehogs and kittens, and an aquarium/zoo.

3. Nobelmuseet

The Nobelmuseet (Nobel Museum), on Gamla Stan, chronicles one of Sweden’s most famous institutions: the Nobel Prize, created by Alfred Nobel, the reclusive Swedish-born inventor, who, at his death in 1896, owned 16 explosives factories. One part of the museum is devoted to Nobel himself. It displays an unvarnished biography of the inventor, along with his books, lab equipment, a death mask and a copy of his will, which instituted the prizes for peace and other academic accomplishments. The first prizes were awarded in 1901.

The other part of the museum explains how the prize was started and how the selection process works. It includes two theatres showing short films about laureates, television clips about the prizes and a computer room with an ‘e’ museum, which will bombard you with more than enough information to keep you entertained. You can also listen to acceptance speeches over the years in audio booths, including that of Martin Luther King in 1964. A track on the ceiling moves 758 white placards (one for each laureate) around the main hall, each with a description and photo. Here you’ll pick up all sorts of useful tidbits, such as the fact that French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was offered an award in 1964 but declined, saying all prizes made the recipient less free. You’ll also be regaled with 1949 Nobel laureate William Faulkner’s modest declaration “I'm a far better farmer than writer.”

4. Kungliga Slottet

The Royal Palace, built in the early 1700s, is the most visited attraction on Gamla Stan. The Italianate, burnt orange exterior is imposing, but it’s the interior, with its endless network of drawing rooms and state rooms, that really attracts visitors curious about Sweden's aristocratic past. The Royal Apartments occupy two floors of the palace and are entered via a grand staircase in the western wing. The furnishings, tapestries and paintings here range in style from ornate rococo to more reserved neo-classical. The rooms are lavish enough in themselves, but the tales relating to them only amplify their appeal, so taking a guided tour is highly recommended. The Swedish monarchy dates to the Middle Ages. The current ruling family, the Bernadottes, have held power since 1810.

Medals and orders of various kinds are awarded in the Apartments of the Orders of Chivalry, and paintings of coats of arms decorate its walls. Until in 1975 the monarch opened parliament each year in the impressive Hall of State and directly across from this lies the Royal Chapel with pew ends made in 1690 for the Tre Kronor castle. Services are held every Sunday and all are welcome to attend.

5. Livrustkammaren

Located in a vaulted area beneath the Kungliga Slottet, the Livrustkammaren, or “Royal Armoury,” is Sweden’s oldest museum. Founded in 1633, it is crammed with shining armour, exquisite ballgowns, ornate royal coaches and knights’ weaponry. It is also somewhat poignant, frequently emphasising the negative aspects of kingship. One room contains the masked costume King Gustav II wore when he was assassinated in 1792, as well as the stuffed body of the horse that Gustav II Adolf was riding when he was killed in battle in 1632. Another displays clothes and toys, including a miniature carriage and suit of armour – testimony to the lost childhoods and early responsibilities of the royal children. The ceremonial coaches of the nobility – including a royal sleigh – lie beneath the main floor, in a dimly lit hall.

6. Stadshuset

Stockholm’s Stadshuset, or City Hall, stands on the island of Kungsholmen, west of Normalm, looking across to Gamla Stan. An imposing red brick building, it’s most famous for hosting the annual Nobel Prize banquet, held in the Blue Hall on 10th December after the prizes have been awarded at the Konserthuset. The interior, as you might imagine, is appropriately monumental. In the astonishing Golden Hall upstairs, scenes from Swedish history are depicted on the walls in 18 million mosaic gold leaf pieces. The beamed ceiling of the Council Chamber, where the City Council meets every other Sunday, resembles the open roof of a Viking longhouse.

Even if you don’t want to take a guided tour around the Stadshuset, you can still climb the tower, following a series of winding, red brick slopes, then a set of wooden stairs, for a fantastic view across to Gamla Stan. The tower is topped off by three gold crowns: Sweden’s heraldic symbol, known as the Tre Kronors.

The Stadshuset also boasts an excellent cafeteria-style restaurant, and is therefore worth stopping off at during a walking tour of central Stockholm, even if it isn’t on your itinerary. The cafeteria, entered from the outdoor courtyard, serves classic Swedish dishes at lunchtime, while the Stadshuskällaren cellar restaurant offers dishes selected the previous year’s Nobel banquet menu.

7. SoFo

SoFo is Stockholm’s hippest new shopping area – a loose agglomeration of 60 or so shops on the island of Södermalm, mainly devoted to fashion and interior design. The name ostensibly stands for “south of Folkungagatan.” But it also invites deliberate comparisons to London and New York’s Soho districts.
The SoFo area had been something of a second home for savvy shoppers with alternative tastes since the mid-1990s. But it wasn’t until September 2003 that three shopkeepers decided to capitalise on the fact by giving it an identifiable image.

Today, some of SoFo’s most prestigious outlsets include Le Shop on Nytorgsgatan, Tjallamalla and other vintage and second-hand shops on the Bondegatan, and Boutique Sportif on Renstiernas Gata. These shops all have genuinely interesting imports as well as fresh, young Swedish design. You will also find interior design and tableware with retro undertones in other boutiques.
“SoFo nights” take place on the last Thursday of the month, when shops keep their doors open until 21.00. On these nights many shops also have some kind of event, like impromptu fashion parades or concerts.

8. Moderna Museet

Located on the small island of Skeppsholmen, between Gamla Stan and Djurgarden, Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art is one of the groundbreaking contemporary art venues in the world. It originally opened in 1958 and was an immediate success, intriguing and scandalising visitors in equal measure. In the 1960s and 70s an enlightened acquisitions policy secured works by such cutting edge artists as Andy Warhol, Jean Tinguely, Robert Rauschenberg, Niki de Saint Phalle. Notable pieces amongst this pop art collection include Claes Oldenburg's 12-foot-high Geometric Mouse; Fox Trot, an early Warhol; and Total Totality All, a large sculpture by Louise Nevelson.

The museum underwent expensive and torturous renovations in recent years, but reopened in 2004 with seemingly endless hallways of blond wood, walls of glass and sunshine streaming in through the newly enhanced skylights. Pop art aside, highlights include a small but good collection of cubist art by Picasso, Braque, and Léger; Matisse's Apollo découpage; the famous Enigma of William Tell by Salvador Dalí; and works by Brancusi, Kandinsky, Max Ernst, Giacometti, and Arp, among others. The terrace of the museum’s self-service restaurant offers beautiful views towards Ostermalm.

9. Nordiska Museet

The Nordiska Museet (National Museum) is a huge, imposing, late-Victorian building on the island of Djurgärden. An appropriately colossal statue of Gustav Vasa – the founder of Stockholm – presides over the entrance hall. The rest of the museum houses an impressive collection of Swedish implements, costumes, and furnishings from the 1500s to the present, comprising more than a million objects. Highlights include recreated table settings, and period costumes ranging from matching garters and ties for men to purple flowerpot hats from the 1890s. In the basement is an extensive exhibit of the tools of the Swedish fishing trade, plus relics from the Sámi Lapps – semi-nomadic reindeer herders who inhabit the far north. The Museum is quite old-fashioned in presentation, but Lekstugan, the "village life" play area aimed at kids 5 - 12, is always popular.

10. Ferry Trips

Given that water is more enmeshed with Stockholm than with practically any other city in the world, save Venice, a ferry excursion makes for a fun day trip. ferryThe Stockholm archipelago begins just a few miles east of the capital, covering about 90 miles from north to south. Only 150 of the islands are inhabited, but many Stockholmers have summerhouses on the archipelago and visitor numbers swell in the warm months, especially July. The landscape varies tremendously, from the more populated thickly wooded inner archipelago to the bare, flat rocks of the central and outer islands. Venture out just a bit and you’ll find the Royal Family’s residence at Drottingholm, and Gustav Vasa’s fortress of Gripsholms Slott at Mariefred. North of Stockholm lies the former Viking stronghold of Sigtuna, one of the oldest towns in Sweden.

Closer in, there are companies that give speedboat tours of Stockholm and the archipelago at speeds of up to 45 knots. The 90-minute tours take you out west to Waxholm and Fjäderholmarna. More sedate tours of the city’s waterways will provide commentary on headphones and take you past notable sights, like the Royal Palace and the shores of the lavish forests of Djurgarden park.