Here’s the best three days itinerary in Stockholm to enjoy every corner of the Swedish capital.
I suggest staying in Stockholm for at least three or four days because there’s a lot of things to see. If you are lucky enough to have a nice weather, you can’t miss visiting some islands of the archipelago as well.
Stockholm is Sweden’s largest city and capital. Located on the shores of the Baltic Sea, the city is partly built on several islands, which has given it, like other European cities, its nickname of “Venice of the North”.
I’ll list here all the things to do when spending a few days in Stockholm.
- Day One : Gamla Stan, Riddarholmen, Norrmalm, Ostermalm
- Day Two : Skeppsbron, Strandvagen, Djurgarden, Fjaderholmarna
- Day Three : Skinnarviksparken, Soder malarstrand, Vaxholm, Bergianska tradgarden
Day One
Start your trip by going in the historical heart of the capital : Gamla Stan.
This is the district where you’ll find most of the monuments to visit.
Here you can’t miss the Riddarhuset (or House of Nobility), it’s a majestic 17th-century palace (see first picture below). Plus, right next to it you’ll see the Bonde Palace.
Then by walking less than 5 minutes from there, you’ll land on the Royal Palace of Stockholm (second picture below). You can check out the opening hours and buy tickets for a visit on the official website here. The Baroque-style castle is not only the official residence of the royalty, it is also their workplace, and large parts of the palace are open all year round to the public. There are more than 600 rooms spread across 11 floors ! This palace hosts many museums detailing the medieval history and displaying antiquities. The changing of the guard attracts a lot of people, and in the summer months you’ll also see the military band and horses.
Personally, we chose not to visit the inside of the palace and wander in the little streets of Gamla Stan instead.
Then, by crossing a bridge you can shortly go from Gamla Stan to Riddaholmen.
The main interests here are the Riddarholm Church (an old abbey built in the 1200s) and the view across the river :
If you go from Gamla Stan to Norrmalm, you can check out along the way :
- The Royal Opera of Stockholm : national theater from the 19th century hosting operas and ballets
- The Kungsträdgården : a really nice park in the city
- The Kungstornen : twin tower skyscrapers, they are considered the first modern skyscrapers in Europe.
- Hötorgshallen : swedish food halls (market and restaurants) you’ll reach by an escalator taking you to the basement.
- Adolf Fredriks kyrka : a church from 1774
- Stockholm Public Library : Built in 1928, this red-brick library houses over 2 million books, all neatly arranged in a circular room. Plus, there’s a cute little park on the way.
Not far for the public library, you can go see the colourful little street of Danderydsgatan. It’s really worth the detour !
Finally, to end this first day, you can head to Östermalmshallen (1880s food halls with several cafés and stalls selling fish, seafood and fresh produce) by crossing the Humlegården (Former royal garden from the 16th century) :
Day Two
To kick off this second day, you can have a stroll along Norrstorm river by walking on Skeppsbron street and Strandvagen street.
If you are lucky enough to have a sunny day, the better the views !
There’s also lots of cafés to take a break and enjoy the atmosphere.
From Strandvagen, you can cross Djurgårdsbron (Djurgården bridge) and you will arrive at Piazza del popolo.
Djurgården is a peaceful island known for the Vasa Museum housing a 17th-century warship, and many other museums like the ABBA museum, the Viking museum, Nordiska museum, or even the Skansen open-air museum (where you can discover reconstructed houses depicting Swedish life over the decades), etc…
Personally, as the weather was too great to be inside a museum, we decided to visit the Rosendal garden, located at the East of every museums.
On the way we stumbled upon many typical swedish houses :
You will then reach the beautiful gardens, there’s even a greenhouse proposing a buffet lunch with some tables under the sun !
We wandered in the garden for a few hours before heading back to the city center.
We wanted to explore a little island of the Stockholm’s archipelago so we agreed on Fjaderholmarna for practical reasons : it’s easy to get there, it doesn’t take long and it offers some great landscapes.
We booked our tickets 20 minutes before the departure time with Stromma (you can find this excursion tickets here or buy at the kiosk at the quay). They had great schedules (departure every hour in summer) and the price was alright (we paid 33€ round trip for 2 people).
The boat ride lasted less than 30 minutes and then you can choose how long you want to stay on the island. We stayed 2 hours, so we arrived at 3pm on Fjaderholmarna and the return boat was at 5pm.
This gives you plenty to do the whole tour of the island :
- You can visit some of the artist’s workshops (the green houses), there’s paintings, ceramics, glass…
- Explore the little alleys with the typical swedish red houses :
- Stop for a coffee, or take a break on a bench in front of the sea : :
- There’s also a boat repair shop at the beginning of the island :
Day Three
For this last day in Stockholm we decided to visit another little island of the archipelago : Vaxholm.
To get there, take the T-Centralen line 14 (direction Morby Centrum) and hop off at the Universitetet stop. Here you will get on the bus 670 (direction Universitetet Norra) and you can hop off at the Vaxholms Kyrka stop.
A single ticket costs 42 SEK which is around 4€ and it is valid for 75 minutes.
From there you can just explore the island, it’s full of typical swedish houses, and the atmosphere is just very peaceful and relaxed here.
Because the bus takes you to the Eastern part of the island, you can just follow the seaside and walk up north and west.
From the quay you will notice Vaxholm castle, which is accessible by ferry.
For a lunch or a dessert, you can check out Vaxholms Hembygdsgårds Café, which is highly rated and has a really cute decor :
Continue your walk in this calm neighbourhood full of typical houses :
Finally, before heading back to the bus (there’s many stops on the island, you’ll find one close to where you want to end your stroll), appreciate a walk or a break along the sea, there’s plenty of spots to stop or even take a dip if the weather allows it !
End this third day at Skinnarviksparken, a park uphill in Stockholm that offers a view overlooking the city. After getting to the top and enjoying the panorama, you can go back down and have a stroll on Soder malarstrand. This street runs alongside the river and has a beautiful sight of the other side
If you’d like and have the time, you can hop off at the stop Universitetet södra of the bus 670. Within a few minutes walk you will arrive at Bergianska tradgarden. It’s a botanical garden with tropical and Mediterranean plants and 2 greenhouses. Entry is free and there are different gardens (Japanese, Mediterranean, Italian…), so you can easily spend an hour there.
To end your day back in Stockholm, you can check out Stockholms stadshus which is the city hall. Those waterfront offices built in 1923 in red brick are well worth the detour :
As we stayed on a barge (houseboat), the way back there with the night lights was absolutely breathtaking (Söder Mälarstrand) :
That’s it for my three days itinerary in Stockholm ! If you need more details about Vaxholm or Fjaderholmarna you check out my post about day trips from Stockholm here.
I have also made a post about restaurant and food recommendations, click here to check it out !
If you need a custom itinerary, you can fill this form and I’ll make your own personalised itinerary.
