My favourite thing about birthdays is that they always bring presents in the shape of a trip. Yey! And due the lockdown I was owing one to the significant other. The German Unity Day is the last holiday before Christmas, so we decided to enjoy weekend somewhere. The choice was decided by the price of the tickets, but also, a new country for the one celebrating. Stockholm it was!
So If you are looking to travel somewhere for the 3rd of October, Stockholm trip is the answer.

Flight time Berlin – Stockholm less than 90 minutes. Train between Arlanda Airport and Stockholm city center takes – 18 minutes, and the best thing is the more people are riding, the cheaper it gets. Since it was a later flight we decided for this option. A girl randomly asked if we would like to share transport, and “boom” win for all. There are bus options that are cheaper, but also take a bit more time, around 50 minutes.
And now how to make the most of your autumn weekend in Stockholm itinerary:

On our first night we saw that in the Gamla Stan area, almost everything was getting closed, except some Irish Pubs, but that is not our choice. We continued towards Södermalm – the south island of the city. It was really convenient 15 minutes walk and we ended up in Omnipollos Hat bar. I liked everything there. Then, we strolled some more around the area, and learned that the buzzing nights out happen here. Maybe more on the younger generation side, but there were also decent bars for the 30+.

The real exploration started the day after. Breakfast spot Skeppsbro Bageri, right across the street from our hotel, Castle House Inn. There is something about swedish bakeries, and especially something about this one and the one next to it, that were making the whole harbour smell of cinnamon and sugar, and not gas and boats. You can rarely find specialty coffee shops in Stockholm, compared to the similar capitals, because Sweds drink mostly filter coffee and almost everywhere free refill was an option. The road continued towards Moderna Museet (even if you are not into art visit their store and restaurant for amazing panoramic views), which has free entrance for the standard exhibition, but we had to stop on the Gilded Crown on Skeppsholmsbron and take photos with Stockholms’ trademark. Okay one of them.

Our day started at Skeppsbro Bakery just actoss the street from our hotel in Gamla Stan Castle House Inn. Pretty decent and nice hotel that had Moomin posters, Marimekko shower curtain and Rituals cosmetics. Super central location on top and even better value for money, The bakery was covering the whole harbour with sugary cinnamonny smell and that is why we gave it a go. Extra points for the free refels of filter coffee. Just what you need on a crispy autumn morning in Sweden.

We continued towards Djurgarden, and after a quick tour of the Skansen Museum shop, we continued towards the star of the day (for me). The Rosendals Gardens – garden cafe, farm shop & plant stall. It was amazing. Recommendation is to go here when the weather is nice, but anyhow everything was organic and delicious, you share the table with strangers and it is next level coziness. If you are taking one place from this post, let it be this one.

I really wanted to make an island tour by ferry, but I wasn’t sure which will be the best option, until the ferry passed by in front of us and we jumped on in, did a short trip via Slussen to Djurgarden. The price of the ticket is about 3.5euros, you are paying with your debit card, and it is more than worthy.

The agenda was tight, we walked a lot and even took a ferry from Djurgarden. We even made a bigger round around Djurgarden and along the so called Beach Road – Strandvägen.

Next we went towards the east side of Stockholm – OsterMalm.
For Ostermalm we read it was more on the higher end and we decided to make a stroll.

The surprise of this route was the food hall, which was great, such a wide choice especially from everything out of fish, but there was much more. But, we are more on the street food side, and we opted for Bruno’s Saussage Bar. Dating since ’92, offering more than 30 types of sausages. Big 5 from us.

On the way back to Gamla Stan we passed by the Royal Palace the Nobem Museum and Square and after a siesta continued on the opposite end of town in Cliff Barnes on a Lobster Hunt. Pretty cool place for drinks and for bites, with crowds over 30 years. The night continued in the Vasastaden area in Mellqvist Matbar for drinks, and finished with a hop on and off of the famous masterpiece metro stations of Stockholm.

Our hotel had perfect location, so going back to it from a short break we saw the most important points in the old town, the Parliament, the Royal Palace, Nobel Museum and even stopped for a drink. And then the young night continued in the direction of Vasastaden.

The lobster roll hunt ended in Cliff Barnes eatary/bar with chill vibe and visitors of around 30-35. Everybody was eating burgers here. We don’t know how the party continued here, as we wanted to check out some other bars as well. The next one was Mellqvist. Atmosphere, drinks, people on point. And after we’ve noticed that our phones were showing already 40K steps we went for the Metro line.

New day, new bakery, this time Fabrique. It gives the feel that it is unique cozy place in the town, and actually there are more than 10 of them. Bakers nation you can tell. Cinnamon & cardamom rolls, filter and cappuccino, people watching and off to Fotografiska. For this museum words are not needed, except, don’t believe what you see on google maps about reaching it, just follow the signs from Slussen.

With a friend of ours we did more of tourist classics things as Sergels Torg, the main square, flea market, Espresso House, Malmskillnadsbron Bridge, Kungsgatan street, and believe it or not Max Burger. I had griloummi, it was not bad at all, but I think If I was alone It would not be my choice.

Wandering around town was our discipline on this trip, and then a route back to Sodermalm for sunset, which didn’t happen, but the views were nice. I don’t know why I thought this was kind of a “locals gem” it was the place where I saw most tourists. Including myself. We started with Monteliusvägen and then 10 more minutes walking to Skinnarviksberget, I guess in summer here is different story. Definitively worth the visit.

What in my opinion was not so worth the visit was the over-hyped Meatballs for the people, everyone was nice and welcoming and it had the street food vibe, but, lets leave it at the but.

On our last day we had breakfast at St Paul’s Bageri. The seeded cracker sandwich, one of the best things in the world, since this trip we’ve learned to prepare this delight at home too. Coffee spot was Johan Nystrom. and soon after we were on the airport route.

What all of our days had in common was going to Sodermalm, and the last day had to be finished here. We started it at Johan & Nyström for coffee, then to S:t Paul Bageri for breakfast, we fell in love with their corn crackers, with the blueberry rolls not really.

There were so many proper restaurants that we didn’t visit. There were bars left out like the two below, but having in mind that I really liked this visit, I hope I will be back sooner than in 10 years time. Tak Stockholm for this amazing trip in fall it was great.

Weather in Scandinavia can be tricky, but so is staying at home. Stockholm is a great city to visit on a long weekend, havign the great mix of nature, city, food and fashion and all of that on walking distance.