Where to stay in Stockholm

Best for: historic buildings

Gamla Stan (or the Old Town) is Stockholm’s medieval heart, and it remains the centre of the city. Here you’ll find Parliament, the Royal Palace, Christmas markets, museums, colourful churches, narrow cobbled streets – pretty much what you imagined when you booked that flight to Stockholm.  

Unlike the carefully ordered modern districts surrounding it, there’s no logical order to the dense sprawl of Gamla Stan: just surrender and get lost within it. You’ll come across cafés spilling onto pavements, cosy wine bars and boutiques selling charming hand-crafted gifts (yes, they are a little hidden away behind tourist traps pushing naff Viking hats).

Gamla Stan is accessible from almost anywhere in central Stockholm, whether on foot across the bridges from Norrmalm and Södermalm or via the metro. On a nice day, the best way to arrive is by boat: the commuter ferry 82 nips between Gamla Stan and the islands of Skeppsholmen and Djurgården in just 10 minutes. 

Stay here: book a cabin onboard the Mälardrottningen yacht hotel, moored just a couple of minutes from the metro station.

Best for: museums (and ABBA)

Spend the day in Djurgården and you could be forgiven for imagining yourself on a charming country retreat. But this remarkable royal parkland is actually only a short hop across the bridge from upmarket Östermalm in east-central Stockholm. If you want to get your fill of simply adorable Swedish cottages, or daydream as your stare out across the harbour waters, this is the place for you. 

Take a revitalising walk around the edge of the island and watch huge cruise ships from Finland and further afield lumbering in and out of the bay. There are visitor attractions galore, from open-air museum Skansen to resurrected 17th century battleship Vasa Museet, and temple to Sweden’s greatest pop band the ABBA Museum. Rosendals Trädgård is a beautiful place to sample traditional Swedish cooking, and learn a little about biodynamic farming practices in the process. If your legs are tired, hop on tram 7 to get back to central Stockholm.

Stay here: at Backstage Hotel you can sleep in an ABBA-themed suite replete with authentic gold discs. Mamma Mia!

Best for: open-air dining, drinking, shopping and swimming

The western end of the trendy southern Stockholm island of Södermalm is one of the city’s liveliest areas at the best of times. But especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons between April and September, when it’s home to Hornstulls Marknad – an open-air market along the waterfront promenade, assembling second hand sellers, craft makers, food trucks and other assorted independent traders.  

Whatever day of the week it may be year-round, if the weather’s good enough you can sit out with a burger and a beer at quayside open-air café Kajsas. Or even take a short walk along the shore to Tanto strandbad beach, for a dip in the chilly waters of Årstaviken. If you plan in advance, you might be able to nab a booked spot in the hugely popular Tanto Bastu floating sauna. 

Hornstull’s classy art-house cinema Bio Rio shows indie and world films, and does speciality breakfast screenings at weekends. Debaser Strand is an intimate and atmospheric underground concert and club venue where music fans of all sorts of tastes dance the night away.

Stay here: Hellstens Malmgård is a simple yet charming hotel with a touch of classical elegance, situated in one of Stockholm’s last surviving 18th century urban manors.

📍 Discover the best restaurants in Stockholm

Best for: effortless cool

The northern corner of downtown Stockholm might not be the oldest or prettiest, but it shouldn’t be missed. Odenplan was already the central hub of the upmarket Vasastan district, before raising its game with a shiny new commuter rail station, underlining its pride of place in the middle of the Swedish capital. Surrounding Odenplan are some of Stockholm’s best-loved cafés, including Café Pascal and Greasy Spoon, the national library and a smattering of brilliant vintage and charity stores including branches of Myrorna, Stockholms Stadsmissionen and Beyond Retro.

Effortlessly cool Odenplan is unavoidable if you want the full inner-city Stockholm experience. Simply walk up from Norrmalm, past the central station or along the buzzing Sveavägen avenue, and keep going uphill until you reach Odengatan street. If you’re in a hurry, you can take the green metro line to get in from south or west Stockholm.

Stay here: At Ett Hem, three beautiful private houses have been combined to form a home-from-home for travellers in search of a hotel with a more personal feel.

Best for: a peaceful escape from the inner city

Just northwest of the city, only 10 minutes from Central Station by commuter rail, Sundbyberg is the smallest yet most populated neighbourhood in Stockholm County. It started life as a swampy, agricultural stretch of land that began getting gentrified from 1870 when the first plot was bought. Nowadays locals still refer to it as ‘Sumpan’ (‘the swamp’). But in an affectionate way. 

It’s also one of the most affordable areas thanks to a swathe of 1970s social housing, drawing in creatives and offering a wealth of great bars, cafés, shops and other attractions. Sample some of Stockholm’s best beer at Omnipollos Kyrka – a brewery and pub based in an old church. At Signalfabriken, a former telephone cable factory has been developed into modern housing, retail premises and a charming library. It’s home to cosy bar and grill The Public. A peaceful escape from the inner city, beloved ‘Sumpan’ is finally getting the place it deserves on the Stockholm map.

Stay here: Signalfabriken’s Story Hotel offers industrial-chic for a mid-range budget. 

Best for: nightlife

Drawing inspiration from New York and Copenhagen, Stockholm is transforming its former meat-packing district into a hip new quarter for among other things culture and nightlife. It’s still a work-in-progress, with a major new housing development in the process of being built, and a brand-new metro station due by 2030. Yet already Slakthusområdet is abuzz with music and clubbing venues set in rawly repurposed former industrial spaces, including Slakthuset, Fållan, Slaktkyrkan and Hus 7. Within earshot too are a pair of Stockholm’s largest multi-event megadomes, the Avicii Area and Tele2 Arena. 

Solen is an outlier for the sort of stylish new restaurant you can expect to see in years to come in one of Stockholm’s fastest-rising food hotspots, with its stark exposed concrete open-plan interior and menu inspired by the ‘food of the sun’, featuring flavours, dishes and ingredients from the Mediterranean, South America and the Middle East. It’s been joined so far by the likes of Africa Sthlm and Bar Montan, with a fresh reincarnation of Gamla Enskede favourite Matateljén coming in 2025.

Stay here: boutique and independent options are still thin on the ground here, but Quality Hotel Globe in the Avicii Arena complex meet cover your accommodation needs comfortably and at a reasonable price.