I had wanted to visit Scandinavia for some time but have never really had the opportunity to do so. Luckily, I had a chance to spend a few days in Stockholm earlier this year for work. Here's a quick run down of my thoughts following that visit. 

Accommodation

The Sheraton Stockholm was my base of operations for my stay. The hotel, like many established hotels in Europe, is okay but not really all that interesting or lavish. One trend that I've noticed in my travels in Europe is the emergence of the independent boutique hotels which offer a more interesting and fresh experience. Whatever the Sheraton lacked in pizzazz, it made up for it in its location. The hotel is located in the Norrmalm district of Stockholm which is the heart of the city. The hotel was within 5 minutes walk of the central station which is where the airport express train, Arlanda Express, terminates. The Arlanda Express is a very modern and fast service and I highly recommend it as a means of getting into the city from the airport.

Attractions

As I did not have that much time in Stockholm, I wanted to see a number of key sights especially not knowing when I will next have the opportunity to visit Stockholm. The Sheration is again ideally located for sightseeing as I was able to easily walk to all but one of the attractions I visited.

Stadshuset - Stockholm's City Hall (photo) is 7 minutes walk from the hotel across the Stadshusbron bridge. There's a incredible view (photo) from the City Hall across the harbour towards Stockholm's old town, Gamla stan. The City Hall is also notable as being the location of the annual awards ceremony for the Nobel Prizes.

Gamla stan - The old town is in my opinion the top attraction in Stockholm, especially if you are short on time. The old town is made up of three islands (keeping in mind that Stockholm is an archipelago of 24,000 islands !) - Stadsholmen (photo), Riddarholmen (photo) and Helgeandsholmen (photo). From the Sheraton, Gamla stan is only a short walk across the Vasabron bridge which is right in front of the hotel.

Gamla stan has history dating back to the 13th century and you can get a taste of it just wandering the many small cobblestone lanes that criss cross the three islands. It is very clean and has been very well preserved. The only tricky part is that you'll probably not be able to find detailed street maps of the old town so it's easy to get lost ( I did !). But the people are friendly and if you stop and ask for directions, you'll quickly learn the layout of the town.

You should keep an eye out for a number of landmarks to check out while you're touring the old town. The Stortorget (photo) is the main town square in the middle of the larger of the three islands - Stadsholmen. You'll find the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Stockholm Cathedral (photo) and the Nobel Museum situated here. Not far from the square is a small lane called Mårten Trotzigs Gränd (photo). And it is small, in fact the narrowest lane in Gamla stan ! It measures only three feet across.

As you wander around the old town, you'll notice a prominent tall thin church spire that punctuates the medieval skyline. This is the Riddarholmskyrkan (photo) which is located on the smallest of the three islands that make up the old town - Riddarholmen. The Riddarholmskyrkan is the Westminster Abbey of Stockholm. It is the burial church for the Swedish monarchy and also one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm.

I told you Gamla stan was the top attraction in Stockholm ! You can easily spend a whole day exploring the old town. But here are some other attractions that you should see as well.

Vasamuseet - The Vasa Museum is little bit further away from the hotel. I took a bus to get there. This is another must see attraction. This museum was purpose built to house a 17th century galleon that was recovered in the mid-20th century, the Vasa (photo). The Vasa was in its day the mightiest galleon in the Swedish fleet. Sadly however, the Vasa did not see any naval service as it sank within one mile of leaving the dock and had been buried and perserved in the waters of Stockholm until its recovery three hundred years later. The Museum itself is very well designed with lots of interesting displays. Unfortunately I only had two hours to visit the museum on the last morning of my stay and I had to rush it. You can easily spend 4 hours there to really get a good insight into not only the Vasa but the Swedish maritime history.

Restaurants

Stockholm has many very nice and interesting restaurants but they are all quite expensive. The old town is your best bet. Fem Små Hus (Five Small Houses) is a very quaint restaurant that serves an excellent traditional Swedish fare. As the name suggests, the restaurant is actually made up of five interconnected small houses dating from 1651. The restaurant decor and unusual interconnected layout makes for a very different and interesting dining experience. I love my food but I'm not a food connoisseur like Sacha so I'll avoid any indepth critique of the cuisine - Sacha is in charge of the foodie operation on this blog. But I loved the reindeer roast !

As an after dinner activity, I would also recommend the Absolut Ice Bar (photo) in the Nordic Light Hotel, right next to the central station. Being in Scandinavia, it is only appropriate to check out this rather touristy attraction. The bar itself is quite small so they do control the number of people admitted. I would recommend making a booking for a fixed time slot. However, I do notice that they have pretty lax controls around checking if your name is on the list. So if you want to chance it, you can probably get in without booking. The drinks are horrendously expensive and that's to be expected. The experience is quite a novel one and drinking out of glasses made from pure ice from the Torne River (photo) is quite cool (pun intended). The only yucky part of the experience is that you are issued warm wear on your entry and obviously quite a few people have gone through the garment before you and if you are there towards the end of the night, the garment can be pretty grotty.

Overall, my short stay in Stockholm was quite nice and I definitely enjoyed my first visit to Scandinavia. There are lots more to see than what I covered here but these were all the attractions that I was able to fit into my short stay. Share your thoughts on Stockholm using our forum discussion link below.

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