City trip Stockholm: 8 reasons to visit this city

This month I flew over the Netherlands for the first time in my life. Sounds crazy huh? Until now I had never seen the Wadden Islands from an airplane and it was secretly very special to experience this once. The final destination of this flight? The Swedish capital Stockholm! A city that wasn’t really on my must-visit list, but that completely captivated me in the end. I give you 8 reasons to go on a city trip to Stockholm yourself. You won’t regret it!

You fly to Stockholm in just 2 hours, making this an ideal destination for a long weekend away. Despite the fact that there are few major sights, you can enjoy yourself here for a few days. The city is built on 14 islands and each island has its own identity. This makes it feel like you are starting a new city trip every time you visit a new island. Secretly, this is already the first reason why you should visit Stockholm, but come on, I’d like to give you a few more.

Effortlessly hip

Probably 9 out of 10 people picture the Ikea logo when they think of Sweden. It does not surprise me that the cradle of this empire is in Sweden. In Stockholm everything is hip, but without it seems to take any effort. Whether you’re talking about a steakhouse, a jewelry store or a bakery: literally every place looks like a piece of cake. The inhabitants of Stockholm all look stylish, but also nice and casual. As Lisette put it beautifully: ‘If I were to wear this I’d look like a slob, it’s hip and cool here.’ That pretty much sums it up indeed.

Super friendly

Sometimes I feel right at home in a new city. I often can’t quite figure out what that is exactly. In Stockholm I realized after a day that it is mainly because of the people. Everyone is really friendly and helpful. We accidentally got on the wrong hop on hop off bus. The driver was kind enough to drop us, with our wrong ticket, two stops away because the right bus would come there. Very sweet! Actually everywhere in Stockholm the people are so friendly and that quickly wins my heart.

Cool markets

Where do I begin? In three days we came across several great fun markets. We walked through the trendy Södermalm district and were surprised by a very nice farmers market. Fresh vegetables, tasty cheeses, sandwiches with chanterelles and self-crocheted mittens and hats, it was all for sale. On Sunday there turned out to be a real harvest festival on the island of Djurgarden, so we were really lucky. Here too we were amazed: what a wonderful green festival in the middle of the city! We also visited the Hornstull market. This market takes place every weekend along the waterfront. You will find about 10 food trucks and private individuals who sell their stuff. Very funny! If you go to Stockholm during the weekend, be sure to google which markets are taking place. They are really worth it!

Kanelbulle at the fika

The national bakery specialty in Sweden has to be the kanelbulle. You can see this cinnamon bun in display cases everywhere in Stockholm and of course I couldn’t leave the city without trying a kanelbulle. I can understand why this sandwich is popular: it looks like a bolus, but much less sweet and sticky. Yummy! The kanelbulle is traditionally eaten with the fika, in other words, a cup of coffee with something delicious on the side.

Cycling across the islands

This is the best thing about Stockholm: you can cycle very well! It’s really not that I can’t go a weekend without my bike, but it’s so nice when you can explore a big city by bike. I don’t like the metro (because you can’t see anything underground) and sometimes distances are too far to walk. Of course you can take the bus, but the great thing about cycling is that you are so wonderfully flexible. You stop when you see something nice and get to places you would otherwise have missed. We used our bikes to visit the aforementioned Sunday markets. In addition, we cycled around the entire Djurgarden park and took a corner of the old town. In this article you can read everything about our cycling tour in Stockholm.

Beautiful shops

This, of course, secretly belongs to the first point mentioned: effortlessly hip. If you like to visit original shops full of beautiful home furnishings, high-quality clothing and fun gadgets, you can put Stockholm right at the top of your must-visit list. Especially in the hip district of Södermalm you almost stumble over the great shops. It is striking that many shops are only a few square meters in size and sell a handful of showpieces. Nice that this is still possible in Stockholm (in the Netherlands the rents of a property are often too high to do this). My hands were itching at every store I stepped into, but unfortunately Stockholm isn’t exactly a cheap country. As a result, many items were really above my budget. But hey, even if you can’t buy anything, it’s still great to browse these stores.

Gamla Stan

The tourist epicenter of Stockholm is the island of Gamla Stan. This is also called the old town, because the island is full of old, traditional buildings. You will find many tourist shops and restaurants here, but you can also suddenly stumble upon a deserted square or street where you catch a glimpse of the Stockholm of centuries ago. Gamla Stan is a lovely part of Stockholm to stroll through for an afternoon.

Many parks

Last but not least, Stockholm is bursting with parks. Some, like Djurgarden, are the size of an island, while others are at most the size of a small square. During the weekend I was in Stockholm, the sun shone continuously and the locals took advantage of this. Every park was full of enjoying people. Wonderful to see and even more fun to participate in yourself! I love when a city has a lot of green spaces so that was a huge plus for me about Stockholm.

Accommodation in Stockholm

I stayed in Stockholm at Generator, a chain of hotels in several major cities in Europe. Stockholm is extremely expensive and the (private) rooms at Generator are still fairly affordable. My stay here was wonderfully peaceful and therefore highly recommended as far as I’m concerned.

Hotel: Generator. This is a hip and fresh hotel in the Norrmalm district with both group and private rooms.

Design hotel: Hotel With Urban Deli. This is a nice design hotel in the center of Stockholm with roof terrace.