Stockholm is a city with a long and interesting history, and although it is the largest city in Scandinavia, it retains a quaint atmosphere with wonderful architecture and natural beauty of the surrounding islands. Stockholm is made up of fourteen different islands and has countless things to see and do between museums, parks, and historic streets and buildings.
WHERE WE STAYED:
Hobo: Hobo hotel instantly feels easygoing and inviting. The rooms are quite small but cleverly designed with metal framed headboards to hang lighting and bedhead cushions. Modern, forward thinking, comfortable, and fun, it gets the thumbs up from me.
WHAT WE DID:
Shop at Grandpa: This shop knows how to mix Scandinavian brands with international top names. They sell fashion for men and women, interior items, and accessories. Daniel bought a cool beanie and I bought a couple notebooks. You will easily spend an hour or more browsing through all of the knick knacks.
Walk around Galma Stan: A historic island where there are many winding cobbled streets and quaint narrow alleyways showing the city’s heritage, including the Royal Palace and the Swedish Parliament. It is a busy working area as well as being wonderfully scenic. Gamla Stan is probably my favorite place in Stockholm. It is the birthplace of the city and dates back to the 13th century.
Metro Subway Art: Stockholm’s subway art is the world’s longest art exhibit. Stretching over 110 kilometers, 90 of the 100 stations are decorated with colorful pieces of art. It all started in the 1950s when the city decided to make art more accessible to its citizens and beautify urban areas. Since then, more than 150 Swedish artists have contributed pieces to Stockholm’s stations.
T-Centralen (all lines)
Mörby Centrum (red line T14)
Stadion (red line T14)
Solna Centrum (blue line T1)
Royal Palace: This place is HUGE! With over 600 rooms the Royal Palace (Kungliga slotted) is one of the largest places in Europe. A large chunk of the palace’s many rooms are open to the public, and you can admire the extravagant interiors and priceless works of art and craftsmanship.
Stockholm City Library: While it many appear to be modern, the library was actually built almost 100 years ago, between 1918 and 1927. You can walk all the way up to the top bookshelves and admire this beautiful room from above. Perhaps the best part of this library is that it’s relatively unknown to tourists.
Explore Södermalm: Bohemian and hipster, Södermalm has a very unpretentious vibe and its devoid of tourist hordes. There are countless unique shops, vintage stores and galleries that we popped into.
Fika: Fika could easily be translated as coffee break… but this does not explain the importance of fika in Swedish culture. Fika is a philosophy, an institution. Companies have fika breaks in the afternoon and sometimes in the morning as well. By far the best part of fika are the famous Swedish buns - full of spice and not too sweet. Cinnamon and cardamom kanelbulle (buns) are a staple in Sweden; it seems they’ve just about taken over every inch of cafes, bakeries, and neighborhood groceries. Each of them served in a slightly different way: different sizes, different toppings, different ways of twisting, rolling, or knotting.
WHAT WE ATE:
Gast Café: This cool-kid café has its all- dusty pink walls, wide-plank wood floors, neon signs in the shape of Pac-man ghosts, and arched mirrors.
Rosendals Trädgård: An oasis in the heart of the city, this garden transforms with the seasons. It’s a café and nursery have a tremendous local following (the line was crazy long). There is open seating in a greenhouse and picnic tables spread out over the grounds. It’s collection of greenhouses and gardens serving up fresh garden to table every day. It’s a limited menu of things you can choose from on a long open table with the food perfectly arranged. They bake their own bread in the bakery, which smells amazing and you can shop for unique garden and kitchen items in there as well.
Tradition: It would be rude to visit Sweden and not have a plate of Swedish meatballs. For first timers, choose the classic meatballs with traditional accompaniments including cream sauce, potato puree, lingonberries, and pickled cucumber. I had the potato dumplings filled with mushrooms served with lingonberries and browned butter and Daniel of course went for the meatballs. This was by far one of the best meals and service of the trip.
Pom and Flora: Pom & Flora is a small busy café with a casual vibe Their weekend brunch is crazy popular, we learned this the hard way waiting in a line stretching outside the café. One of the best parts of this place is that you can pick and choose your favorites from the menu and have them individually.
Café Pascal: The award-winning café is located on a quiet corner and is a local hot spot. For breakfast we had eggs on toast with coffee and of course a Swedish cinnamon bun. If you choose to swing by at lunchtime, jump in line and choose between a mouth-watering selection of sandwiches, pastries and cakes.
Barobao: The menu consists of illustrations of the dish and a small description. You can choose from eight different bao’s: from steak to salmon. It was a delicious Vietnamese meal with lovely interior details including greenery and classic Scandinavian wood.
Fabrique: Buns, buns, buns, good coffee, delicious bread, and more buns. My favorite fabrique was the walnut. We visited three different fabrique locations because the buns are that good (I’m still dreaming about them). Fabrique has many locations all over Stockholm and it’s one of the most popular bakeries in the city. The fact that they have become a chain does not mean that quantity outdoes quality.
WHAT WE DRANK:
Drop Coffee: Drop Coffee is Sweden’s highly rated roaster and coffee bar. Their coffee is light, yet smooth, complex and flavorful. Their store is packed, hip and buzzing. Drop coffee sets a high standard for Nordic coffee and the baristas are friendly and knowledgeable.
Vete Katten: In the heart of Stockholm, one of the most revered coffee/cake shops is a must. Vete Katten has been around for nearly a century and is well known for its delicious cakes (I recommend the little chocolate balls), pastries, homemade pralines, teas, and coffee. It can get pretty busy here on weekdays so make sure you head there earlier in the day.
TIPS:
Sweden is the most cashless society in the world, coins or notes barely make up 1% of the value of all payments in a year. Some places in Stockholm don’t even accept cash, so keep your cards ready.
It’s not cheap: We know, you’re probably aware of this- Scandinavia is a pricey place! However, we did really really enjoy that $6 cup of coffee.
Coming from a city where you can wander out of your front door and find at least 15 liquor stores out your front door, Stockholm was a bit of a culture shock. While you can purchase low-alcohol beer from a supermarket, anything stronger and you’ll have to find one of the government run Systembolagets. Brought in to control Swedish drinking (apparently, they had quite the problem decades ago), it makes buying drinks to have at home, Airbnb, or hotel a little trickier.
Taxis are totally not worth it as they are very pricey, and you’ll unnecessarily run up a high bill. Taxi princes in Sweden aren’t regulated so the prices will vary vastly. Illegal taxi drivers have become an increasing problem in the city when hailing a taxi on the street.
The fastest way to get from the airport to Stockholm’s Central Station is the Arlanda Express train which takes about 20 minutes
Whenever we head somewhere new, we love being able to speak at least the basic “thank you” in the local language. However, that really wasn’t needed because the Swedes speak excellent English, often without and accent!
Stockholm is one of the most connected cities in Europe an there’s access to free Wifi in many public spaces.