A complete guide to the city

Everything in Stockholm, in one place.

Two hundred guides to a city of fourteen islands — what to see, when to go, where to eat, and how much of it you can do in a weekend.

01 Best Time to Visit Stockholm Stockholm changes character completely between seasons, from eighteen-hour midsummer daylight to about six hours in December. Month-by-month guides on weather, crowds, costs and what actually stays open.

Northern Lights aurora Sweden — Northern Lights Stockholm

02 Stockholm Restaurants & Food Eating in Stockholm, from the dagens lunch that makes midday the cheapest good meal of the day to fika, food halls, herring, and where the Michelin stars actually are.

A home julbord laid across a wooden dining table: platters of halved eggs, cold cuts, salmon and bread, pots of warm dishes, a stack of white plates and a row of lit red Advent candles

03 Stockholm Museums Stockholm's museums, from the Vasa ship and Skansen to Fotografiska and the ABBA Museum, covering what is worth a timed ticket, what to skip, and which close on Mondays out of season.

The Golden Hall of Stockholm City Hall, its walls covered in gold mosaic, with the seated Queen of Lake Mälaren on the end wall and a polished stone floor

04 Stockholm Hotels Where to book a bed in Stockholm, from Gamla Stan boutiques and Södermalm design hotels to the hostels and moored ships, with what each district costs in kronor and who it suits.

Spa hotels Stockholm — relaxing spa pool

This week

Norwegian aircraft parked at the gates of Arlanda airport, with the control tower and the long glass terminal behind under a cloudy sky

Getting Here

Arlanda Airport Guide: Terminals, Lounges, Sleeping and Transfers

A bather resting on a wooden jetty with towels hanging on a rack while another swims in the blue lake Källtorpssjön at Hellasgården, surrounded by autumn forest

Outdoors

Saunas in Stockholm: Public Bastu, Floating Saunas and Spa Baths

Stockholm Museums

Stockholm City Hall (Stadshuset): Tours, Tower and Nobel Banquet

Plan by season

Same city, four different trips

Mar — May Thaw Ice off the water, terraces out early, half the price of July.

Jun — Aug Light nights Sunset near eleven. Swim after dinner, last ferry out at ten.

Sep — Oct Long shadows The best light of the year and almost nobody in the museums.

Nov — Feb Dark season Indoor city. Candles at four in the afternoon and the saunas fill up.

How we work

We visit everything twice and take no payment for coverage.

Every guide is written after a visit, dated on the page, and rechecked each season. When something has closed, changed hands or stopped being worth the queue, we say so.

Stockholm Gamla Stan — Stockholm 1 day itinerary