My favorite 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. Being tight on days, I decided that we need to use the German Unity Day, the last holiday before Christmas and 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!

Flight time Berlin – Stockholm less than 90 minutes. Train time between Arlanda Airport and Stockholm city center – 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, met a girl who asked to share transport with us, and boom win for all. There are bus options that are cheaper but also take a bit more time, around 50 minutes.

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, so we continued towards Södermalm, or 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 this was the area for nights out, 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.

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.

Arriving at 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, and 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.

The agenda was tight you can tell, but except taking the ferry, everything was done on foot. We even made a bigger round around Djurgarden and along the so called Beach Road – Strandvägen. 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.

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 some sunset, which didn’t happen, but the views were nice, and 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 overhyped Meatballs for the people, everyone was nice and welcoming and it had the street food vibe, but, lets leave it at the but.

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, it was great.