Top places to visit

Stockholm is one of the most kid-friendly places around! Take the kids to Junibacken, Galärparken for a ride on the story train and be sure to check out the bookshop there! Most museums arrange special attractions and activities for kids and the Observatory Museum lets kids watch the stars through a telescope! The Aquaria Water Museum and the Skansen Open Air Museum are also great to keep kids busy. The Toy Museum is sure to delight the little ones and will be sure to bring smiles onto their faces. The old Viking community, Birka, is sure to fascinate kids as well. Sightseeing by boat is also great for kids and they will definitely love the trip. You can rent your own canoe or pedal boat for excursions in the beautiful waters of Stockholm.

Once the home of the working class, it is a bohemian area that has the Medborgarplatsen or the Citizens’ Square which is surrounded by restaurants and pubs.

Norrmalm is the major commercial district of the city with plenty of shops and is a great place to shop for pretty much anything.

This magnificent structure will make you gasp in wonder. Built by King Johan III, the palace was destroyed in a fire and was subsequently rebuilt. The interiors have over the years been improved upon. Many fine buildings are part of the palace complex including the Chinese Pavilion, the Court Theatre and the Castle Church. The Drottningholm Palace is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Free admission to the Drottningholm Palace with the Stockholm à la Carte card!

The building of the City Hall is synonymous with Stockholm. It is the seat of the government, housing the offices of around 200 politicians and civil servants. It is known as one of the most beautiful and well known buildings of the world. The exclusive ballroom is where the Nobel Prize banquet takes place. Its Golden Hall is decorated with 18 million pieces of gold mosaic. A visit to the City Hall is only possible if you are part of a guided tour. Sometimes tours may be cancelled due to receptions. Be sure to visit the Tower museum too, as this is the place from where you get spectacular views of Stockholm.

The Royal palace is situated in the heart of the city on the island of Riddatholmen. The palace, among the largest surviving ones in Europe, is the official residence of the royal family of Sweden and forms the chief venue for official state events. Built in baroque style, the palace has been designed by Nicodemus Tessin from a 1692 design. Some parts of the older medieval Castle of Three Crowns, however, have been retained. For those interested in history, art and architecture there is a lot to see at the palace: The Banqueting apartments, The Tre Kronor Museum, Gustav the Third’s Museum of Antiquities, the Royal Chapel and The Bernadotte Library. If you’ve enjoyed the changing of guard at the Buckingham Palace, you’ll love the change of guard here too.

Ever since it’s opening in 1974, Kulturhuest has provided culture and art lovers succor in all forms, be it dance, music, art or theatre. The Kulturhuest is a large modernist building located in central Stockholm and is literally the hub of culture in the city. No matter what your age is, you are sure to find something to your liking here: from books, dance shows and exhibitions to theatrical performances, art shopping and kiddie fun. The building also houses the country’s only Comics and Graphic Novels Library.

Situated in the vaults underneath the Royal Palace, The Royal Armory Museum is truly a historical treat. The museum’s collection spans over 500 years of royal history replete with sagas of love and murder, weddings and death, victory and defeat. While at the museum, you can enjoy everything, from royal costumes, weapons, armors and carriages to preserved stomach contents of conspirators and assassins. Also on exhibit here is King Gustav II’s horse, with its hide fitted over a wooden frame and Karl XII’s hat, complete with the assassin’s bullet hole.

Learn about Alfred Nobel, the laureates and their ground-breaking discoveries and ideas at the Nobelmuseet. The audio archive has a collection of acceptance speeches and interviews with the prize winners. Readings from laureates like Martin Luther King and Ernest Hemingway also form part of the treasured collection. Don’t be surprised if you find visitors turning over the café chairs; they’ll be doing that only to look at the signatures of visiting prize winners! A free guided tour will help you get the most out of your trip.

This museum, considered one the world’s best, is dedicated to more than 400 years of Swedish postal history. While the mere mention of a postal museum will elicit a not so enthusiastic response from most people, the museum will surprise and engross you will the thrills and adventures of Ms. Letter and Mr. Stamp. The museum also has a special section for kids in the basement where a children’s post office has been constructed. Here children can dress up as postal workers and deliver mock posts and parcels. The museum regularly holds temporary exhibitions on varied interesting themes.

Feel seven and a half centuries of Stockholm’s history come alive as you wander around this museum. The different floors of this building show the different stages of the city’s developemnet and growth, from the Medieval times to the present day modern metropolis. Smaller exhibitions, like the photographic exhibition, also run concurrently with the main one. The museum has a cafe and a shop, and during the summertime events such as dance evenings are held.

What was once a Lutheran Protestant Church (1527) is now the Cathedral of Stockholm. At one time, Royal weddings and coronations took place here. The elaborate Baroque and Gothic architecture makes this building stand out distinctly in the city. The famous statue of St George and the Dragon made in wood by Brent Notke in 1489, is perhaps the most famous among the many unique artifacts housed within the Cathedral. Admission charged during summertime. Address: Trångsund 1, Gamla stan Phone: +46(0)8 723 30 16 Bus: 2, 3, 43, 53, 55, 59, 76 Subway: Gamla stan Website: www.stockholmsdomkyrkoforsamling.se

Östermalm is an affluent commercial and residential area. The part closest to the city center, around the Stureplan square, is the place for upmarket shopping as well as nightclubs and bars for the jet set and those who seek their company.

What one often does not realize is that war has very real civilian consequences. This is one of the things this museum attempts to show through the medium of art: how war affects normal people. This museum highlights the dark side of human nature through art, weaponry and war scene reconstructions. A major attraction at the museum is the replica ‘sawhorse’, a medieval weapon of torture. Each floor of the museum is dedicated to a different time era.

Founded in 1891, Skansen Open Air Museum was built to preserve Stockholm’s rural culture and is one of the major attractions in Stockholm. There are 150 buildings of historic interest including a workshop. Here you can learn about traditional crafts and traditions of Sweden. The zoo houses Nordic animals like elks, wolves, moose, lynxes and bears. Lil Skansen is a children’s zoo where children get to see their equivalent in the animal world; goat kids, piglets, ducklings, kittens, etc. Swedish traditions such as Midsummer, Walpurgis Night and Lucia are celebrated at Skansen. Skansen in the Christmas season is a special event, with a Christmas market and traditional Swedish julbord (Christmas buffet). Those who want to enjoy a traditional Swedish smörgåsbord can have their wish at the Solliden restaurant. Skansen has several restaurants and charming cafés.

“The Vasa” is the 64 gun warship that sank in the Sweden harbor on her maiden voyage in 1628. It is perhaps the only 17th century ship that is in almost perfect shape after being salvaged. Interesting artifacts rescued from the ship are on display at the Vasa Maritime Museum. Don’t miss the film screening which shows how the ship was salvaged 300 years after she sank. It is the most visited museum in Scandinavia.

The western suburbs of the city, Västerort, are home to the Bromma Airport, and Kista which is the Swedish center for information technology and contains the tallest office building of the country, the Kista Science Tower, and a shopping mall, the Kistagallerian. It is also home to one of the first planned suburbs in the continent, known as Vällingby.

The Söderort is well known for its arenas, specifically for the Globe Arena, which is the host for ice hockey games and international performances, and next to the arena is the Söderstadion which is a soccer stadium and the Hovet which is a general purpose arena. The Hammarbybacken is an artificial hill designed for alpine skiing and is a great place to get in some practice before you head off to a ski resort! Skogskykogården or the Woodland Cemetery is famous for its architecture and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Several notable personalities have been buried there including the Swedish film star, Greta Garbo.