Insight Guides Scandinavia by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Scandinavia
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2018-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

The Vasa warship, one of the most important shipwrecks in the world.

Julian Love/Apa Publications

Tip

A trip on tram No.7 is a superb way to discover the city. The line is called Spårväg City and will take you from Segels Torg to the museums of Djurgården.

Djurgården

From Gamla Stan, it is just 10 minutes by boat across the harbour to the island of Djurgården. Once a royal deer park, much of Djurgården is still in its natural state, with paths and woods where you may spot small creatures, both everyday and rare, such as hares and the occasional deer. The island is part of Ekoparken, the world’s first city national park. A good way to get around is to hire a bike at the bridge which forms the road entrance (also the place to hire kayaks and rowing boats when the lure of Stockholm’s glittering waters proves overwhelming).

As the ferry slides into the Djurgården quay, there is no mistaking that this is an island devoted to enjoyment. On the right is Gröna Lund ! [map] (tel: 010 708 91 00; www.gronalund.com; May–Sept and over Christmas, hours vary), an amusement park with 18th-century roots and up-to-the-minute rides, including its seventh roller-coaster, Twister, and the House of Nightmares. At Djurgårdsvägen 68, unleash your inner Dancing Queen at ABBA the Museum @ [map] (tel: 771 75 75 75; www.abbathemuseum.com; daily 10am–6pm, Wed–Thur and every day in summer until 7pm), dedicated to Sweden’s most popular band ever. Opened in 2013, the museum’s popularity has been growing ever since.

Heading south on Djurgården, where the island rises in steps to a hilltop, is Skansen £ [map] (tel: 08 442 80 00; www.skansen.se; 10am until 2–10pm), the oldest open-air museum in the world. In 1891, Artur Hazelius decided to preserve the fast-disappearing Swedish way of life by collecting traditional buildings. Today there are some 150, including an 18th-century church, still used for services and weddings. In summer, costumed craftspeople meander round the steep cobbled town and demonstrate traditional crafts such as glassblowing in the little workshops. Skansen’s zoo contains Nordic fauna, such as bears, elk, reindeer, wolves and wild boar; and its aquarium holds some distinctly un-Nordic creatures such as monkeys and crocodiles.

While on Djurgården it’s worth visiting the lovely former home and collection of the “Painter Prince” Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde $ [map] (Prins Eugens väg 6; tel: 08 545 837 00; www.waldemarsudde.se; Tue–Sun 11am–5pm, Thur until 8pm; charge), which overlooks the sea.

On the far side of the island, fans of Nordic art should make time for the Thielska Galleriet (tel: 08 662 58 84; www.thielskagalleriet.se; Tue–Sun noon–5pm, Thur until 8pm; charge): Ernest Thiel was pals with Carl Larsson, Edvard Munch and Bruno Liljefors, and accumulated a fine collection of his friends’ work.

If you choose bus instead of boat and enter the island over Djurgårdsbron from Strandvägen, the first museum you come to is the Nordic Museum % [map] (Nordiska Muséet; tel: 08 519 546 00; www.nordiskamuseet.se; June–Aug daily 9am–6pm, rest of year daily 10am–5pm, Wed until 8pm), which depicts Nordic life from the 16th century.

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