Holiday Destination: Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the coast in the south east of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by Gawc as a global city, with a ranking of Beta. In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North. Stockholm is the site of the national Swedish government, the Parliament of Sweden, the Supreme Court of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. Since 1980, the monarch has resided at Drottningholm Palace in Ekerö Municipality outside of Stockholm and uses the Stockholm Palace as his workplace and official residence. The government has its seat in Rosenbad and the parliament in the Parliament House.

Climate

Summer 21.9 °C (71.4 °F), Winter (−5) °C (23.0 °F)

Tourist Season

June to August is the best for visiting Stockholm.

Accommodation

Hotels and Apartments.

General Information Of Stockholm

• Land Area: 73 sq mi (188 km2)
• Population: 8 Lakh.
• Capital City: Stockholm.
• Language: English and Swedish.

Tourist Attraction in or Near by Stockholm

Riddarholm Church

The Riddarholmen Church is the burial church of the Swedish monarchs. It is located on the island of Riddarholmen, close to the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. The congregation was dissolved in 1807 and today the church is used only for burial and commemorative purposes. Swedish monarchs from Gustavus Adolphus to Gustaf V are entombed here with exceptions such as Queen Christina who is buried within St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as well as the earlier monarchs Magnus III and Charles VIII. It is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm, parts of it dating to the late 13th century, when it was built as a greyfriars monastery. After the Protestant Reformation, the monastery was closed and the building transformed into a Protestant church. A spire designed by Willem Boy was added during the reign of John III, but it was destroyed by a strike of lightning on July 28, 1835 after which it was replaced with the present cast iron spire.

Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the island of Djurgarden, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64 gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. Together with other museums such as Stockholm Maritime Museum, the museum belongs to the Swedish National Maritime Museums. Visitors could only view the ship from two levels and the maximum distance was only 5 m. In 1981, the Swedish government decided that a permanent Vasa museum was to be constructed and an architects' competition for the design of the museum building was organized.

Djurgarden

Djurgarden is an island in central Stockholm. Djurgarden is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open air museum Skansen, the small residential area Djurgårdsstaden, yacht harbours, and extensive stretches of forest and meadows. It is one of the Stockholmers' favorite recreation areas and tourist destination alike, attracting over 10 million visitors per year, of which some 5 million come to visit the museums and amusement park. The island belongs to the National City park founded in 1995. Since the 15th century the Swedish monarch has owned or held the right of disposition of Royal Djurgarden. Today, this right is exercised by the Royal Djurgarden Administration which is a part of the Royal Court of Sweden. A larger area of the city, separated from Djurgarden proper by Djurgårdsbrunnsviken is Norra Djurgarden, including Gardet.

Nordic Museum

The Nordic Museum is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the Early Modern age until the contemporary period. The museum was founded in the late 19th century by Artur Hazelius, who also founded the open air museum Skansen, long part of the museum, until the institutions were made independent of each other in 1963. For the Nordic museum, Hazelius bought or managed to get donations of objects furniture, clothes, toys etc, from all over Sweden and the other Nordic countries he was mainly interested in peasant culture but his successors increasingly started to collect objects reflecting bourgeois and urban lifestyles as well. For Skansen he collected entire buildings and farms.

Lake Malar

Lake Mälar, Swedish Mälaren, Mälar, Lake lake in eastern Sweden, located just west of Stockholm, which lies at the lake’s junction with Salt Bay, an arm of the Baltic Sea. At one time Lake Malar was a bay of the Baltic, and seagoing vessels using it were able to sail far into the interior of Sweden. Because of movements of the Earth’s crust, however, the rock barrier at the mouth of the bay had become so shallow by about 1200 that ships had to unload near the entrance, and the bay became a lake. Its more than 1,200 islands, with a total area of 189 square miles, and its deeply indented, wooded shoreline have made the lake area a popular residential and resort region. There are many towns in addition to Stockholm along its shores, a number of them of historical interest. Near Mariefred is the castle of Gripsholm, begun in 1537 by Gustav I Vasa and known today for its portrait collection.

Stockholm Palace

The Stockholm Palace or the Royal Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish Monarch. Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen, in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm. It neighbours the Riksdag building and Stockholm Cathedral. The offices of the King, the other members of the Swedish Royal Family, and the offices of the Royal Court of Sweden are located here. The palace is used for representative purposes by the King whilst performing his duties as the head of state. The southern façade is facing the grand style slope Slottsbacken the eastern façade is bordering Skeppsbron, an impressive quay passing along the eastern waterfront of the old town; on the northern front is Lejonbacken, a system of ramps named after the Medici lions sculptures on the stone railings and the western wings border the open space Högvaktsterrassen.

Langholmen

Långholmen is an island in central Stockholm, between Södermalm and Kungsholmen. Långholmen is a green oasis in the city, and a popular spot for walks, picnics and swimming. The small beaches, located right outside the former prison, are usually crowded in summer. However, up until 1975, Långholmen was used as a prison island. Since 1989 Långholmen Prison has been a 112 room hotel and hostel, renovated in 2007/2008. In the former prison hospital there is now a restaurant and pub. Långholmen was originally rocky and barren, but in the eighteenth century, prison inmates covered the island with mud dredged from the surrounding waterways. After several years, the fertile soil transformed much of the island into lush gardens with a somewhat exotic flora, due to the introduction of various seeds that were spread via trade and merchant ships passing by the island. This peculiarity still persists, and today the island is considered a lush retreat.

Tivoli Grona Lund

Tivoli Gröna Lund or Grönan is an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden. It is located on the seaward side of the Djurgården island and is relatively small compared to other amusement parks, mainly due to its central location, which limits expansion. Gröna Lund is a popular venue for concerts during the summer. The amusement park has over 30 attractions. Gröna Lund was founded in 1883 by James Schultheis. Gröna Lund features most attractions common to amusement parks, such as the tunnel of love, a funhouse, as well as six roller coasters, including Jetline designed by Anton Schwarzkopf. It is quite unique in the sense that most of the buildings on the site are old residential and commercial structures dating from the 19th century. The buildings are therefore not built for the park; instead, the park is built around the buildings.

Stockholm Cathedral

Stockholm Cathedral, most commonly known as Storkyrkan and Stockholms domkyrka, is the oldest church in Gamla Stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is an important example of Swedish Brick Gothic. Situated next to the Royal Palace, it forms the western end of Castle Hill, the major approach to the Royal Palace, while the streets Storkyrkobrinken, Guard The Terrace, and Trångsund passes north and west of it respectively. South of the church is the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building facing the Stortorget square and containing the Swedish Academy, Nobel Library, and Nobel Museum.

Stockholm Town Hall

Stockholm City Hall is the building of the Municipal Council for the City of Stockholm in Sweden. It stands on the eastern tip of Kungsholmen island, next to Riddarfjärden's northern shore and facing the islands of Riddarholmen and Södermalm. It houses offices and conference rooms as well as ceremonial halls, and the luxury restaurant Stadshuskällaren. It is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet and one of Stockholm's major tourist attractions.

Stockholm City Museum

The Stockholm City Museum is a museum documenting and exhibiting the history of Stockholm. The museum is housed in Södra Stadshuset at Slussen on Södermalm. The building was completed in 1685. In the 1930s the museum moved in and opened to the public in 1942. The museum is the largest municipal museum in Sweden, and houses collections which include 300,000 items of historical interest; 20,000 works of art and 3 million photographs. The museum is governed by the Cultural Affairs and Sports Division of the City of Stockholm. The city museum, the Museum of Medieval Stockholm and Stockholmia Förlag (which publishes books on Stockholm and Stockholm's history) operate as one department within the division.

Accessibility

Bus Terminal in or Near by

Restaurant Kaknästornet

Mörka kroken 28
Stockholm, Sweden

Greyhound Sweden

151171 Roma Street
Stockholm, Sweden

Clarion Hotel Stockholm

Ring Road 98
Stockholm, Sweden

Airport

Stockholm Airport: For International and Domestic flights.

Railway Stations

Stockholm Central Station

Norrmalm
Stockholm, Sweden