Stockholm, Sweden
Solo Backpacking in Stockholm Itinerary: Exploring the Royal Palace, ABBA Museum, and More
Finally, the first stop in my 5 month solo backpacking trip! After years of talking about doing a solo trip and finally booking my one way plane ticket to Stockholm, Sweden this past May, the time has finally come and I couldn’t be more excited.
Afternoon Day of Arrival
I arrived in Stockholm on a Friday morning and went straight to my hostel, City Backpackers. I got access to my room, an 8-bed mixed dorm, at about 2pm and then it was time to start exploring! With the exhaustion from a long travel day, I knew I didn’t want to go too far, so I walked around the hostel’s surrounding neighborhoods - Norrmalm and Vasastan. I first walked around the more residential Vasastan and went to a local coffee shop called Pascal to get some food and then headed over to the bustling Norrmalm to explore. Norrmalm is great for shopping and restaurants and you luckily don’t need to much time in the area, which was perfect for my first afternoon in the city.
Day One
I only had 2 full days to explore the rest of Stockholm so was prepared to fit in a lot of sightseeing in a short amount of time. The first full day started with breakfast at Eggs Inc, before heading to the Royal Palace. For 190 SEK (or about 17 USD) you can buy a ticket that includes entry to The Royal Apartments, The Treasury, Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities and Museum Three Crowns. If you want to check out the Jubilee exhibition as well, you can buy a combination ticket for 240 SEK (22 USD). I got the first ticket I mentioned and felt that it was more than enough. I spent about 2 hours exploring the palace and everything it had to offer, and if you are a history fan or just love seeing old European architecture I highly recommend going through the Royal Palace experience!
The Royal Palace is located right next to the Gamla Stan neighborhood, also known as Old Town. This area is really nice to aimlessly walk around and explore the cute shops and cafes. Gamla Stan is the perfect place to participate in the Swedish tradition called Fika. Fika (you can say you’re taking a fika or going for a fika) essentially just means to take a break for coffee / tea or any drink you desire, typically with something sweet to eat such as Kanelbulle (cinnamon bun) or Chokladbollar (Swedish chocolate ball).
After getting lost in Gamla Stan I made my way over to Fotografiska, The Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art, and Culture. They have a wonderful collection of rotating exhibits that you do not want to miss! I got to see an amazing exhibit of work by famous photographer, Peter Lindbergh. Not far from Fotografiska there is an incredible vegan buffet-style restaurant with even more incredible views of the city! It is called Hermans and I highly recommend trying it out after your experience at Fotografiska. And that concludes day one!
Day Two
I started day 2 with breakfast at STHLM Brunch Club before heading to Djurgården for the two museums I was looking forward to the most on my trip - the Vasa Museum and the ABBA Museum. I love walking everywhere whenever I can so this is obviously optional, but I decided to walk the 45 minutes from my hostel to my first stop of the day - the Vasa Museum.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Vasa Museum as I just had a few people telling I had to go and it did not disappoint!! To give you a quick history lesson, the Vasa is a 17th century warship that sank on its first ever voyage in 1628 and was pulled out of the water almost fully intact 333 years later in 1961, how cool is that?! I spent about 2.5 hours here and I can truly say it was one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to. If you are ever in Stockholm do not miss this.
My favorite part of visiting Stockholm was the ABBA Museum. This is an absolute must for ABBA lovers like myself. The museum was much bigger than I expected and so well curated! I’d suggest getting the audio guide because the band members themselves tell you about all parts of their lives. It was so unique with several interactive experiences including karaoke rooms, a silent headphone party, and a stage you can get on and sing with holograms of the band members. I learned so much about the band members and their experiences and as a fashion lover I was thrilled to see a lot of their original outfits they wore on stage.
To finish off the day I got dinner along the water at Strand Bistron. I had the avocado & halloumi salad and a glass of prosecco to celebrate the first stop of my trip!
Much love,
Maya.