Sweden’s beautiful capital gains a distinct liveliness and glow during the summer months. Stockholm, which makes “cold” associations with its geographical location, is an immaculate city that has plenty of outdoor excursion options, has a dazzling food and cafe culture, and opens up with its smiling people. The ideal season is between May and September. Let’s take a quick look at what can be done in Stockholm, as they will fall short on the road.
Beach pleasure
Photo: Holger Ellgaard / WikimediaCommons
When it comes to Stockholm, we think that beaches are not the first to come to mind. However, there are many beaches, pools and coastal facilities in the city that are very popular in summer. It is quite logical when you think of dozens of islands and clear waters close to the city. You can swim in the small beach of Långholmsbadet on the north shore of Långholmen Island, which is within the city center, you can enjoy the sand or grass and sit in the cafes and restaurants behind.
Photo: Carolina Romare / imagebank.sweden.se
You can also spend the night in the hotel and hostel, converted from an old prison. You can jump into the water from the rocks in Klippbadet, a few hundred meters west of the beach. You can visit the tattoo studios, modest and cozy bars, restaurants and popular barber shops in the hipster district Hornstull on the island road.
Island trip by steamboat
Photo: Conny Fridh / imagebank.sweden.se
The archipelago, on which Stockholm is located, consists of approximately 24 thousand islands. Therefore, boat tours should definitely be experienced in spring and summer. There are short and long tours without a guided guide. Built in 1910, SS Blidösund is touring the Mälaren Lake in the north-east of the city, while the slightly older Mariefred is working on distant islands. Various length boats can also be rented for private tours.
Sinking into Scandinavian cuisine
Photo: Magnus Glans / imagebank.sweden.se
If you think that Swedish cuisine consists of “Swedish Meatballs” of Turkish origin and fish, you are wrongly wrong. Today, the central districts in Stockholm are home to many large and small restaurants that offer all kinds of cuisine from the world, and tend to fusion and experimental Scandinavian cuisine in recent years. Young and excited chefs are very popular, combining 19th century cooking techniques with new ingredients and recipes, offering seafood in completely different shapes and flavors, trying to make a difference even to hamburgers. Of course, let’s add that Stockholm is not a cheap city, you will have to pay considerable money when you want to try special menus.
Photo: Tuukka Ervasti / imagebank.sweden.se
If you want to chase traditional Swedish food, we can recommend classic venues such as Tennstopet. Herring, crayfish, trout eggs, etc. in these places, which usually offer affordable fixed menus at certain times of the day. You can taste homemade Swedish cookies (småkakor) and pies, along with a variety of seafood dishes, grills, brine, salads, stews and sandwiches, including. Dishes made with rabbit and goose towards the winter are also added to the menu.
Not skipping food on the street
Photo: Simon Paulin / imagebank.sweden.se
If you say “I should eat nice but affordable,” we can recommend fish options other than fast food. Herring caught in the Baltic Sea is a bit smelly but consumed abundantly in the north. You can get the best and cheapest menu in Kornhamnstorg in the old city. Herring between bread, which has become the fast food of students, is quite satisfying and costs between 5-10 dollars. Another Swedish street food is tunnbrödsrulle; sausage placed in soft mini pancake or loaf with mashed potatoes and a few shrimp salad next to it.
Losing yourself in the food market
Photo: Tuukka Ervasti / imagebank.sweden.se
There are three large closed marketplaces in Stockholm. Hötorgshallen is the cheapest and most diverse one among them. Apart from traditional Swedish and Scandinavian foods, it is possible to find plenty of food from South America, North Africa, Central Europe and the Middle East. Some stalls may have long queues in front of them, but it is worth the wait. The variety in the market seems to have no end; Swedish cheeses, Finnish liquorice, sausage, duck fat, beef kidney, or specially fermented Swedish sausage, etc. etc. Do not go outside without visiting the stalls in Hötorget Square.
Saturation with culture and art
Photo: Anna-Stina Takala / Flickr
We are not talking about the “capital of culture” label that the EU determines every year, but a European cultural center where culture and art are always precious and popular. The center of Stockholm is full of social life, culture and art, not channels and islands. Kulturhuset in the city center, which has Scandinavian architecture and the charm of late modernism, is a popular five-story socialization and event area.
Photo: Simon Paulin / imagebank.sweden.se
You can make the complex, which has a library, theater, cinema, art gallery, cafe, tourist information and cultural center, as the starting or ending point of your city tour. Panorama cafe on the top floor, overlooking the city, is an ideal place to have a snack and breathe. Major museums and galleries in the city are also within walking distance.
Swedish Sauna
Photo: Tuukka Ervasti / imagebank.sweden.se
In Sweden, as in all northern countries, sauna (or bastu as it is called here) is an important issue. Swedes often enter the sauna and sweat. Since there is a sauna in almost every house, site, apartment and hotel in Stockholm, there are not many facilities like our independent baths or spas. The best of these are Sturebadet and Centralbadet, which opened in the early 1900s and retain their elegant art nouveau style. You can relax in the pool, dry and wet saunas, steam bath and jacuzzi, and then feed you with a light drink and meal. Their entrance is around $ 30.
Skogskyrkogården
Photo: Susanne Hallmann / skogskyrkogarden.stockholm.se
Skogskyrkogården, which deserves an item alone, is a “forest cemetery”! The work of Gunnar Asplund, one of Sweden’s cult architects and artists, started to be implemented in 1917 with the aim of converting the flat and empty marsh area built on several islands into a “forested grave” with a capacity of 100 thousand graves.
Photo: Cecilia Larsson Lantz / imagebank.sweden.se
The cemetery, which is on the Unesco Heritage List, has turned into an incredibly tranquil, lush and melancholic nature park today with new additions. Wandering through trees, groves, islets, chapels and, of course, graves will give you a very different experience. The meditation hill nearby offers a lovely panorama of the cemetery. It is a kind of spiritual place rarely encountered in Stockholm or even in Europe.
Main image: Simon Paulin / imagebank.sweden.se