Explore Stockholm

About Stockholm

Stockholm is one of the most beautifully sited capital cities in the world — a 14-island archipelago city wrapped around the meeting point of Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea, with around 30% of its central area covered by water and a remarkable 30% by parkland. The medieval Gamla Stan (Old Town) on the central island is one of the best-preserved medieval centres in Northern Europe; the narrow, ochre-painted streets converge on the central Stortorget square (where the 1520 Stockholm Bloodbath — a notorious massacre of Swedish nobles by Danish king Christian II — took place) and lead to the dramatic Royal Palace (the official residence of the Swedish monarch, with 600+ rooms, the largest functioning royal palace in Europe). Sweden's headline museum is the brilliant Vasa Museum on Djurgården island — the spectacularly preserved 17th-century warship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage just 1.3km from the harbour in 1628, lay on the bottom for 333 years, and was raised in 1961 to become the world's only intact 17th-century ship. The neighbouring ABBA Museum (interactive, full of original costumes) and the Skansen open-air folk museum are also essential. Don't miss the City Hall (Stadshuset, where the Nobel Prize banquet is held), the brilliant Fotografiska photography museum, and a long lazy summer day in the Stockholm archipelago (24,000 islands, accessible by daily ferries).