We had the best time visiting the capital city of Sweden and we lucked out with sunny weather even though we visited in April. The city was clean and easy to get around. We stayed on a quiet street in Stockholm's fashionable Östermalm district which was walking distance from everything. We were surprised to find out that the city of Stockholm is set on 14 islands and has more than 50 bridges connecting the city. With the ocean around every corner you feel connected with nature everywhere in the city.

To Do -

Explore the Old Town of Gamla Stan

The small and bustling Old Town of Stockholm is one of the best preserved medieval areas in Europe. When Sweden was ounded in 1252 this area was the epicenter of the country. Crammed onto a small island in the middle of the city, the Gamla Stan or “Old Town” is one of Stockholm’s best attractions.

With colorful old buildings, ancient architecture, and tiny cobbled alleyways Gamla Stan is the perfect place to explore. Bring your camera and get lost as you wander around.

Make sure to find the narrowest street in Stockholm which is located in the Old Town. Mårten Trotzigs gränd street is a mere 35 inches wide and is covered in graffiti.

There are a lot of stylish bistros, bars, and restaurants which can be found around every corner. Come for lunch, dinner or both!

Gamla Stan was our favorite area in Stockholm. We loved spending hours moseying around the streets and taking postcard perfect photos of the beautiful cobblestone streets and colorful facades.

Discover Stockholm’s Subway Art

One of the coolest things we did in Stockholm was spending an afternoon exploring the incredible Subway Art. We looked up some of the stations online and planned our own route. We visited 8 different stations in a couple hours.

Over 90 of the 100 subway stations in Stockholm have all be decorated with sculptures, mosaics, paintings, and art installations by over 150 artists. It is said to be the largest art exhibition in the world stretching over 110 kilometers.

Some of our favorite stations were : T-Centralen, Mörby, Solna, Stadion, Tekniska Hogskolan & Odenplan.

Tip: If you are riding the Subway to explore the art we recommend buying a 75-minute ticket. It’s only $5 and provides you with unlimited travel on the Subway lines for 75 minutes which allows you to hop on and off different subway lines at will. We went during the middle of the day on a weekday and it wasn’t very crowded.

Visit the Vasa Museum

We had the best experience at the Vasa Museum. One of the most unique museums we’ve ever been to. The museum showcases a massive 226 foot warship that sunk 400 years ago. It was salvaged and taken out of the water in 1961. Thousands of artifacts were found inside and now it is the only ship of it’s kind left in the world.

We were blown away at how well preserved the ship was after 333 years on the ocean floor. It is almost completely intact and there are hundreds of intricate carved figures on the stern of the ship. We took the tour that comes free with your admission and learned how the ship sank, where the cannons were placed, and how life functioned on the boat. In the museum you can also see some of the tools, utensils, pots, clothing, weapons and other objects that were left behind when the ship sank.

A replica of the ship with the real ship behind.

We also learned out how technical and difficult it was to salvage a ship of this size. The ship is 4 stories tall and nothing of this size had ever been excavated before. Considering the ship was submerged for over 300 years they had to be very careful exposing the wooden pieces to drying out and cracking. They built massive rooms that continuously sprayed parts of the ship in water and wood sealers for up to two years before they were finished. The story of how this ship sunk is very entertaining, we wont give any spoilers away here as this is a place you must visit!

Ride around the city on Electric Scooters

One of the best things of Stockholm for us was the addition of the brand new public electric scooters! Great for sightseeing and easy to ride’ they are a perfect way to explore Stockholm; a city that is already extremely bike friendly. The bike lanes are wide and simple to follow. We loved picking up a couple scooters and cruising around the city. So much fun!

Being outside on the electric scooters allowed us to take in amazing view from all over the city.

To Eat -

Lisa Elmqvist inside Östermalms Foodhall

We are still dreaming of the seafood we ate at Lisa Elmqvist. It was some of the freshest seafood we have ever had. Just look at the color of that salmon in the photo below. This restaurant is located in the Östermalms Foodhall which is filled with other restauaunts and stalls selling incredible food, making it a must stop place for food in Stockholm.

We ordered their Gravad Lax which is traditional Swedish dish of dill-cured salmon that is served with a mustard sauce. This was the best salmon either of us have ever had, yes it was that good.

We also ordered local oysters and their famous shrimp salad toast which were both delicious. We accompanied our seafood with a couple of cold local beers as well.

We loved the informality of eating at a foodhall. It was lunchtime and the market was busy and full of customers. We enjoyed people watching and being a part of local culture while eating some incredible local seafood.

Aifur Krog & Bar

A medieval Viking experience in the middle of the Old Town. This place is a bit touristy but we had heard great things about it even from the locals. The staff is dressed in Viking outfits and are in character all night. When you walk in the door, they announce you like a lord and lady to the entire restaurant and then seat you at a long farm table. It’s lively and everyone is having a good time sipping on honey mead and pretending they’ve stepped back in time. Old fashioned Viking style music is played by minstrels and the staff makes sure you’re having fun.

Beside the cool Viking style atmosphere the food was really tasty! The menu stays true to the Viking theme and offers local rustic seafood and game dishes. We ordered the homemade mead which came in these amazing goblets. For dinner we ordered the mussels and venison. The mussels were locally sourced and really well done, we ate them all! The venison was perfectly cooked and served with these slightly tart local lingonberries. We loved the old fashioned utensils they gave you too. We had a lot of fun and would definitely recommend this place for a fun dinning experience. Make sure to make a reservation so you don’t miss out.

Ölstugan Tullen Hornstull

We came here for the sour beer and stayed for the meatballs. Ölstugan has a really good craft beer selection and a high-end traditional pub food menu. We tried the Swedish meatballs and they were delicious! The atmosphere was super local and the service was great. We tried several funky beers and left full and happy.

Östermalms Korvspecialist

This tiny food stall can be found outside of Östermalms Food Hall. It has been selling homemade sausage sandwiches for 40 years. We ordered the kabanos that comes with 2 Polish smoked pork sausages. The sandwich starts out with a piece of French bread that is hollowed out and then smeared with spicy tomato sauce. Then the sausages are stuffed inside and the whole thing topped with a large scoop of sauerkraut and a squeeze of mustard. DELICIOUS!

To Drink -

Omnipollo

Jeffs #1 thing he wanted to do in Stockholm was drink some Omnipollo beers. This brewery is from Sweden and is famous for their super unique beer flavors. When we visited they were pouring a lemon sour beer that had a frozen lemon slushy on the top. (Pictured below). This idea was revolutionary! We have never had a beer like this before. Jeff was in absolute heaven here and we spent the afternoon tasting all the different beers they had to offer. This is Jeff’s favorite brewery and not very many of their beers get sent to America, so if you are in Stockholm, stop by Omnipollo and stock up!

Lemon sour beer with a frozen slushy on top

Beside their legendary beer they also have a wood fire pizza oven and whip some some delicious pizzas for you to snack on while sipping on your beer.

Oliver Twist

A really fun local pub. This place isn’t fancy but it has a giant beer selection. We were able to try a lot of Swedish and European beers here that we cannot get in the U.S. They also had a couple kegs of casked beer which doesn’t use any gas and needs to be hand pumped out of the keg into your glass. This is a very rare way to serve beer these days so it was a fun experience.

Eken

We stumbled across this bar while we were riding our electric scooters across the bridge to Gamla Stan. The sun was about to set and we noticed this bar which had giant windows with incredible views of downtown Stockholm. It seemed like a great spot to stop for a drink. We love finding hidden gems like this. We sipped a couple cocktails and watched the sun set on the famous Stockholm buildings in the distance before we hopped back on our scooters and headed to dinner.

Tritonia Ölverkstad

Another hidden gem, this time in the heart of Gamla Stan. This tiny little brew pub was cozy and filled with locals. They had some great sour beers on tap and even a better variety of craft beers in bottles. If you haven’t noticed by now, we are always hunting down various beers in Europe that we will never see in America. Finding these spots is always fun and an incredible beer is a great reward! The bartender was very knowledgeable and recommended some great Swedish beers! Definitely worth stopping here for a pint while exploring the Old Town.

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We We Stayed -

Story Hotel

We stayed at the Story hotel in Riddargatan and loved it. It was super modern, hip, and had the best location. We were walking distance from everything. The breakfast in the morning was delicious and it was a bonus having a fun bar on site too.