Stockholm is built across fourteen islands, with an archipelago stretching eighty kilometers beyond it and an art gallery hidden in its subway system. Here’s how to spend two post-cruise days: the Vasa shipwreck, a boat out to the islands, and the neighborhood most visitors don’t see.
I’m getting a flurry of emails from my vetted partners with their holiday availability. So, if you want to get away at the end of the year and have some flexibility, I’ll be able to help if you reach out to me soon.
In just over one week, I’ll be heading off to Mexico for a travel industry conference for professional development and partner meetings highlighting the best in travel. Partners in attendance include:
*Hotels and villas including Four Seasons and Hilton (I’ll be staying at the beautiful Conrad Tulum which is a Hilton brand)
*Ocean, river, expedition and yacht cruise lines including Silversea, AmaWaterways, National Geographic, and Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection
*Destination specialists including Africa for safaris, India, Australia/New Zealand and much of Europe
I’ll report on the highlights in an upcoming newsletter! Wherever you hope to travel, I will have the latest intel.
Onto the topic of this newsletter, Stockholm, Sweden was where my Silversea Baltic cruise ended, and I stayed on for two extra days. I highly recommend that you build in post-cruise days in Stockholm. It’s a spectacular city on the water with fantastic dining and cultural activities and is especially wonderful in summer.
A day in port is like a single bite of an incredible meal. It entices you to come back for the full experience. Read on for the scoop…
See the Ship That Shouldn’t Have Sunk
The Vasa was a seventeenth-century warship that sank on her maiden voyage, sat on the sea floor for three centuries, and was raised and painstakingly reassembled. She now stands, nearly whole, inside a purpose-built museum, and the scale of her is genuinely startling. It may be crowded but is well worth a visit.
The museum sits on Djurgården, an island that’s part of the world’s first city national park which is why you’ll notice there are no skyscrapers, no grocery stores, no office buildings on it. That’s deliberate. It’s run by a royal organization charged with preserving its cultural and natural value.
While you’re there: the Nordic Museum next door is housed in a magnificent historic building with vaulted ceilings. And while you’re thinking museums, there’s a Viking museum and an ABBA museum a bit father away.
Then walk over to Gamla Stan, the Old Town, for the changing of the guard at the palace and the Nobel Prize Museum which is small but fascinating, full of the winners’ stories and their personal artifacts. I loved it.
💎 Hidden Gem Tip: Ride the metro and look around. Stockholm’s Tunnelbana is often called the world’s longest art gallery — a huge number of stations are decorated, some spectacularly. Thorildsplan, Rådhuset, and Stadion on the blue line are the ones to seek out.
Get Out on the Water
Stockholm’s city center is built across fourteen islands, and the archipelago beyond stretches roughly eighty kilometers out to open ocean. Seeing the city only from land is seeing half of it.
I took a boat tour out into the archipelago — an hour and forty-five minutes on a perfect sunny afternoon, past rocky islets and swimming platforms and beautiful houses, with people sunbathing on the rocks. It’s a classic summer experience.
If you have a full day, take a boat ride to one of the archipelago islands and get off. The first stops are only twenty to thirty minutes out, and they have swimming from the cliffs, restaurants and cafés, a blacksmith, glass blowing, a chocolate shop. Boats run back and forth all day, so you can build your own pace. Alternatively, go farther into the archipelago which is what I’ll do next time I’m there.
There are gray seals in the Baltic — somewhere between 55,000 and 73,000 of them, weighing up to 300 kilograms — and if you’re lucky you may spot a sea eagle, with a wingspan of about two and a half meters.
Wander Södermalm
Södermalm is Stockholm’s largest central island and its most interesting neighborhood — working-class in origin, now expensive and full of design shops, second-hand stores, cafés, and restaurants. The SoFo district (“South of Folkungagatan”) pedestrianizes its streets in summer.
Look for the old wooden houses painted in Falun red — that distinctive burnt orange-red comes from copper mine pigment. Many are owned by the city and rented out, with some reserved for artists.
Fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will recognize the neighborhood: Lisbeth Salander’s fictional apartment building is here.
💎 Hidden Gem Tip: Stockholm’s rooftop bars are excellent and often unknown to visitors. Gondolen hangs beneath the bridge at Slussen with archipelago views. Freya has a good angle on the city. And the hotel rooftops are worth checking even if you’re not staying — I went up to the rooftop at the Bank Hotel which has beautiful views over the water on one side and the rooftops on the other.
Ready to Plan?
Stockholm is the argument for building extra days around a cruise rather than treating embarkation and disembarkation as travel days. Getting the hotel and the timing right is the difference between seeing a city and passing through it.
To travel is to live… here’s to 2026 being an unforgettable and amazing year for new travel adventures! Let’s go…
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days do you need in Stockholm? Two full days at minimum. That gives you the Vasa Museum and Djurgården, Gamla Stan and the Nobel Prize Museum, an archipelago boat trip, and time to wander Södermalm. Three days lets you do it without rushing.
What is the Vasa Museum? A museum on Djurgården island built around the Vasa, a seventeenth-century Swedish warship that sank on her maiden voyage and was recovered from the sea floor centuries later. The ship has been reassembled and is displayed nearly whole. It’s Stockholm’s most visited museum and it earns that.
Is the Stockholm archipelago worth visiting? One hundred percent. The archipelago stretches roughly 80 kilometers from the city to the open Baltic. A sightseeing boat gives you a taste; taking a boat out to an island and spending the day there — swimming, eating, exploring — is fun if you have the time. The first island stops are only twenty to thirty minutes out.
Why is the Stockholm metro famous? Many of its stations are decorated with large-scale artwork, earning it a reputation as the world’s longest art gallery. It costs nothing beyond a standard ticket to see. Thorildsplan, Rådhuset, and Stadion are among the most striking.
Where should I stay in Stockholm? The city has excellent luxury options. The Grand Hotel is the historic landmark — the first major hotel in Stockholm, where Nobel laureates and heads of state stay. The Bank Hotel, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World housed in a former bank, has an excellent rooftop. I’ll match your travel style and itinerary to the best hotel option.
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