Sweden
Stockholm is a capital built on water and on fourteen islands, where ochre and rust-red merchant houses crowd a medieval old town, a royal palace faces a working harbour, and ferries leave from the city centre for an archipelago of tens of thousands of islands.
This guide books Stockholm properly — the Vasa, the warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 and came back almost whole, with the Vrak wreck museum on the same ticket; Skansen, the world's first open-air museum, with its farmsteads and Nordic animals; ABBA The Museum and the Avicii Experience for the city's pop genius; Fotografiska on the Södermalm waterfront; and the Nobel Prize Museum on the old town square — and pairs it with the free and official sights that make the city: the lanes of Gamla Stan, the Royal Palace and its changing of the guard, a guided tour of City Hall where the Nobel banquet is held, and a ferry to Vaxholm. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Grand Hôtel across the water from the palace to a 1699 island hideaway, an old town townhouse, Benny Andersson's hotel on Södermalm and a design hostel near Central Station, because in a city of islands, where you sleep decides which bridges you cross every day.
Vasa Museum
The only almost fully intact seventeenth-century warship in the world, raised from Stockholm harbour after three centuries and displayed in a dim, towering hall on Djurgården. The single most essential museum in Scandinavia — and the Tiqets ticket adds Vrak, the museum of Baltic wrecks next door.
Gamla Stan (Old Town)
Stockholm's medieval island core — narrow lanes of ochre and rust-red merchant houses, the gabled square of Stortorget, the cathedral and the Royal Palace, all on one small island. Free to wander, and the place every visit begins.
Skansen Open-Air Museum and Nordic Zoo
The world's oldest open-air museum, on a hilltop on Djurgården — historic farmsteads, workshops and a whole old town quarter moved from across Sweden, with moose, bears and seals in the Nordic zoo. Year-round, and magical at its Advent Christmas market.
ABBA The Museum
The interactive museum of Sweden's biggest pop export, on Djurgården — the costumes, gold records and studio, plus karaoke booths and a stage where you can sing as the fifth member of the band. Pure fun, even for the mildly curious.
The only almost fully intact seventeenth-century warship in the world, raised from Stockholm harbour after three centuries and displayed in a dim, towering hall on Djurgården. The single most essential museum in Scandinavia — and the Tiqets ticket adds Vrak, the museum of Baltic wrecks next door.
Stockholm's medieval island core — narrow lanes of ochre and rust-red merchant houses, the gabled square of Stortorget, the cathedral and the Royal Palace, all on one small island. Free to wander, and the place every visit begins.
The world's oldest open-air museum, on a hilltop on Djurgården — historic farmsteads, workshops and a whole old town quarter moved from across Sweden, with moose, bears and seals in the Nordic zoo. Year-round, and magical at its Advent Christmas market.
The interactive museum of Sweden's biggest pop export, on Djurgården — the costumes, gold records and studio, plus karaoke booths and a stage where you can sing as the fifth member of the band. Pure fun, even for the mildly curious.
The King of Sweden's official residence, a Baroque block on the edge of Gamla Stan with over six hundred rooms. See the state apartments, the Treasury and the Tre Kronor Museum, and catch the changing of the guard in the outer courtyard.
The red-brick landmark on the water at Kungsholmen, home of the Nobel banquet. See the Blue Hall and the gold-mosaic Golden Hall on a forty-five-minute guided tour — the only way in — and climb the 106-metre tower in season.
The photography museum in a brick customs house on the Södermalm waterfront — changing exhibitions by the world's great photographers, a top-floor restaurant and cafe with one of the best views in Stockholm, and late opening every night.
A compact museum on Stortorget in the heart of Gamla Stan, telling the stories of Alfred Nobel and the laureates through ideas that changed the world. Includes an audio guide; look under the bistro chairs for laureates' signatures.
A moving, interactive tribute to Tim Bergling, the Stockholm DJ and producer known as Avicii, in the city centre at Sergels torg — his story, his studio, unreleased tracks, and booths where you can remix his songs. Open daily.
The easiest taste of the archipelago — a year-round ferry or bus ride to Vaxholm, a little town of pastel wooden houses facing an island fortress. Ride the boats with locals, eat by the harbour and come back at dusk.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
Blasieholmen (Norrmalm)
Stockholm's grande dame since 1874, on the waterfront facing the Royal Palace and Gamla Stan — a full-scale luxury hotel with the Veranda, Cadier Bar, Matbaren and a big spa. The splurge for a first visit.
Check rates →Skeppsholmen
A calm island hideaway in two long buildings dating from 1699, on the museum island of Skeppsholmen — minimalist Scandinavian design, water views and Djurgården a short walk away. A Design Hotels member.
Check rates →Gamla Stan
A charming old town townhouse hotel on Storkyrkobrinken, by the cathedral in Gamla Stan — antiques, portraits, a sauna and a plunge pool in a well from the 1400s. Step out into the lanes.
Check rates →Södermalm
Benny Andersson's 99-room boutique hotel on leafy Mariatorget in Södermalm — a 1930s cinema-theatre building with bars, a bistro, live shows and ABBA nods. The fun mid-range base for Stockholm's coolest island.
Check rates →Norrmalm
A design-forward hostel with private rooms and dorms on Torsgatan, about ten minutes on foot from Central Station — the smart budget base in an expensive city, with a bar and social spaces.
Check rates →The first-timer's plan for Stockholm: the few tickets worth booking, the islands and how to move between them, how many days you need and where the headline sights fit.
Gamla Stan, Blasieholmen, Skeppsholmen, Södermalm or Norrmalm: how each Stockholm neighbourhood feels, who it suits and the hotel we would book in each.
