Our trip : Stockholm
I’ll admit it right now: We only spent about 24 hours in Stockholm. 🙈 Looking back now, I wish that we had planned for at least one extra day to explore a bit more of this great city. So what little impression that I did receive is too few and far between to make up a real post but I’ll try anyway!
We arrived in the late afternoon of the first day of our trip. I already mentioned this in my last post but we took the Arlanda Express into the city. The train runs about every 20 minutes and it’s a straight shot right into city-center.
We stayed at the Nordic C Hotel for one night. This hotel is located just outside of the train station that we came into and it made our brief stay very convenient. Some thoughts on the hotel:
- New or newly renovated. There’s a lot of modern Nordic style found in the decor and furniture. This hotel boasted their own ice bar as well. (You have to pay to enter, we did not unfortunately.)
- Rooms are cosy! Their “queen” bed is actually an American double, but most beds are smaller in Europe. You’d be hard-pressed to find an actual queen-sized mattress let alone the infamous California King.
- Welcome to the land of “no AC”. Most European rooms do not utilize the convenience of AC since a lot of the buildings cannot be retrofitted to provide this. In the summer, rooms get stuffy, so windows get opened en plein air! My only complaint with our stay was that our room was located on the street side of the building. With the window open, we could hear a lot of the outside noise. Next time I would ask for a different room location.
- Wonderful Swedish complimentary breakfast. Forget those questionable waffle irons and soggy eggs. The Swedish know how to provide an excellent breakfast service! This hotel especially had a great selection of fresh and hot foods. There was a wide variety of different fruits, yogurts, smoothies, juices, breads, cereals, “American-style” hot breakfast, and more. We left with very full and happy stomachs.
Rating: 8 out of 10. I would stay again for the location and amazing eats.
Speaking about food…our first meal was at Hattori Sushi Devil. It was located a short distance from our hotel and came with high ratings on Yelp and Four Square. We tried their Shake Furai maki roll along with some choice nigiri. The tempura roll was a great mix of salmon, kimchi, and parmesan cheese. So good! Who would of thought??!
After dinner we strolled around via Drottninggatan, one of Stockholm’s major pedestrian street found in mainly the Norrmalm District. Along this path you’ll find all kinds of shopping and absolutely no cars are allowed. It’s a brilliant idea and I wish that more American cities held the same mentality to allow for more pedestrian-friendly paths over automobiles.
Eventually we walked all the way back to the waterside of the city. I didn’t know this then but Stockholm is made up of about 14 different islands with Lake Mälaren dividing it up. The city is often referred to as the “Venice of the North”. It’s quite picturesque to stroll around the waterside and cross some of the many bridges throughout.
That evening we caught the tail-end of Stockholms Kulturfestival. There was a live symphony and some opera singers performing on a stage. Apparently the entire event was free and open to the public. 👏
The next morning, before we flew out of Stockholm, we explored Gamla Stan — Stockholm’s old city. Gamla Stan has all of the old medieval buildings and narrow cobbled streets that one would expect to see. I loved seeing the old iron signage and tall steeples. We stopped into the Royal Armory Museum and admired the historic coaches and garments. Afterward we strolled through and around the Royal Palace grounds.
👋 Heads up: There are over a dozen museums in Stockholm with free entry!
A couple of things that I completely regret not visiting was:
- The Noble Museum. We were RIGHT THERE in front of it but unfortunately the Noble Peace Prize museum was not open during the time we were visiting.
- Fotografiska-Akademin. Shame on me! This photography center boasts a large collection of historic and contemporary works with an exhibition space of over 2,500 square meters. I truly wish that we had just a bit more time to wander around the current exhibitions found here. 📸 😭
- Vasa Museum. I’m on a boat??? Very cool and interesting history about this infamous ship that sunk immediately upon departure of it’s maiden voyage in the early 17th century.
And that was it! Seriously, it was much too quick of a trip but we managed to take in some of Stockholm’s most iconic sites and points of interest. I have no formal opinion on whether or not this city could be one that I would like to live in since I didn’t get any sense of it’s people and their daily lives.
From a tourist standpoint it was great and I would visit again to see and experience more!
This post is a part of a series based on my recent two-week trip to Europe.
To read this in order:
