Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is a bustling city that welcomes its visitors. The elegant style of the streets, delicious food, cultural events, museums, galleries, and parks offer something to everyone. Stockholm is a family-friendly city.
Visit Stockholm, the city of fourteen Islands.
PLACES TO VISIT
The island of Gamla stan, the city’s old town, still preserves cobbled streets and 17th and 18th-century buildings. It is crowded and vivid, with restaurants, pubs and trendy cocktail bars.
The Royal Palace, an 18th- century construction where the King of Sweeden still lives is a large palace with 600 rooms. There are the reception rooms, royal apartments, Hall of State, Halls of the Orders of Chivalry. You can also visit five museums there.
Djurgården is an oasis in the middle of Stockholm. This is an island with a lot of museums, and cultural attractions.
Södermalm is an interesting area with trendy neighborhoods. Greta Garbo lived there.
Royal Swedish Opera is a historical building in the center of Stockholm. It houses the National Opera and Balet.
Stockholm’s skyline is easily recognizable by the city City Hall with its 106-meter tower and spire. Eight million bricks were used to build it. In this Nordic Romantic Style building, in its Blue Hall, the Nobel Banquet is held every December.
Drottningholm Palace is one of Sweden’s three World Heritage Sites built in the French style. The lavish salons are from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. It can also boast of a Palace Theatre. The inside is decorated with porcelain and lacquered furniture.
Stortorget is the oldest square in the city with a ring of lovely colorful houses from the 1600s and 1700s. It is home to Christmas market in December.
Kungsträdgården, a park behind the Royal Palace, is most beautiful in April, with cherry trees in blossom. In the winter, there is an ice rink.
The central building of the Stockholm Public Library makes it one of the world’s most beautiful libraries. Its enormous hall is encircled by bookshelves from which readers can take books without asking for librarian's help.
STOCKHOLM FOR FAMILIES
Stockholm is a kid-friendly city. There are a lot of attractions that children enjoy, but some of them are designed just for them.
Junibacken is a museum and cultural center located on the island of Djurgården, in the center of Stockholm. It is devoted to literature, especially the Sweedish writer Astrid Lindgren’s books. She is famous for Pippi Longstocking tales.
The Royal Armoury Museum is a good place for children, where they can even dress up as knights.
The National Museum of Science and Technology is an exciting place, starting with its shape: it is based on the human brain and you enter it through an enormous ear. There are a lot of interactive things to do. It is interesting, innovative, and inspires kids.
Kids will also like the Vasa Museum, where they will see the lavish ship that sank after only a 1300 meters voyage. There are different activities including watching a film and family trails to follow, available in Swedish, English, German, Finnish, and Russian.
One of the best things for kids in Stockholm is the ABBA Museum. There are costumes and records, but mixing songs, getting to an audition to become the fifth band member and other activities that they can be involved in is really fun.
What can be more amusing for kids than an open-air museum? Skansen, one of the first world open-space museums founded in 1981, is one of the best places for families in Stockholm. Wondering through historic homes with stuff dressed in different periods fashion is both fun and educational. There is a zoo with Nordic animals and children’s department with domesticated animals.
A Ghost Walk is suitable for children over 7. It is a 90-minute walk through Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm city. Children will listen to ghostly tales of murders, death, and disease while walking along dark alleyways and cobbled streets and through deserted courtyards.
Gröna Lund is Sweden’s oldest amusement park. It first opened in 1883 but it has the most popular today’s roller coasters and rides.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
Visitors can have a great time in numerous Stockholm museums: Artipelag, The Swedish History Museum, Nobel Museum, Fotografiska, Moderna Museet, Nordiska Museet, Stockholms Medeltidsmuseum, Swedish History Museum, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Millesgården, The Hallwyl Museum, Museum of Natural History and others.
ACCOMMODATION
To find accommodation, travelers can choose among hotels, apartments, villas, hostels, resorts, and B&Bs. They can ask for family rooms, larger than usual rooms where extra beds can be added. Even teenage rooms are available where an older child can stay next to the parents’ room. Hotels can have kids’ clubs and playgrounds. Baby strollers can be also rented in some of them.
WHAT TO EAT
Swedish cuisine is famous for fish, but of course, they have a lot of other national dishes. You can try Jansson’s temptation (creamy potato and anchovy casserole), Raggmunk with Lingonberries ( Swedish potato pancake with fried pork or Swedish lingonberries), Marinated Salmon with Dill Potatoes, crayfish, Knäckebröd (crisp Bread), Chives and Sour Cream, Toast Skagen (bread with different toppings), Yellow Pea Soup, Punch and Swedish Pancakes, Princess Cake. Of course, there are national dishes from all over the world.
USEFUL TIPS
· Get on bus 69 or tram 7 and discover Stockholm.
· Be prepared to pay by credit cards. Cash is not a common way of paying in Sweeden.
· The emergency number is 112. The police mostly speak English.
· Be ready for long days at certain parts of the year, when the sun goes down and then soon rises again.
· There is free Wi-Fi everywhere: on trains, in shops, in cafés, on the streets.
TIME TO VISIT
Summer is the best time to visit Stockholm. It is the warmest part of the year and the days are longest. However, it is also the priciest part of the year.
HIDDEN GEMS
The Blue Gate is a historical monument from the18th and 19th centuries, an entrance to a hunting park. Today, you can sit a green open space with a lake. The park is excellent for walks, picnics, and cycling.
Kungens Kurva IKEA, the world’s largest IKEA store, is a showcase of the best Swedish designers. Visitors can sit in a cafeteria and have a delicious meal.
Mälardrottningen, at first sight, an old boat, is actually a hotel transformed from a ship built-in 1924. Visitors can have a meal and relax in an extraordinary hotel restaurant.
TRANSPORTATION
Travelers can get to Stockholm by plane, bus, train, ferry, and car.
Public transportation in the city includes buses, underground trains, trams, and ferry lines. Underground is easiest to get around the city. No cash is accepted on the buses.
If you haven’t thought about visiting Stockholm with your family, it’s time you do that. Your kids will have a great time in this kid-friendly city and you will enjoy art, history and music, food, and great parks.
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