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Top 10 Things To Do in Stockholm

Country
Sweden
Best months
May · Jun · Sep
Population
996K
Language
Swedish
Budget / day
€140–250
Quick answer

Give the first morning to Djurgården: the Vasa at opening, then Skansen next door. Take the afternoon in Gamla Stan and the evening at Fotografiska, which stays open to 23:00. Day two is the City Hall tour and Nationalmuseum. Day three belongs to a boat into the archipelago. Book the City Hall tour and any restaurant you care about before you fly.

Stockholm is a capital built on water and organised by it: fourteen islands hold the city, roughly 30,000 more run east into the Baltic, and Lake Mälaren pushes fresh water through the middle, which is why people fly-fish for salmon a few hundred metres from the parliament.

The 10 best things to do in Stockholm

Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
1

The Vasa Museum

Museum· Galärvarvsvägen 14, Djurgården, 115 21 Stockholm

A 64-gun warship that sailed 1,300 metres in 1628, caught a squall and sank in front of the crowd assembled to watch her leave. The Baltic is too cold and fresh for shipworm, so she came up in 1961 with most of her timber. The hall was built around her, and the first sight from the ramp is why this ranks first.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostSEK 240 from May to September
Best atThe first hour after opening
TipSummer opening is 08:30
↗ Vasa MuseumMap
Stortorget, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
2

Gamla Stan and Stortorget

Old town· Stortorget, Gamla Stan, 111 29 Stockholm

The island where the city started, and one of the most complete medieval street plans in Europe. Västerlånggatan is the souvenir run and takes four minutes to walk off; the lanes either side are the reason to be here. Carry on to Riddarholmen for the best free view back at the City Hall.

TimeHalf a day
CostFree to walk
Best atBefore 10:00
TipThe Nobel Prize Museum sits on Stortorget in the old Stock Exchange building and
↗ Nobel Prize MuseumMap
Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
3

Skansen

Open-air museum· Djurgårdsslätten 49-51, Djurgården, 115 21 Stockholm

Artur Hazelius opened this in 1891 and invented the open-air museum: around 150 buildings dismantled where they stood and rebuilt on the hill, from a Sami camp to a whole town quarter. Bears, wolves and lynx fill the ridge. Open every day, which makes it the answer to a wet afternoon.

Time3 hours
CostTicketed
Best atMorning in summer
TipWinter hours are short
↗ SkansenMap
Stockholm City Hall, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
4

Stockholm City Hall

Landmark· Hantverkargatan 1, Kungsholmen, 111 52 Stockholm

Eight million bricks and twelve years of Ragnar Östberg's life, finished in 1923. The Blue Hall is bare red brick and holds the Nobel banquet; the Golden Hall above is lined with 18 million gilded tiles. It can only be seen on a guided tour, which is the most-booked hour in Stockholm.

Time1 hour for the tour
CostTicketed
Best atThe first tour of the day in July and August
TipThe courtyard
↗ Stockholm City HallMap
Drottningholm Palace, Stockholm (Wimup)
5

Drottningholm Palace

Palace· Drottningholms slott, 178 02 Drottningholm, Ekerö

The best preserved eighteenth-century royal residence in northern Europe, UNESCO-listed and still the royal family's home. The grounds carry two things nowhere else has: a Chinese Pavilion given as a birthday surprise in 1753, and a 1766 court theatre whose original stage machinery still works.

TimeHalf a day including the boat
CostTicketed. The gardens are free
Best atMay to September
TipFrom October to April the palace opens at weekends only
↗ Drottningholm PalaceMap
6

The Royal Palace

Palace· Slottsbacken 1, Gamla Stan, 111 30 Stockholm

One of the largest palaces in Europe still used as a head of state's workplace, built through the eighteenth century on the burnt-out site of Tre Kronor. One ticket covers the Royal Apartments, the Treasury with the regalia, and two museums. Changing of the guard is free and draws a crowd.

Time2 hours
CostOne ticket covers the palace museums
Best atAround midday for the guard change
TipThe ceremony time shifts with the season and the day of the week
↗ Royal Palace of Stockholm↗ The Royal Guard scheduleMap
7

Fotografiska

Gallery· Stadsgårdshamnen 22, Södermalm, 116 45 Stockholm

A photography museum in a 1906 customs house with no permanent collection and no interest in one, running four major shows a year. The top-floor bar has the best paid-for view in the city and stays open to 23:00, which is the argument for coming after dinner.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostSEK 200 on weekdays
Best atAfter 20:00
TipTwo tickets for the price of one every Wednesday from 18:00.
↗ Fotografiska StockholmMap
Strömkajen, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
8

A boat into the archipelago

Islands· Strömkajen, 111 48 Stockholm

The archipelago is not a day trip, it is the other half of the city, and the public ferries treat it as ordinary transport. Fjäderholmarna is half an hour out and an evening rather than an expedition. Go further for the payoff: Grinda for swimming, Sandhamn for the sailing crowd.

TimeHalf a day to a full day
CostFerry fares
Best atJune to August
TipTickets are bought on board and cash is not accepted
↗ WaxholmsbolagetMap
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
9

Nationalmuseum

Museum· Södra Blasieholmshamnen 2, 111 48 Stockholm

Sweden's national gallery, reopened in 2018 with the daylight the building was designed around finally let back in. Rembrandt and Chardin through to Carl Larsson, whose Midwinter Sacrifice fills the main stair. The half most people miss is the design collection, which explains more about the country than the paintings.

Time2 hours
CostAround SEK 150 for adults
Best atThursday evening
TipClosed on Mondays
↗ NationalmuseumMap
Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm, Sweden (Wimup)
10

Skogskyrkogården, the Woodland Cemetery

Architecture· Sockenvägen 492, 122 33 Enskede

Asplund and Lewerentz used the pine ridge itself as the architecture, then spent twenty-five years building it. UNESCO-listed in 1994, and the clearest place in Sweden to watch Nordic classicism turn into functionalism. A working cemetery, and it asks for the manners of one.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon in autumn
TipThe visitor centre in the Tallum Pavilion opens daily 11:00 to 16:00 from 1 May to 30 September
↗ SkogskyrkogårdenMap

8 of the 10, mapped

Stockholm · 8 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Stockholm travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Stockholm?+
Four. Day one is Djurgården for the Vasa and Skansen, day two the City Hall and the galleries on the water, day three a boat into the archipelago, day four Drottningholm or Skogskyrkogården. Three works if you drop the boat, but the archipelago is half of what makes this city different from any other capital in Europe.
Is Stockholm expensive?+
Yes, and less so than its reputation suggests if you use what is free. The Swedish History Museum, the Royal Armoury and the Moderna Museet collection cost nothing, Nationalmuseum is free on Thursday evenings, and transport is cheap for what it covers. Dinners and alcohol are where the money goes.
When is the best time to visit?+
Late May to early September for the light, the boats and the swimming, with June the best of it: the archipelago timetable is at full width and the evenings barely end. September is quieter and still workable. December brings the Christmas markets and Lucia but only about six hours of daylight, and January and February are for museums.
What has to be booked in advance?+
The City Hall guided tour, which is the only way in and sells out in summer. The Vasa in July and August. Frantzén and any restaurant of that class, months ahead. Drottningholm needs checking rather than booking, since it opens weekends only from October to April.
How do you get from Arlanda into the city?+
The Arlanda Express is the fast answer at 18 minutes to Stockholm Central, and it costs several times the alternatives. The SL commuter train is much cheaper but slower and adds a station passage fee. Airport coaches reach Cityterminalen in about 45 minutes.
What to see

Best museums in Stockholm

Eight collections beyond the Vasa, four of them free, from Viking gold to a pop group that will not be argued with.
Moderna MuseetSkeppsholmen

Moderna Museet

Modern art

Sweden's modern and contemporary collection on Skeppsholmen: Picasso, Matisse, Rauschenberg. The collection is free, which makes it the cheapest serious hour in the city.

Map
ABBA The MuseumDjurgården

ABBA The Museum

Timed entry

An interactive museum on Djurgården built around the costumes and the studio, with timed entry. Unapologetically a fan experience, and very good at being one.

Map
Nordiska museetDjurgården

Nordiska museet

Cultural history

The Nordic Museum, in a building that looks like a Danish renaissance palace. Swedish everyday life since 1520, and the most important Sami collection in the country.

Map
The Swedish History MuseumÖstermalm

The Swedish History Museum

Free entry

Historiska holds the Viking exhibition most visitors are looking for, and beneath it the Gold Room, a vault no other Nordic museum can match. Free.

Map
Tekniska museetGärdet

Tekniska museet

With kids

The national museum of science and technology, and the best building in the city for a wet day with children: a mine you walk into, and a wind tunnel.

Map
Östermalm

Hallwylska museet

House museum

An 1890s townhouse left exactly as its owner catalogued it, down to the biscuit tins. She gave it to the state on condition nothing be moved, and nothing has been.

Map
MedeltidsmuseetNorrmalm

Medeltidsmuseet

Free entry

The Museum of Medieval Stockholm, under Norrbro and built around a stretch of the 1530s city wall. Free, small, and it answers the questions Gamla Stan raises.

Map
JunibackenDjurgården

Junibacken

With kids

A story train through Astrid Lindgren's books, ending at a full-size Villa Villekulla children can climb on. Aimed at under-tens and unbothered about anyone else.

Map
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Stockholm

Eight tables that hold up, from a three-star tasting menu to a 1904 beer hall still serving meatballs at lunch.
Norrmalm

Frantzén

Tasting menu

Björn Frantzén's three-star restaurant near Norrmalmstorg, one long tasting menu with the kitchen open to the room. Seats are released months ahead and go the same day.

Map
Östermalm

Ekstedt

Cooked over fire

A kitchen with no gas and no electricity: everything cooked over birch fire, in a wood oven or in a pot hung in the smoke. One technique pushed as far as it goes.

Map
Djurgården

Oaxen Slip

Bistro

A Nordic bistro in a working boatyard on Djurgården, wooden hulls overhead, doing the informal half of the fine-dining room next door. The best lunch on the island.

Map
Södermalm

Pelikan

Husmanskost

A beer hall on this Södermalm corner since 1904: high ceilings, wooden booths, and waiters who have seen everything. Order the husmanskost.

Map
Norrmalm

Bakfickan

Counter seats

The back pocket of Operakällaren: a horseshoe counter of twenty stools, no reservations, and the same kitchen at a fraction of the price. Arrive alone and early.

Map
Södermalm

Meatballs for the People

Meatballs

A SoFo restaurant and butcher doing one thing at length: meatballs of beef, elk, reindeer, boar and salmon, all organic, with lingonberries as standard.

Map
Östermalm

Lisa Elmqvist

Seafood

The fish counter and dining room inside Östermalms Saluhall, the 1888 market hall. The shellfish platter is the order. Lunch rather than dinner.

Map
Södermalm

Woodstockholm

Small room

A small room by Mosebacke with a menu that changes theme rather than season, a natural wine list and a furniture workshop attached. Book: there are not many tables.

Map
Fika

Best cafes and fika in Stockholm

Six rooms for the daily coffee and a bun, which is closer to an institution here than a habit.
Norrmalm

Vete-Katten

Since 1928

Open since 1928 and still a warren of small rooms and a back courtyard. The princess cake here is the benchmark every other bakery is measured against.

Map
Djurgården

Rosendals Trädgård

Garden cafe

A biodynamic market garden on Djurgården with a bakery in the greenhouse and long tables under the apple trees. Almost everything is grown a few metres away.

Map
Östermalm

Sturekatten

Tearoom

An eighteenth-century apartment turned tearoom, still laid out as rooms with sofas and portraits. The most old-fashioned fika in the city, and unembarrassed.

Map
Vasastan

Café Saturnus

Cinnamon buns

A Vasastan corner cafe known for cinnamon buns the size of a side plate, which is not an exaggeration. Good salads if the bun is too much.

Map
Citywide

Fabrique

Bakery

A stone-oven bakery that started in a Södermalm cellar and is now across the city, with the cardamom bun as its argument. Better than most independents.

Map
Gamla Stan

Chokladkoppen

Hot chocolate

On Stortorget, facing the painted merchant houses, doing thick hot chocolate to a permanent queue. It prices for the address, which is worth it once.

Map
History

Best historic sites in Stockholm

Six places where the city's eight centuries are visible rather than described, two of them free.
StorkyrkanGamla Stan

Storkyrkan

Cathedral

The cathedral beside the Royal Palace, with parts from the late thirteenth century behind a baroque exterior. It holds Bernt Notke's Saint George and the Dragon of 1489.

Map
RiddarholmskyrkanRiddarholmen

Riddarholmskyrkan

Royal tombs

The burial church of the Swedish monarchy, a late thirteenth-century abbey under a cast-iron spire, holding Gustav II Adolf, Karl XII and most kings between.

Map
The Royal ArmouryGamla Stan

The Royal Armoury

Free entry

In the cellar vaults of the Royal Palace and free: coronation coaches, court dress, and the clothes Swedish kings were killed in, kept as relics.

Map
RiddarhusetGamla Stan

Riddarhuset

Weekdays only

The House of Nobility, a 1650s Dutch baroque palace whose great hall carries more than 2,000 coats of arms. Short weekday hours, which is why almost nobody goes in.

Map
Rosendal PalaceDjurgården

Rosendal Palace

Guided tours

Karl XIV Johan's summer villa on Djurgården, left as it was furnished in the 1820s and shown by tour in summer. The giant porphyry vase outside is free all year.

Map
BirkaLake Mälaren

Birka

UNESCO site

The Viking Age trading town on Björkö in Lake Mälaren, UNESCO-listed since 1993 and two hours out by boat. Grave fields, a hill fort and a museum. Summer only.

Map
On the water

Best archipelago and islands in Stockholm

Six islands from half an hour to three hours out, ordered by how far from the city they feel.
FjäderholmarnaInner archipelago

Fjäderholmarna

30 minutes out

The nearest islands, half an hour from Strömkajen, with craft workshops, a smokehouse and swimming off the rocks. Close enough to do after work.

Map
VaxholmInner archipelago

Vaxholm

One hour out

The capital of the archipelago and a proper town rather than an island stop: wooden houses, a fortress guarding the channel, and ferries onward. About an hour by boat.

Map
GrindaMiddle archipelago

Grinda

Swimming

A middle-archipelago island with two harbours, a villa turned inn, and the best easy swimming within a day trip. Walkable end to end in an hour.

Map
Outer archipelago

Sandhamn

Sailing

The sailing island, where the archipelago ends and the open Baltic starts, with a regatta calendar that fills every bed in July. Three hours by public ferry.

Map
Southern archipelago

Utö

Cycling

A southern island whose iron mines are older than Stockholm itself, with bikes at the pier and long sand at Barnviken. The best day if you want distance.

Map
Outer archipelago

Finnhamn

Overnight

Islands linked by bridges and footpaths, a hostel in an old villa, and almost no cars. Where the archipelago stops being a day out and starts being somewhere you stay.

Map
Where to base yourself

Best neighbourhoods in Stockholm

Six districts and what each one is actually for, which is not the same as which is prettiest.
Gamla StanCentral

Gamla Stan

The old town

The medieval island: the palace, the cathedral, Stortorget and the lanes. Extraordinary to walk and difficult to stay in, because the restaurants price accordingly.

Map
SödermalmSouth

Södermalm

Bars and vintage

The southern island, and the reason most visitors say they liked Stockholm: second-hand shops, coffee, and the cliff walks at Monteliusvägen and Fjällgatan.

Map
ÖstermalmNorth east

Östermalm

Smart

The moneyed grid: the 1888 market hall, the embassies, the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Quiet at night and the best-placed base for the museums.

Map
DjurgårdenEast

Djurgården

Museums and parkland

A former royal hunting park that is now half the city's museums and all of its picnic ground. Walk in over Djurgårdsbron or take the ferry on an ordinary ticket.

Map
VasastanNorth

Vasastan

Residential

North of the centre and the most ordinary of these in the best sense: apartment blocks, neighbourhood restaurants, Asplund's library rotunda, few visitors.

Map
KungsholmenWest

Kungsholmen

Waterfront walks

The City Hall island, with a waterside path most of the way round, swimming at Smedsuddsbadet, and restaurants along Hantverkargatan for the people who work here.

Map
Out of town

Best day trips in Stockholm

Six trips inside two hours, every one of them reachable on public transport or a scheduled boat.
Uppland

Uppsala

40 minutes

Forty minutes north by train: the oldest university in the Nordic countries, the tallest church in the region, and the royal burial mounds at Gamla Uppsala.

Map
SigtunaLake Mälaren

Sigtuna

Viking town

Sweden's oldest town, founded around 970, with a main street that has run on the same line for a thousand years and rune stones by the dozen.

Map
Södermanland

Mariefred and Gripsholm Castle

Castle

A lakeside town of wooden houses, with Gustav Vasa's 1530s castle holding the national portrait collection and a theatre inside one of its towers.

Map
South

Tyresta National Park

Hiking

Old-growth pine with trees over 400 years old, an hour south by train and bus. The closest place to Stockholm where the map stops showing roads.

Map
MillesgårdenLidingö

Millesgården

Sculpture garden

Carl Milles' house, studio and terraced sculpture garden on a cliff on Lidingö, looking back at the city across the water. Worth timing for late afternoon.

Map
ArtipelagVärmdö

Artipelag

Art hall

A contemporary art hall built into the pine and granite of Värmdö, with a boardwalk to the water. The building is as much the exhibit as anything in it.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Stockholm (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
30 April

Valborg, Walpurgis Night

Bonfires and male-voice choirs see the winter out on the last evening of April. Skansen holds the main celebration.

30 May 2026

adidas Stockholm Marathon

Two laps of the central islands on a Saturday afternoon, finishing inside the 1912 Olympic Stadium. Streets close all afternoon.

19 to 21 June 2026

Midsummer at Skansen

The maypole goes up on Midsummer Eve and the celebration runs three days. Most of the city closes and leaves for the archipelago.

27 July to 1 August 2026

Stockholm Pride

Six days across the city, ending with the parade on Saturday. Pride Park carries the ticketed half and Pride House the free one.

12 to 16 August 2026

Stockholm Culture Festival

Five days of music, dance and street performance in Kungsträdgården, free throughout. The best week to arrive without a plan.

11 to 22 November 2026

Stockholm International Film Festival

Twelve days of competition and premieres across the city cinemas. Gala tickets go early; the rest is easy to walk into.

10 December

Nobel Day

The prizes in the afternoon, the banquet in the Blue Hall that evening. Neither is public, but the city treats it as its own.

27 November to 20 December 2026

Gamla Stan Christmas market

Stockholm's oldest, on Stortorget since 1837: glögg, smoked sausage and saffron buns. Lucia on 13 December fills the churches.

Getting around

Stockholm transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
ARN

Stockholm Arlanda Airport

37 km north. The Arlanda Express takes 18 minutes and costs several times the alternatives; the SL commuter train is cheaper and slower; the coaches take about 45 minutes.

↗ Swedavia↗ Arlanda ExpressMap
Rail

Trains from Stockholm Central

One station handles almost everything: Gothenburg in about three hours, night trains north to Lapland, and the commuter network. Book intercity seats ahead, because walk-up fares are punishing.

↗ SJMap
Metro

SL: metro, bus, tram and commuter train

One fare covers metro, buses, trams, commuter trains and the Djurgården ferry. A single is SEK 42 for 75 minutes; 72 hours is SEK 350. More than 90 of the 100 metro stations carry commissioned art.

↗ SLMap
Water

Boats and taxis

Waxholmsbolaget runs the public archipelago ferries from Strömkajen, paid on board. Taxis are deregulated and each firm sets its own tariff, so read the yellow sticker first.

↗ WaxholmsbolagetMap
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Stockholm, Sweden

The classics to order before you leave.
Gravlax, Stockholm (Wimup travel guide)

Gravlax

Salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill, served with the sweet mustard sauce hovmästarsås.

Semla, Stockholm (Wimup travel guide)

Semla

A cardamom bun hollowed out and filled with almond paste and cream, sold from New Year to Shrove Tuesday.

Prinsesstårta, Stockholm (Wimup travel guide)

Prinsesstårta

Sponge, jam, custard and a dome of cream under green marzipan. Vete-Katten sets the standard.

Köttbullar med lingon

Beef and pork, cream sauce, pressed cucumber, lingonberry jam and potato. Not the flat-pack version.

Sill

Pickled herring in a mustard, onion or dill cure, on crispbread with sharp cheese and aquavit.

Toast Skagen

Hand-peeled prawns in dill mayonnaise on fried bread with bleak roe. Invented in the 1950s, now everywhere.

Räksmörgås

The prawn open sandwich, the size of a dinner plate under egg and mayonnaise. A full lunch.

Kanelbulle and kardemummabulle

The cinnamon bun and its cardamom sibling, which is the one Swedes reach for first. Fika is built on them.

Stockholm fact sheet

Stockholm at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Sweden
Region
On the border of Uppland and Södermanland, where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic
Population
996,264 in Stockholm Municipality at 30 June 2025, with about 2.5 million in the metropolitan area
Founded
First recorded in 1252, in letters written by Birger Jarl
Nickname
Beauty on Water at home, the Venice of the North everywhere else
Language
Swedish, with English spoken almost universally
Currency
Swedish krona (SEK). Cards and phones are taken everywhere, cash almost nowhere
Time zone
CET (UTC+1), CEST (UTC+2) from late March to late October
Calling code
+46 8
Airports
ARN and BMA. Skavsta (NYO) and Västerås (VST) are about 100 km out
Power
230V · Type C and F, the two-pin European plug
Emergency
112
Ideal length
4 days
Getting around
One SL ticket covers the metro, buses, trams, commuter trains and the Djurgården ferry
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The city sits on fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren empties into the Baltic, and the archipelago holds roughly 30,000 more.
  • The metro is billed as the world's longest art gallery: more than 90 of its 100 stations carry commissioned work, on an ordinary ticket.
  • The Vasa sailed 1,300 metres in 1628, spent 333 years on the harbour floor and came up intact in 1961. The Baltic has no shipworm.
  • Skansen opened in 1891 and was the first open-air museum anywhere. Every one since is a version of moving whole buildings to a hill.
  • The Nobel banquet fills the Blue Hall of the City Hall each 10 December, and the hall is bare red brick. The architect kept the name anyway.

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