Overview to Stockholm: Travel Guide and Tourist Information
- Stockholm Information
- Eating & drinking in Stockholm
- Night life in Stockholm
- Getting around in Stockholm
- Things to do in Stockholm
- Where to stay in Stockholm
- Stockholm street map
Striking, leafy old quarters meld with a cosmopolitan - and decidedly chic - modern side to make Stockholm something of a byword for a fashionable travel destination.
The Swedish capital owes its diversity to the ebbing and flowing of the Baltic Sea, which carved out its series of islands over the centuries. Each of these islands (14 in total) is genuinely distinct from the others that surround it, making Stockholm a fantastically rewarding place to visit.
Gamla Stan, the city’s Old Town, is spread out over three islands: Staden, Riddarholmen and Helgeandsholmen. Between the three of them, they house what is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque networks of streets in Europe.
Two buildings, in particular, demand a visit: Kungliga Slottet, the enormous royal palace and Stockholm's austere 13th century cathedral, Storkyrkan. Swathed in attractive shopping streets, Stortorget - the heart of the Old Town - is not far away.
There’s more great (if expensive) shopping across town to the east in Stureplan on Ostermalm. But here, the main draw is undeniably the stunning park of Djurgarden, which contains the wooded Norra Djurgarden and the city’s university campus.
To the south of the city, Sodermalm is defined by a more alternative, artsy vibe (particularly prevalent in Folkungagatan), as well as being the center of much of the city’s best, and most interesting, nightlife.
Normalm, meanwhile, although broadly the commercial district of town, is not without its charms. Most notable of these is the Kungstradgarden: not as big as the sprawling Djurgarden, it’s nevertheless a constant hub of activity.
The area of Skeppsholmen is home to a couple of the city’s excellent museums: the Natural History Museum and the Modern Museum. The latter has built up an innovative collection including works by the likes of Picasso, Dali and Rauschenberg.
The city’s seafaring heritage is paid tribute to in the Vasa Museum. It’s thought that the Vasa was one of the world's most powerful warships when she set sail in 1628. In spite of her fearsome reputation, though, she sank on her first voyage...
Stockholm boasts a number of important castles and palaces situated in and around the city. Of these, the 17th century UNESCO protected Drottningholm Palace (out on the island of Lovon) is arguably the most impressive.
Stockholm is smart without being stuck-up, cool without being pretentious and modern but never blandly uniform… And throughout its various wildly different neighborhoods, it somehow manages to cram in pretty much everything that’s good about urban living.
