10 reasons to love Stockholm

Stockholm's Stadshuset, or City Hall, on Lake Mälaren, is one of its best-known landmarks. The brick building, which dates from 1923, is one of the foremost architectural examples of the Swedish national romantic style. The golden hall, which hosts the ball after the Nobel Prize banquet every December, is famous: more than 18 million gilt mosaic tiles adorn its walls.

The old town, Gamla Stan, on the island of Stadsholmen, is a must for any visitor to Stockholm. The highlight among the picturesque townhouses is the baroque Royal Palace, which, with 605 rooms, is one of the largest in Europe. To this day, the palace is the official workplace of the monarch, while it still remains open to visitors all year long.

Stockholm‘s largest art museum lies in an idyllic setting on a hill on Skeppsholmen island. In addition to Swedish art, the collection of the Moderna Museet presents key works by such modern artists as Pablo Picasso and Niki de Saint Phalle. “Paradis Fantastique,” which Saint Phalle created together with Jean Tinguely, has had a permanent place right in front the museum since 1970.

Tourists travel by boat to Gröna Lund amusement park on Djurgården Island. The ferry stops right in front of Sweden’s oldest amusement park – with merry-go-rounds, roller coasters, stages, restaurants and bars. Katapulten, a shot’ n’ drop tower, and Eclipse, one of the world’s tallest swing chair rides, provide an adrenaline rush as well as a thrilling view of the city.

Children and adults alike will love Skansen open-air museum – a bucolic paradise with red wooden houses, craft shops and a post office. The village baker takes sheets of fragrant cinnamon buns from his historical oven. Every Swedish region is represented by buildings or animals such as wolves and elk on the extensive grounds. Founded in 1891, Skansen has remained nearly unchanged to this day.

If you find yourself among people picnicking picturesquely under age-old apple trees, you’ve arrived in Rosendals Trädgård. In what used to be a royal teaching garden, everything now revolves around biodynamic horticulture. Since 1995, the combination of park, nursery and café has been part of Stockholm’s Ecopark, a 26 square kilometer urban recreational area.

East of the city center begins Stockholm’s archipelago, a network of some 25,000 islands and rocky islets called skerries in the Baltic Sea. The classic tourist day trip takes you on a skerry boat to the fortress on Vaxholm. It was originally built to protect Stockholm. On the other side of the island, the red wooden houses bear witness to early tourism around 1900.

The royal battleship Vasa sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. Archaeologists recovered the wreck in a salvage operation exactly 333 years later. The Vasa Museet was built around the sensational find, which is its main exhibit. In Scandinavia’s most-visited museum, you can get an authentic picture of the impressive size of seagoing vessels of that time and life on board.

The main setting of Stieg Larsson's crime novels lies in the trendy Södermalm district: the editorial offices of the fictional Millennium magazine. The former working-class quarter owes its appeal to its many cafés, beer halls, club concerts, design shops and fashion boutiques.

ABBA fans can revel in memories in Stockholm. An entire museum here is devoted to the famous Swedish pop group. It traces their history in painstaking detail. In the 1974 Eurovision Contest ABBA first won the title for Sweden with "Waterloo". Thank you for the music!