A beautifully replicated 17th century ship (note, this is not usually a pre-requisite for my holidays) – tick
Lovely, mouth-watering cakes – big tick
Water and lots of it – tick
Stockholm is green, clean and surrounded by water. To be precise, the city is built on 14 islands and connected by 57 bridges. Coming from a polluted metropolis like London, you can immediately feel the difference in air quality. Stockholm really is the epitome of a chilled out city.
Image courtesy of Flickr
Like most places, the old town is probably the most beautiful part of the city. It’s lovely, and there are some of the cutest post boxes in the world dotted around the cobbled paths. Now, I love getting mail at the best of times, but with miniature house facades painted on the outside, if I lived there, I would definitely cry with excitement every time I picked up my mail.
If you want to hang out with some of the city’s elite, check out Café Opera. Featured on ‘Worldsbestbars.com’, this place is decked out nicely with over-the-top gilded lighting and of course, the obligatory beautiful people. If you can, find someone to buy you a drink. If you’re a female, it won’t be hard as the place is a bit of a meat market.
For food, try Bergamott for good French/Swedish cuisine and great service. Café Art, found at Västerlånggatan 60, Gamla Stan, is also a great, atmospheric place to rest, serving coffee and cake within the art filled walls.
A place to check out during the day is the Vasa Museum. The Vasa ship is breathtaking. Sinking on its maiden voyage, the ship was salvaged 333 years later. Restorers have painstakingly matched the colours and preserved the carvings to their original state. You can even see passengers’ contents salvaged from the ship. A great idea is to go on a hop on/hop off sightseeing boat trip that makes several stops around the islands and all the tourist hot spots including the Vasa.
If you’re into your vintage shopping, check out Mint and Vintage. They have second hand as well as remade garments from mostly Swedish, Finnish and Danish designers. Some other shops to check out are Weekday, Rodebjer and Beyond Retro Sweden. A word of advice, don’t buy shoes while running for the bus for the airport. You’re not going to wear them and yes, they will pinch your toes.
Stockholm is the perfect place for a weekend getaway. It’s lovely and relaxing, sure it’s a little expensive but well worth a visit.
Notes from… Hamburg
Notes from… Zurich
Notes from… Iceland
