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Stockholm – our top 10 places (attractions) to visit
I hate using the word “attraction”. It sounds like I’m referring to a theme park like Disneyland. But the places that I cover in the post are attractions because they attract enormous amounts of visitors. So think of them that way and not the “Disneyland” way.
If you’ve never been to Stockholm, you can buy a “Stockholm Pass” that gives you entry to 60 top attractions, including most of the ones on the list below. It also includes rides on the sightseeing buses and boats.
Getting There: Public Transportation in the Stockholm Area
If you think you’ll be using a lot of public transportation (no bikes oboard or don’t think biking is much fun), you can also buy a travel card for 24-72 hours. See this site for all of the ways to pay for public transportation. There’s even an app for that! Please be aware that you can’t buy tickets with cash or credit card, so have a look at the site. Jacques and I bought the SL Access Cards that you charge with money at special charging stations (like an automatic teller machine).
Nr. 1: The Vasa Museum.
I won’t go into excruciating detail on the Vasa Museum (you’ll find pages of descriptions on various websites including their own). But you just cannot miss this museum if you come to Stockholm. It is Scandinavia’s most-visited museum and the only preserved 17th-century ship in the world. The best part about the museum, besides the ship itself, are the exhibits showing you the lifestyle of Stockholm in the 17th century – how people worked and lived — with dioramas and special effects.
A view of the Vasa Museum from the water. In the foreground you see the old lighthouse ship “Finngrundet”.
Nr. 2: Skansen
One of the antique houses at the Skansen Open-Air Museum
Ring-tailed Lemurs having their afternoon siesta at Skansen Aquarium
The open-air museum of Skansen shows you, in real life, the swedish lifestyle throughout five centuries. It was founded back in 1891 and consists of real buildings and houses that were found all over Sweden and moved to the site of Skansen. You see working glass-blowers, millers, bakers, carpenters, etc. from the time period of the building they occupy. Skansen also has a small zoo featuring the animals native to Sweden as well as a small aquarium. We love it!
Nr. 3 : The Medieval Museum (free entry!)
The Medeltidsmuseet (Medieval museum) is similar to the Wasa Museum in that it features a series of buildings and rooms depicting life (in this case, life during the middle ages in Stockholm). It’s not just a series of glass cases with artefacts — it’s an almost real-life exhibition. The museum is built around an actual excavation and began with the discovery of the ancient town wall of Stockholm, built in the 1500’s.
Free guided tours in English: Tuesday–Sunday at 2–2.30pm (July–August).
Nr. 4: The Museum of Modern Art — Moderna Museet (free entrance to the permanent collection)
If you enjoy modern art, you’ll have to visit the Stockholm Museum of Modern Art. It has one of the biggest collections of modern art in Europe. It’s located on beautiful Skeppsholmen, worth a stroll or bike ride in itself. If you’re hungry while you’re there, the restaurant/café is quite good.
Housed in a beautiful former maritime customs building, the Photography Museum (Fotografiska) is a must-visit if you are at all interested in photography. Some of the world’s most respected photographers and photojournalists have exhibited here. Some names you may recognise are Annie Lebowitz, Herb Ritts, Bryan Adams, and Lennart Nilsson.
The restaurant is fabulous here. We really enjoyed the summer terrace as it was a hot and sunny day. It’s an ecological restaurant that put the vegetables and fruits into focus, rather than the meat. In other words, you chose your vegetables first and then the meat or fish you think would go with them. It’s amazing how delicious vegetables can be when you add a bit of creativity!
Restaurant at the Fotografiska, under the pergola.
Nr. 6: The Kaknäs Tower (Kaknästornet)
The Kaknäs Tower is a television/radio tower located on Djurgården. I assume it’s not really used for TV and radio anymore as we now have satellite and internet radio and TV. A new restaurant has opened on the 38th floor and there’s now a Sky bar on the top floor (41st). The Sky bar has the best view of Stockholm — it’s 150 meters up. You can see all the way to Lake Mälar towards the west and far out to the archipelago towards the east from here. If you want to take some good photos, you can ask for the key to open small “photography covers” in the protection barrier around the tower.
Nr. 7: The Drottningholm Royal Palace
The Drottningholm Palace is where the king and queen really live (the royal castle in the old town is now a museum). As the royal family are housed in the south wing only, the rest of the palace is open to the public as a museum. If you’re a history buff or castle enthusiast , you’ll appreciate the well-preserved paintings, furniture, sculptures and architecture of the era. The palace was built during the 1600s by the renowned architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, and was subsequently renovated throughout its history.
View of the front side of Drottningholm Palace from lake Mälaren
The gardens behind the Palace are huge. The central part is more a french style, quite stylised. The exterior parts were designed as an english park — a romantic countryside with ancient oak trees and small brooks and ponds. It makes you think of Jane Austen and it’s a lovely place for a champagne picnic!
The most pleasant way to get to the Palace is by steamboat (Ströma Kanalbolaget boats leave from the City Hall Quai). If you’re in good shape, it’s also a pleasant bike ride. Otherwise, you can take the subway to Brommaplan and then the bus to Drottningholm. See the public transport planner here.
Nr. 8: The Royal Castle in the Old Town
The royal castle in the Old Town, is not the most beautiful castle in Europe, but with it’s 600 rooms and several floors, it’s full of things to see. Start with the royal treasury to see crowns, sceptres, swords, ancient coins and the jewels sometimes worn by the queen or the princesses.
Then go through the Royal apartments to seen the staterooms used for official events, meetings, banquets and balls. Continue to the The Kronor Museum, when you’ll see models of the original (and more beautiful) original castle. This castle, called “Tre Kronor” (Three Crowns), burned down in a voracious fire in 1697.
Nr. 9 : The Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet)
The Nordic Museum is a stone’s through from the Wasa Marina and the Wasa Museum and is well worth a visit. Its exhibitions cover various aspects of the nordic countries’ histories and lifestyles. Exhibitions cover things like clothing styles throughout the ages, arts and crafts, what kinds of food was eaten, housing and the birth of the “peoples’ home” (modern and well-equipped housing for the working class Swedes). There’s also a permanent exhibition covering the history and culture of the Sami people of the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The Nordic Museum seen from the water.
Nr. 10 : Aquaria
Jacques and I love to visit aquaria around the world. Though the Aquaria Water Museum isn’t the largest one we’ve ever seen, it’s interesting in that the waters around Sweden are well-covered. You’ll see what lives under your boat! The various marine environments you’ll see here are “the Rainforest”, “the Mangrove”, “Tropical Seas” and the “Nordic Seas”.
Bonus if you have children — Nr. 11: Gröna Lund and Nr. 12: Junibacken
View of Gröna Lund from the water
Gröna Lund is a classic park of attractions with rides you see in just about any western country. We are not big fans of this sort of thing, but if you have children or teenagers onboard, they’ll probably want to check it out. There are sometimes great concerts here.
Junibacken is the fairytale and folk story world of Astrid Lindgren brought to life for small children. Your kids can visit Pippi Longstocking and Emil from Lönneberga. Perhaps the best way to describe it is “a children’s cultural centre”. There are different play areas and a Story Train, when you get on a train and go through different parts of Astrid Lindgren’s children’s stories, like you would at Disneyland. Have a look at this video if you’re wondering if a visit is a good idea for your children.
The city of Stockholm is situated between the sea and a large lake called Mälaren. You’ll find two marinas for visiting boats on the sea side: the Navishamn, which is actually a boat club marina, and the Wasahamn marina. We stayed at the Navishamn.
The island of Djurgården (on the right side of the map) and its two guest marinas (red stars). Ferries leave from Djurgårdstaden to take you directly to the Old Town (Gamla Stan). Otherwise, the tram route (S) takes you right into town.
The reason we chose the Navishamn is that we are willing to give up some convenience in terms of closeness to the main parts of the city in exchange for more peace and quiet. A distance of about 1.5 km separate the two marinas.
The Navishamn
The Navishamn is actually the marina for a club called the Navigationssällskapet (Navigation society). Guest berths become available when members leave their permanent berths to go out sailing or to occupy a summer berth further out in the archipelago. Their berths are then rented out to visiting boats via the Dockspot site.
View of the Navishamn
The marina is located next to a small palace called Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde. Prince Eugen (1865–1947) was an artist, specialising in landscape painting. The palace showcases not just his amazing body of work; it presents temporary exhibitions of other artists as well. Upcoming exhibitions in 2017 include Joan Miró and Carl Larsson. It’s a must-visit if you are a fan of landscape painting. It’s a 5-minute walk from the marina. The gardens around the palace are free to visit and they are worth a visit for anyone interested in landscaping/ gardening and sculptures. There are quite a few famous sculptures spread around the gardens, including those of August Rodin and Carl Milles.
The Archer in the Waldemarsudde gardens, created by Sweden’s most famous sculptor, Carl Milles
The old stables of the palace. You can sit here and look out over the water and the traffic going to and from Stockholm.
We walked through the gardens and the forest next to the palace every morning and evening with Senna. The path continues for several kilometres around the island if you enjoy long walks.
Senna is always up for a swim! This little “beach” is about a 15-minute walk from the Navishamn, just after the Palace of Waldemarsudde.
Here are a number of Stockholm’s tourist attractions within a 15-25 minute walk from the Navis boat club (or take the tram if you’re in a hurry):
Skansen, Stockholm’s fabulous open-air museum of life in Sweden during the “old days”
The Wasa Museum (the Wasa was a warship built in the early 1600s. It capsized during its maiden voyage, was recuperated in the 1950’s, meticulously restored and then housed in its own museum for all to look upon with wonder).
Number of berths: up to 175. Berthing method: bow or stern to quay, buoy (are usually far enough away for a boat up to 55 feet.) A few alongside berths on the outside that are for very large or heavy boats only. Facilities: toilets, showers laundry, electricity (10A), fresh water, free wifi (although if your berth is far from the office, you’ll need a wifi booster to get the signal) air pump for your fenders(!), berths for large boats. Electricity costs 50 SEK per night (2016). Open from 1st of May until end of September. Contact info (not reservations!): email: hamnen@navis.se, phone: +46 76 309 3229, There is no harbour office as it’s a boat club. All reservations, arrangements and payments are now made using the Dockspot website.
Google Earth photo of Navishamn marina and the surrounding area.
Wasahamn
The Wasahamn is located next to the Wasa Museum. It is a private marina that functions as a guest harbour and has 146 berths. The advantage of the Wasahamn over the Navishamn is its proximity to a large number of tourist attractions and restaurants. They are a stone’s through away from the marina gates.
The atmosphere is a lot more “marina” here, as all the boats are occupied. You’ll have more of a boat “social life” here compared to Navis.
The Wasahamn marina on Djurgården. The tower you see on the left is the Nordic Museum. The 2 red buildings on the left make up the museum of Wine and Spirits.
This does come at a price, though. The noise level here is much higher, especially the noise coming from Gröna Lund or Skansen, where regular concerts are held. Thankfully, the concerts usually end by around 22.30, so you will be able to get your sleep. But forget about having a peaceful evening meal in your cockpit.
Here you see that the marina is right next to the Wasa Museum.
Facts: Wasahamn marina
Prices during summer season (15 May 2016 to 15 September 2016):
Boats up to 12 meters: Day only: 200 SEK, Overnight: 350 SEK. Electricity: 50 SEK
Boats over 12 meters: Day only: 350 SEK, Overnight: 650 SEK. Electricity: 50 SEK
There are reduced fees during the autumn/winter/spring
Facilities: toilets, showers, laundry, free wifi, black water pump Number of berths: 146. Contact info: email: wasahamnen@telia.com, phone: +46 (0)8 661 9187 Harbour office hours: 8.00–20.00
Google Earth photo of the Wasahamn and surrounding area
It was time to finally head in to Stockholm. We had reserved a berth at the Navishamn on the island of Djurgården, close to the centre of town.
Sailing past a small island near Dalarö, about 3 hours’ sail from Stockholm
Stockholm is protected by an immense archipelago and the only ways to approach it by boat are from the south via Saltsjöbaden or from the east via Waxholm or Värmdö. Since we were coming up from the south, and since we are not sailing a boat with more than 3 meters’ draught or 30 meters’ air draft, we were taking the southern approach. All larger, taller and deeper-draught boats need to arrive via the Oxdjupet (Ox depths) or the Kodjupet (Cow Depths) passages.
The southern approach to Stockholm
The eastern approaches to Stockholm. Most pleasure boats use the orange-coloured passage via Kodjupet.
The anchorage of Napoleanviken
We wanted to spend one more night at anchor before sailing to the city, so we selected the famous friday night anchorage of Napolenviken on the island of Ägnö, not far from Saltsjöbaden.
This chart shows where our bow anchor held and did not hold. GPS coordinates: 59°14’16″N 18°24’14″E.
Napoleanviken is often used by sailors leaving town on a friday evening, as it’s only an hour or two from the marinas and boat clubs around Stockholm
We were anchored in the tiny eastern side of Napoleanviken
This anchorage is perfectly protected from swell and almost perfectly protected from wind. If there’s a hard WSW blowing, it can come into the eastern part of the anchorage. This usually isn’t a big problem in the Napoleonviken.
Looking towards the western part of the anchorage
It’s best to anchor here “the Swedish way” (two lines ashore plus a stern anchor) but there are a few good spots to lie with a bow anchor. We tried several times in the wester part of the anchorage with no success. We finally got it to hold when we went into the eastern part. If you can anchor with lines ashore, there are many spots for you. I used lots of different spots when I lived here and had a 36-foot boat that was easy to tied up to the shore. We’re going to have to try with Freja next year!
Senna enjoying her morning swim in the Napoleanviken
On a Friday evening, you would see lots of boats moored up to the granite rocks you see in the background.
To get to Stockholm from the south, you need to pass through two narrow canals (straits) — don’t worry, they’re wide enough for a steamboat to pass through!
The Baggensstäket
The first canal/strait you’ll enter is called “Baggenstäket”. The draught here is 3 meters, so most pleasure boats will be able to go through. But if you’re floating around in a Swan 70, you’ll have a problem!
The second is the Skurusundet, which has a 30 meter bridge passing over it. This bridge is bow-formed, so if your mast is high, you’ll need to pass under the middle of it or you’ll won’t get the full 30-meter clearance!
One of the many fairytale-like cottages you’ll see on the way to Stockholm
You do need to keep a lookout on the bow for traffic coming towards you. A few passenger boats in regular traffic come through and they have the right of way. If you see or hear them coming (they will sound their horn before entering – one long blast), you’ll need to either back up or move to the side so they have enough room to pass. There are several areas too narrow for the two of you to pass side by side, so stay vigilant.
Lovely old pavilion along the Baggensstäket
If you have a motor, you are required to use it — sailboats are not allowed to sail through the canal. Stay on the starboard side of the canal while being careful of the marker buoys. This may sound like obvious information, but one of our guests assumed that you should stay in the middle of a fairway or canal, and we had to correct him.
Sometimes you won’t come upon a passenger boat, but something unusual, like a barge or small cargo ship. We were behind a barge called Tvättbjörn on one of our passages towards the canal. The skipper had announced his ETA to the east entrance of the canal on VHF every 5 minutes. A barge, being constrained in it’s ability to manoeuvre, has the right of way.
Have a look at the video!
Skurusundet
After passing through the Baggenstäket, you’ll go through the strait of Lännersta, and then through the scenic Skurusundet (Skuru strait). Again, the bridge has a 30-meter clearance, but that’s in the middle part of the structure.
The Skurusundet, just outside Stockholm
Boathouse along the canal
Upon exiting the Skurusundet, you’ll sail past the little island called Sverigesholme and “turn left” towards Stockholm. You’ll now see Stockholm in the distance ahead. After passing the large island of Lidingö (where I lived for several years), you’ll see the Fjäderholmarna (Feather Islands) on your starboard side. The main island hosts a couple of good restaurants. You can even visit them with your own boat if you can snag one of the few berths on the island. Otherwise, you can catch one of the shuttle boats that go out every 30 minutes or so from the centre of town.
Sailing through the Stockholms inlopp (Stockholm waters)
Some of the many archipelago passenger boats that run out of Stockholm. One of them is a shuttle that goes to the Fjäderholmarna.
Just after the Fjäderholmarna, you’ll have the island of Djurgården on your starboard side. The two marinas in Stockholm are located here. One is called the Wasahamn and the other is called the Navishamn.
Sailing past the western end of Djurgården island in Stockholm
The advantage of the Wasahamn is that it’s closer to town and a stone’s through from several of the major tourist attractions of Stockholm, restaurants, cafés, etc. The advantage of the Navishamn is that it it’s farther from the centre of town, in a somewhat peaceful area. So you have to decide what you appreciate more — a bit of tranquility in the city, or easy access to to most of the famous tourist attractions in Stockholm.
I’ll do a marina review and go through some of the famous tourist attractions in Stockholm in my next posts.
We decided that the Navishamn would suit us better, since a). we’ve already seen the tourist attractions on Djurgården, and b.) we prefer some tranquility!
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I hate using the word “attraction”. It sounds like I’m referring to a theme park like Disneyland. But the places that I cover in the post are attractions because they attract enormous amounts of visitors. So think of them that way and not the “Disneyland” way.
