Sweden's capital, confident and self-assured, glitters with souvenirs from the day when it ruled as a superpower. From pondering gilded royal staterooms to sampling gourmet reindeer and sipping vodka in an ice bar, we experience the city's cultural highlights. Then we sail the archipelago for the prettiest island-hopping in northern Europe.
Royal Palace
Although Sweden's royal family beds down at Drottningholm, this complex in Gamla Stan is still the official royal residence. The palace, designed in Italian Baroque style, was completed in 1754 after a fire wiped out the previous palace. The Changing of the Guard and the awesome, can't-miss Royal Armory are the palace's highlights. The Royal Treasury is worth a look; the chapel is nice but no big deal; the Apartments of State are not much as far as palace rooms go; and you can skip Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities and the Museum of Three Crowns. The information booth in the semicircular courtyard gives out an explanatory brochure with a map marking the different entrances (main entrance is on the west side — away from the water — but the Royal Armory has a separate entrance). In peak season, there are several different English tours a day (included in the admission) — allowing you to systematically cover nearly the entire complex. Since the palace is used for state functions, it is sometimes closed to tourists (tel. 08/402-6130, www.royalcourt.se).
Royal Armory
The oldest museum in Sweden is more than an armory and less than an armory. It displays impressive ceremonial royal armor (never used in battle), but there's a lot more to see. Everything is beautifully lit and displayed, and well-described in English and by the museum's evocative audioguide. The first room is almost a shrine for Swedish visitors. It contains the clothes Gustavus Adolphus wore, and even the horse he was riding when he was killed in the Thirty Years' War (entrance at bottom of Slottsbacken at base of palace, tel. 08/5195-5546, www.livrustkammaren.se).
Drottningholm Palace and Theater
The queen's 17th-century summer castle and current royal residence has been called "Sweden's Versailles." Touring the palace, you'll see art that makes the point that Sweden's royalty is divine and belongs with the gods. The required tour covers two floors of lavish rooms, where you'll see how Sweden's royalty did their best to live in the style of Europe's divine monarchs (tel. 08/402-6280, www.royalcourt.se). Reach the palace via a relaxing boat ride (departs from Stadhusbron across from City Hall, tel. 08/1200-4000), or take the T-bana to Brommaplan, where you can catch a bus to Drottningholm. Consider approaching by water (as the royals traditionally did) and then returning by bus and T-bana (as a commoner).
Drottningholm Court Theater
This 18th-century theater somehow survived the ages — complete with its instruments, sound-effects machines, and stage sets. It's one of two such theaters remaining in Europe (the other is in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic). Visit it on a guided tour (no tours off-season, tel. 08/759-0406), or check their schedule for the rare opportunity to see perfectly authentic operas (www.dtm.se).
Nobel Museum
This wonderful little museum opened in 2001 for the 100-year anniversary of the Nobel Prize. Thanks to a gift from wealthy investor and Stockholm native Alfred Nobel, every year since 1901, the Nobel Prize is given to laureates in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peacemaking. Portraits of all 700-plus prizewinners hang from the ceiling. Two video rooms run a continuous montage of quick programs — three-minute bios of various winners in one program, five-minute films celebrating various intellectual environments (on Stortorget in the center of Gamla Stan a block from the Royal Palace, tel. 08/5348-1800, www.nobelmuseum.se).
Stockholm City Hall and City Hall Tower
In Scandinavian capitals, city halls seem to be the most impressive buildings, celebrating humanism and the ideal of people working together in community. Built in 1923, this is still a functioning city hall. One of Europe's finest public buildings and site of the annual Nobel Prize banquet, City Hall is particularly enjoyable and worthwhile for its entertaining and required tour (300 yards behind station, tel. 08/5082-9059, www.stockholm.se/cityhall). City Hall's cafeteria, which you enter from the courtyard, serves complete lunches. The 348-foot-tall City Hall tower (an elevator takes you halfway up) rewards those who make the climb with a grand city view. As you huff your way up, you'll come upon models of busts and statues that adorn City Hall and a huge, 25-foot-tall statue of St. Erik. At the roof terrace, you'll find smaller statues of Erik, Klara, Maria Magdalena, and Nikolaus: patron saints facing their respective parishes. Finally, you'll find yourself in the company of the tower's nine bells, with Stockholm spreading out all around you. If there's a long line, I'd skip it.
Absolut Icebar Stockholm
Everything in the Absolut Icebar is made of ice — shipped down from Sweden's far north. The bar, the glasses, even the tip jar are made of ice. Admission includes your choice of vodka drinks and 45 minutes to enjoy the scene (reservations smart during busy times, in the Nordic Sea Hotel adjacent the main train station at Vasaplan 4, tel. 08/5056-3124, www.icebar.se). People are let in all at once every 45 minutes. That means there's a long line for drinks, and the place goes from being very crowded to almost empty as people gradually melt away. At first everyone's just snapping photos. While there are ice bars all over Europe now, this is the second one (after the Ice Hotel in Lapland). And it really is pretty cool...a steady 23°F.
Vaxholm Fortress
In 1548, King Gustav Vasa ordered the construction of a fortress here and literally filled in other waterways, effectively making this the only way into or out of Stockholm...which it remained for 450 years. The current, "new" fortress dates from the mid-19th century, when an older castle was torn down and replaced with this imposing granite behemoth. During the 30 years it took to complete the fortress, the tools of warfare changed. Both defensively and offensively, the new fortress was obsolete before it was even completed. Today, the fortress welcomes visitors to wander its tough little island and visit its museum. A ferry shuttles visitors back and forth from Vaxholm (catch the boat just around the corner and toward the fortress from where the big ferries put in). Once there, hike into the castle's inner courtyard and find the good Vaxholm Fortress Museum (Vaxholms Fästnings Museum). Presented chronologically on two floors, the modern exhibit traces the military history of this fortress and of Sweden generally. It uses lots of models and mannequins, along with actual weaponry and artifacts (tel. 08/5417-1890, www.vaxholmsfastning.se).
Hembygdsgården ("Homestead Garden") Café
This is Vaxholm's most tempting eatery, serving "summer lunches" (salads and sandwiches) and homemade sweets, with delightful outdoor seating around the Homestead Museum in Vaxholm's characteristic fishermen's quarter. Anette's lingonberry muffins are a treat (tel. 08/5413-1980).
Stockholm's Vasa Museum
The warship Vasa sank in 1628 in Stockholm's harbor on her maiden voyage, was rediscovered in 1956, and raised in 1961. She's been housed since 1990 in a brilliant museum. Painstakingly restored, 95 percent of the wood is original (modern bits are the brighter and smoother planks). Displays are well-described in English. Learn about the ship's rules (bread can't be older than eight years), why it sank (heavy bread?), how it's preserved (the ship, not the bread), and so on. For a thorough visit, plan on spending an hour watching the video and taking the free tour (in either order), then explore the boat and wander through the various exhibits (Galärvarvet, Djurgården, tel. 08/5195-4800, www.vasamuseum.com).
Stockholm's Skansen
This is Europe's original open-air folk museum, founded in 1891. It's a huge park gathering more historic buildings (homes, churches, shops, and schoolhouses) transplanted from all corners of Sweden. Today, tourists still explore this Swedish-culture-on-a-lazy-Susan, seeing folk crafts in action and wonderfully furnished old interiors. In "Old Stockholm" (top of the escalator), shoemakers, potters, and glassblowers are busy doing their traditional thing in a re-created Old World Stockholm. The rest of Sweden spreads out from Old Stockholm. Northern Swedish culture and architecture is in the north (top of park map), and southern Sweden's in the south (bottom of map). Check the live crafts schedule at the information stand by the main entrance beneath the escalator to make a smart Skansen plan. Guides throughout the park are happy to answer your questions — but only if you ask them. The old houses come alive when you take the initiative to get information (tel. 08/442-8000, www.skansen.se).
