Two-Day Trek: Stockholm, Sweden
Go island hopping and embrace the outdoors in one of Europe’s trendiest cities.
With the Nordic sun splashing Stockholm with light for 19 hours a day, and locals fleeing for the confines of their country cottages, a summer excursion is the best time to explore the city.
SATURDAY
The visit to Stockholm began a bit differently than others as we came directly from Copenhagen on a six-hour train, arriving in the mid-afternoon. After trying to check in at the wrong hotel (oops), we made it to the Haymarket by Scandic (Hötorget 13-15), constructed in a modern art deco style with a refreshing, yet not overwhelming, 1950s Hollywood film theme.
A quaint fresh food market is set up in the square just outside the hotel, the Hötorget, each weekend, and we took a quick look through before setting off in search of our dinner. We had planned to eat at Meatballs for the People (Nytorgsgatan 30) in the hip Södermalm district, but with the restaurant closed for a summer vacation, a sign pointed patrons to Nytorget 6, a Mediterranean cafe located at that address four blocks away. Not to be disappointed, we filled up on our planned dinner of Swedish meatballs — but not before giving in to whimsy and sharing the reindeer heart with gin lingonberries and horseradish cream.
Afterward, we partially retraced our steps, stopping in Gamla Stan, the colorful old town center. Before making our way up the hill, we crossed the Centralbron, the main road, and wandered around the islet of Riddarholmen, admiring the main church, the Riddarholmskyrkan, and the pillbox tower of the Birger Jarls Torn.
What To Know
Date of visit: July 15 to July 17, 2017.
Airport location: It’s 27 miles to the north. An express train, a direct bus and a local bus provide transport to the city center.
Walkability: 7/10. Once in the city’s neighborhoods, it’s easy to get around them.
English: Widely spoken; Swedes are known for their English.
Must-See Attraction: The Vasamuseet, housing a preserved 17th-century warship, is one of the world’s most unique museums.
Traveler’s tip: Make time for fika, a coffee break common among locals. It’ll help space out the lengthy days.
With daylight plenty in the summer months — the sun didn’t set until after 9:45 p.m. — we ambled around the streets and through the shops, making a quick stop for ice cream at the family run StikkiNikki (Stora Nygatan 17). Crowds had mostly dissipated by the time we reached Stortorget, though the fading sun made it a challenge to take a quality photo of the city’s brightly painted square, so we headed back to the hotel and left that challenge for the next morning.
SUNDAY
Having been warned that the Vasamuseet (Galärvarvsvägen 14) draws a massive crowd all day long, we knew that we wanted to be there when it opened, so we made our way to the museum, on Djurgården, to be among the first in at 8:30 a.m.
The main attraction is the Vasa, the biggest warship of its time, which was loaded beyond capacity in 1628 and sank upon its maiden voyage. Having rested just below the surface in mud and polluted water that prevented its decay for more than 300 years, it was finally raised from the bottom of the harbor in the 1950s, with the purpose-built, climate-controlled museum its current resting place.
A number of other museums are on the island, including the Junibacken [Children’s Museum], the Nordiska Museet [Nordic Museum] and the Biologiska Museet [Natural History Museum] — and yes, even ABBA, The Museum — but after stopping at a food truck parked outside the Vasamuseet for lunch, we wandered over to Skansen (Djurgårdsslätten 49-51), an open-air museum and zoo that presents historical life in Sweden through a variety of artifacts and recreations.
Having spent nearly three hours there, we had intended to rent bicycles and pedal around the eastern side of Djurgården, a public park for which the island got its name. With time having gotten away from us, though, we instead walked the long way back to the hotel, detouring to Fabrique‘s now-closed location in Gamla Stan, which we saw the night before, for fika — a coffee and snack break popular among Swedes. Our wandering also took us through the Riksplan, a garden in front of the Parliament building, known as the Riksdagshuset, and the Kungsträdgården, a wider open space behind the Kungliga Operan [Royal Swedish Opera House].
To fill our stomachs with something more substantive, we stopped for dinner at Urban Deli (Sveavägen 44), a restaurant with its own grocery that serves and sells only locally sourced products; I opted for the Korean steak tartare. Then, with the daylight dragging on, we made an unscheduled detour to Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium, built for the Summer Olympics in 1912 and, until recently, still home to a Swedish soccer team.
We didn’t expect to be able to go in, but two other visitors were exiting through the turnstiles as we approached and told us about an unlocked gate they found on the opposite side of the stadium. The stadium remains in great condition — including the press box, a narrow elevated platform accessible by a rusted metal staircase.
MONDAY
Another early start, this time to make it back to Stortorget, as we hoped to beat the crowds but also find the square in all its colorful splendor. It was a mission partially accomplished, with the reds, yellows and greens of the iconic buildings radiating in the morning sun.
Although we bypassed the Nobelmuseet [Nobel Museum] in the square, we chose instead to visit the Kungliga Slottet [Royal Palace], the official, but not actual, residence of the Swedish Monarch. It took nearly 65 years to build and wasn’t finished until 1760; today, the palace is also home to a number of museums, with the crown jewels located on site in the Treasury.
Having learned earlier that morning on the walk to Gamla Stan that the Riksdagshuset offers four free tours in English during summer weekdays, we stopped by to attempt to join a late-morning tour. Instead, with the number of visitors tightly controlled, we just missed out, and instead searched for lunch in the shadow of the Kungliga Slottet at Ristorante da Peppe (Storkyrkobrinken 16), a casual Italian spot.
Then, fortunately, we returned to the Riksdagshuset in time for the early afternoon tour — the wait was nearly 40 minutes, and we just made the 28-person cut — and with parliament in summer recess, we were led throughout the building and into the assembly hall itself, with our guide explaining the Swedish political process and proudly noting the routinely high turnout rate among voters.
That essentially brought our visit to Stockholm to a close. From there, our journey throughout Scandinavia continued, as we hopped aboard the Metro for a ride to the Värtahamnen [Ferry Terminal] to catch our overnight cruise to Helsinki on Tallink Silja’s Symphony, the largest cruiseferry in the world when it began service in 1991.
Verdict: There are few major cities with daylight hours as long (and, if visiting in the winter, as short) as what Stockholm experiences. Fortunately, with plenty to see and do, from the glittering waters of Mälaren to the gorgeous public parks, there’s enough of a chance to relax and take it all in.
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Disclaimers: All products, services and experiences were paid for and arranged by the author and the vendors named herein had no editorial oversight of this piece. All photographs were taken by and remain the property of the author; contact for republication rights.
