Stockholm 2021

Stockholm offers a wealth of art and culture: interactive museums, magnificent castles, small galleries and personal artists’ homes. The district of Gamla Stan is the historical center of the city of Stockholm. The beautiful old town surrounded by the water is by far the most important sight of the city with its winding, medieval streets, pastel-colored houses, the royal castle and the magnificent churches and palaces.

I’ve been visiting Stockholm during winter and discovered the different christmas markets around the old town. Brilliant winter sun melts snow on the rooftops and the whole city shines bright in the light.

I went to the Fotografiska, the temple for modern photography in the former customs house near the ferry terminal. Four large exhibitions are shown every year behind the brick facade, and the Bread & Wine Bistro offers great food and a wide view over the old town of Gamla Stan and the islands of Djurgården and Skeppsholmen.

On the Skeppsholmen island you can find four museums, have a nice walk or just enjoy a drink and a small snack in one of the islands cafés.

The Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet), which is located on the island of Djurgården, houses the Vasa, the world’s only surviving ship from the 17th century. The Vasa Museum is one of Stockholm’s top tourist attractions and is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. It’s phenomenal how the wreckage is preserved, and a visit is definitely a must do when you’re travelling to Stockholm.

Next to the Vasa Museum on Djurgården there are also located the ABBA museum and the Skansen museum, the oldest open-air museum in the world. The small museum village consists of many small, authentic wooden houses as you often see in Sweden and Scandinavia.

The many houses show how craftsmen, bakers, glassblowers and other vocations were practiced around 100 years ago. On th main square with the church of the museum village there is a beautiful christmas tree in winter and many stalls invite you to taste delicious Swedish delicacies with music and dancing.

I started my trip to Stockholm during the Nobel Week and I could experience the Nobel Week Lights an annual light festival in Stockholm that takes place during the Nobel Week. International and local artists and designers create large-scale public light art that presents these impactful discoveries at a monumental scale while welcoming the audience to reimagine the city of Stockholm and the urban environment. It is an impressive installation that shows again the character of Stockholm as a city of art and culture.

After a day above the city or the beautiful traditional museum village, you can end the day in the beautiful trendy district of Södermalm. The area, also called Söder, used to be a simple working-class area and is now a central point of the city, where many artists live and work.

The beautiful old houses are well preserved and are surrounded by many parks that are beautifully covered with snow in winter. In SoFo, a colorful part of Södermalm, you can turn night into day in restaurants and bars with warm Swedish dishes and high quality drinks.