April 2014 | Celine Chiam | Singapore Lifestyle, Beauty and Travel blogger

Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, the narrowest street in Stockholm

1. Visit Gamla Stan 

Go for free Old Town Tour

Gamla Stan is a must-visit place in Stockholm for sure. It’s known as The Old Town but is only 30 years of age. Walk along the cobbled street to find old North German architectures and buildings with some statue left by the history. If you don’t already know, Stockholm is made up of 14 archipelago islands so Gamla Stan is within 5-10 minutes walk from the T-central station only.  

If you have the time, try to find out the timing for the free Old Town tour led by volunteers. My volunteer tour guide happens to be a full time tour guide so she did really well in explaining the iconic places with illustrations that she brought along. Her bubbly and cheerful attitude made the free tour even more worthwhile so we gave her some tips at the end of the tour.

2. Enjoy the famous fish soup – Kajas Fisk

This bowl of fish soup costs a hefty SGD20. Yes, you did not misread this. It really is S$20.

But how is it possible that despite the expensive price tag, I actually went back the second time voluntarily? Because it’s too yummy! The soup comes with bountiful amount of fresh boneless fish, crunchy shrimps and tasty mussels, all swimming in an extremely flavorful broth that seems to have been brewed for the longest time. All these ingredients and free flow of bread really call for a second (or even more) visit.

3. FIKA at one of the oldest confectionary café

FIKA is the Swedish word for enjoying a cup of coffee at a café. Undoubtedly, there are many cafes around Stockholm but there’s only a few that stands out.

One of the top cafes in Stockholm, Petite France Bageri & Cafe

One cafe not to be missed is one of the oldest confectionery café in Gamla Stan – Sundbergs Konditori. The interior of the café is very well furbished in royal theme. They don’t have a huge variety of dessert but they are pretty decent. I had the lemon cheesecake and it was pretty light. My friend had a cinnamon bun that he claimed to be above average. I believe the desserts here in Stockholm are all good enough for a different taste. I will do another post on 5 cafes to visit in Stockholm to do a more detailed review on their cafes. 

If you want really awesome hot chocolate, then you must not miss this café – Chokladkoppen. At first I was a little hesitant to spend SGD8 on a cup of hot chocolate but the money was indeed well spent (anyway, such a price is really common in Sweden). The hot chocolate was a little lighter than usual thick hot chocolate but it definitely did not compromise on the aroma of chocolate and the taste of it. In fact, the texture was silky smooth probably thanks to a drop of whipped cream onto the drink.

4. Visit their metro station art

At first I wasn’t aware of this but some metro stations in Stockholm are actually designed with different themes! I didn’t have the time to visit all the designed stations of course, but I managed to drop by a few and see how stunning and quirky some designs could be.

The Hallonbergen station is designed with children’s art-like graffiti. Like how my friend describes it, “It’s ugly in a pretty way”. The drawings aren’t fantastic, they simply look like children’s drawings but they are so adorable! They really bring out the kid in me and unintentionally brighten up my mood.

Few stops away to Solna Centrum station was a completely change of mood. Here the walls are all painted orangey-red to depict a volcanic scene. It’s quite majestic but scary in a way.

5. Visit the museum island and Vasa Museum

And finally, I went to the Vasa Museet and I realize many museums are all located very near to each other. You may be surprised but the Vasa Museum, like the name suggests, is all about ONE sunken ship – The Vasa Ship. It can be quite costly because you’re only looking at one history item and you are paying 100SEK (student), which is about SGD20.

If you have the time, you can try buying the Stockholm card. Make sure you plan thoroughly and if you’ll be making good use of the card, it’ll be quite worthwhile. I bought the Copenhagen card when I was in Copenhagen, and I made sure I visited as many attractions as possible within 72 hours (I got the 72 hours card). Stay tuned for that post!

That’s the end to this post of 5 things to do in Stockholm. Stockholm is a place with very friendly people but expensive shopping. You can read the guide on 7 things to know about Sweden if you would like to! Follow me on instagram @chiamhuiy if you would like to be updated with the latest travel guide and travelogues.

My life-size snowman. We were freezing when we build this.