Things to do in Stockholm

Landmark · Central island

The medieval old town on its own island — ochre facades, the Royal Palace and lanes that predate the grid by centuries.

Local tip: Västerlånggatan is the tourist artery. Walk one street east to Prästgatan instead, which is the same age, half the width and almost empty, and find Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, ninety centimetres across at its narrowest.

Neighborhood · South of the centre

The big southern island: former working-class Stockholm turned into the city's creative and nightlife heart, with cliffs over the water.

Local tip: The Monteliusvägen path along the northern cliff gives the best free view in Stockholm, over Riddarfjärden to the City Hall. Go around ten at night in June, when it never really gets dark.

Nature · Eastern island

A royal park island holding the Vasa Museum, Skansen and Gröna Lund, plus genuine forest and shoreline paths.

Local tip: Most visitors get off the tram at the museums and never walk further east. Beyond Rosendal the island turns into oak woodland and open water, and on a weekday it is nearly deserted.

Culture · Djurgården

A 1628 warship that sank on its maiden voyage, salvaged intact in 1961 and now standing almost whole in a purpose-built hall.

Local tip: The ship survived because the Baltic is too brackish for the shipworm that eats timber elsewhere. Go in the last hour before closing — the coach groups have gone and the hall is quiet enough to hear the humidity control.

Food · Western Södermalm

The west end of Söder: a riverside market, allotment cottages, and the food scene that Stockholmers actually eat in.

Local tip: The Tanto allotment gardens are private but the paths through them are public, and the small red cabins date to a 1910s scheme to give city workers somewhere to grow food. Sunday market at Hornstulls Strand for street food.

Nature · 25 minutes by boat from Slussen

The nearest island of the 30,000-island Stockholm archipelago, with craft workshops, a smokehouse and swimming off the rocks.

Local tip: Everyone assumes the archipelago is a full-day expedition. This one is a short commuter boat from the city centre and gets you swimming in open Baltic water within half an hour of leaving your desk — the single most under-used thing about living in Stockholm.