I recently spent four days in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, but the first two days were spent attending my little brother’s graduation ceremony and catching up with his in-laws. Consequently, my family and I ended up trying to cram as much Swedish sightseeing as we could into 48 hours, and we ended up doing rather a lot. Read on to find out my top spots for a two-day itinerary of this cosmopolitan city – and a couple of sneaky ABBA references…
Before we start, a quick tip: get yourself an SL Access Card. It’s basically an oyster card, but you load it up with journeys rather than with money. It allows you easy access to the underground, buses, trains, trams, and a few boat lines, and makes getting around significantly easier. You can choose to buy a pass for a certain number of days, too, which makes life less complicated when hopping all over the city.
Eating:
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After two days of (delicious) Japanese food, I was ready for some Swedish fare. Armed with a recommendation from the locals, we headed off to Meatballs for the People, and were met with quite a hefty queue and wait time. You can’t book, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to turn up (the earlier the better) and wait – but I promise it’s worth it. The meatballs themselves were yummy, but the potato purée that comes with them really stole the show. I say this as something of a potato connoisseur: the garlic mash from this place is the best I’ve ever tasted. I would have been happy just having a bowl of that. I went for the deluxe plate, which also comes with red wine sauce, mushrooms, bacon, pickled red onion, and lingonberries – 100% recommend. As you might expect from Swedes, they try to use top-notch ingredients – and it shows. They also have a lunch deal, and you can swap out any meatball for the veggie equivalent. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Snacking:
One Swedish tradition that I wish we could import to the UK is fika. It’s basically noticing the benefits of coffee and cake and is the reason Sweden is so famous for sweet buns. I recommend dropping by Lillebrors Bageri on Rörstrandsgatan, where you’ll find a selection of fika-worthy delicacies. They have the classic kanelbulle (cinnamon buns) on a Sunday, but the rest of the week try out the krämbulle (cream-filled buns), which they fill before your very eyes, or the melt-in-your-mouth almondy delight that is the Tosca cake. If you can’t make it to this bakery, though, there are plenty more to try: there seems to be one on every corner! Oh kanelbulle… how you thrill me!
Must-Do:
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There’s a museum in Stockholm that is quite unlike any museum I’ve ever been to before – and no, it isn’t the ABBA museum, though I reckon that’s fun too if you have the chance to swing by. The Vasa Museum is built around a salvaged 17th-century ship that made it only one kilometre out to sea on her first voyage. Some dodgy measurements meant that the vessel capsized within metres of the harbour and lay undiscovered until the 1960s. The museum showcases the magnificent boat – and gives you an idea of its size. Then there’s five floors’ worth of interesting facts, from a reconstruction of one of the sections which you can walk around, to software that can recreate the faces of those found onboard from their skulls (also present). It’s a fascinating look into the customs of the time, as you learn about what went wrong during the design process of the ship, and you’ll walk out more enlightened than when you entered.
Must-See:
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The city of Stockholm is balanced on an archipelago, and the various islands serve as different districts. These each have a different vibe – Södermalm’s hip streets are replete with vintage shops and cool cafés, while Djurgården is covered in a whole host of museums – but if you’re after a taste of history, head to Gamla Stan. It’s the city’s old town, and here you’ll find colourful houses side by side with the Royal Palace. It’ll be crowded – that’s just the name of the game – but wandering through the streets and stopping for a meal gives you a real sense of the country (and some excellent pictures).
Favourite Mode of Transport:
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Stockholm’s public transport system is pretty darn good: buses connect to trains, trams flow through the streets, and you can even hop on a boat if you don’t fancy taking the tube. But one method of zipping around has really taken off in the last couple of years: electric scooters. You can access these via apps – Voi and Lime are some popular choices – so you download, and then just locate a scooter in your area, and go! Not only do these scooters enable you to get around speedily, but they’re ridiculously fun to try out. Just make sure you practice on a stretch of empty road or bike path before heading out into traffic, or there could be an S.O.S call on the horizon!
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