Stockholm Sights

  1. Almgrens Sidenväveri Museum

    Knut August Almgren founded this historic weaving factory in 1883 after posing as a Frenchman in order to learn, and steal, the carefully guarded craft.) Now an adorable working museum, you can watch the weavers work the original Jacquard looms between and Mon to Thu, learn about Sweden's silk weaving history and swoon over shimmering fabrics. The museum shop is Stockholm's best bet for hand-woven products.

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  2. Arkitekturmuseet

    Attached to the Moderna Museet and housed in an ex-military drill hall, the Museum of Architecture's permanent exhibition covers 1000 years of Swedish architecture (from cabins to the contemporary) and boasts an archive of 2.5 million documents, photographs, plans, drawings and models. There's a seasonal program of temporary exhibitions, and the museum hosts occasional seminars on everything from urban planning to future design.

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  3. Armémuseum

    Take a walk on the dark side of human nature at the Royal Army Museum, where three levels of engrossing exhibitions explore the horrors of war through art, weaponry and life-size reconstructions of charging horsemen, forlorn barracks and starving civilians. For a taste of medieval torture, hop on the replica 'sawhorse'.

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  4. Biografen Skandia

    LA has Mann's Chinese Theater, Melbourne has The Forum and Stockholm has this dreamy 1923 picture palace, designed by Gunnar Asplund and featuring a deep-blue vanishing ceiling and Pompeian rotunda in the lobby. Built inside the neo-Renaissance Warodell House (one of Stockholm's oldest apartment buildings), it's constantly threatening to close due to financial difficulties, so don't miss the chance to take a peek inside one afternoon or evening.

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  5. Bonniers Konsthall

    This ambitious gallery keeps culture-fiends busy with a fresh dose of international contemporary art as well as a reading room, a fab café and a busy diary of art seminars and artists-in-conversation sessions. The transparent clothes-iron-shaped building is the work of Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor.

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  7. Brändström & Stene

    Tucked away in an anonymous industrial block, this is one of Stockholm's best private art galleries. It's famed for its intuitive sense for the next big thing, and past exhibitors have included Olafur Eliasson, Clay Ketter, Jan Håfström and Jeppe Hein. A paint flick away is Natalia Goldin Gallery (650 21 35; www.nataliagoldin.com; Hudiksvallsgatan 8), another pioneering art space best known for spotlighting hot new talent.

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  8. Dansmuseet

    The small yet sassy Dance Museum focuses on the intersections between dance, art and theatre. Collection highlights include vivid traditional dance masks from Africa, India and Tibet, avant-garde costumes from the Russian ballet, Chinese and Japanese theatre puppets and one of the world's finest collections of early-20th-century Ballets Ruses costumes.

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  9. Folkens Museum Etnografiska

    Next door to the Tekniska Museet, the National Museum of Ethnography focuses on non-European cultures. Highly original temporary exhibitions (ranging from Amazon photography to the macabre etchings of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada) complement permanent collection highlights like Mali crocodile masks, Mongolian temple tents and a Japanese teahouse. An in-house restaurant serves up Afro-Asian dishes, smooth mango lassis and homemade chai.

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  10. Fotografins Hus

    This one-time mine factory is now one of Stockholm's best sites for photographic art. Decked out in furniture designed by Konstfack graduates, its six annual exhibitions showcase local and international talent, with past exhibitors including Hasselbald prize-winner David Goldblatt, Susan Heiselas and J H Engström, Sweden's Wolfgang Tillmans. You'll find their signatures on the foyer wall, behind which awaits a cosy little café.

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  11. Galleri Loyal

    Fans of this hip art spot are called Loyalists and there seems to be a lot of them, including music-video director Johan Renck (Madonna's Hung Up , Robbie Williams' Tripping , et al). We suspect it might be due to the post-pop artwork, which focus heavily on hot New York talent with a dash of UK and homegrown cool.

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  13. Gröna Lund Tivoli

    This landmark amusement park boasts Europe's tallest 'Free Fall', dropping thrill-seekers 80m in two seconds. Children (and the sane) have plenty of options and all rides except the Haunted House ( Sk40 ) are covered by Gröna Lund Tivoli's ride coupon scheme ( Sk20 per coupon); individual rides range from one to four coupons each. For unlimited access, buy a Sk260 day pass.

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  14. Gustaf Vasa Kyrkan

    This saintly show-off flaunts a white Italian neo-baroque exterior and 60m-high cupola adorned with dreamy New Testament frescoes by Vicke Andrén. Opened in 1906, its star attraction is Burchardt Precht's 18th-century marble altarpiece, considered Sweden's largest baroque sculpture. The creepy columbarium crypt (32 49 20) has places for around 35,000 burial urns; enter from the Västmannagatan side of the church.

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  15. Hallwylska Museet

    Completed in 1898, Hallwylska Museet was once a private palace. Wilhelmina von Hallwyl collected items as diverse as kitchen utensils, Chinese pottery, 17th-century paintings, silverware, sculpture and jewellery. In 1920, she and her husband donated their entire house (including contents) to the nation.

    For in-depth voyeurism, join the one-hour guided tour.

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  16. Historiska Museet

    From Iron Age ice-skates to Renaissance triptychs, Sweden's prime historical collection spans nearly 14,000 years of Swedish history and culture. The undisputed highlight is the subterranean Gold Room, a brooding chamber gleaming with Viking bling and rare historical jewels. It includes a 5th-century gold collar with 458 carved figures weighing 823g. To use the museum's fantastic free digital audio guides, bring some ID.

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  17. Judiska Museet

    Expanding Swedish history beyond Vasa and Vikings, this kosher little museum explores Swedish Jewry since 1774. Nifty pull-out display cabinets cover everything from the Holocaust and Raoul Wallenberg (a Swedish Oscar Schindler of sorts) to Torah silverware, ceremonial Passover items, wince-inducing circumcision knives, and a seven-branched candle-holder looted from Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. The temporary exhibitions are often brilliant.

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  19. Junibacken

    A must for children (and the child within), this whimsical theme-park recreates scenes from Astrid Lindgren's children's books. Catch the flying Story Train over Stockholm, shrink to the size of a sugar cube and end up at Villekulla cottage where kids can shout, squeal and dress up like Pippi Longstocking. There's a café and a well-stocked children's bookshop. The best time to visit is mid-week, when the queues won't test your smile.

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  20. Kaknästornet

    The dowdy retro décor atop this 155m-high communications tower - Stockholm's tallest building - is thoroughly compensated by the 360-degree views over Stockholm and the lush green archipelago. Skip the restaurant for the café, where a mean chocolate cake makes the perfect prop for ferry spotting and sunset vistas.

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  21. Katarina Kyrka

    Designed by Jean de la Valĺe and completed in 1695, the sublimely beautiful Katarina Kyrka stands on the 1520 burial site of the Stockholm Blood Bath victims - the betrayed Swedish nobility trapped, beheaded and burnt for opposing King Christian II's Danish invasion. The church itself caught fire in 1723. Restored, fire brought down the cupola again in 1990. It's since been painstakingly reconstructed using 17th-century building methods.

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  22. Katarinahissen

    Connecting Slussen to the lofty Söder cliffs, the original 1883 steam lift of this industrial age show-off was replaced with a less romantic model in 1936. Still, the views remain striking and the sky-high Eriks Gondolen bar and restaurant remains one of Stockholm's best places to sip, sup and swoon. For a free ride to the top, take the lift inside the adjacent Konsum/Coop building and walk across the elevated bridge.

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  23. Kulturhuset

    Culture House is the city's communal lounge room, packed with theatres (including Stockholms Stadsteater), free art galleries, a comic-book library, a chess-playing corner and even a crafts lounge where teens can hang out, drink coffee and express themselves with art supplies and sewing machines. You'll find design shops and internet access in the basement. A brilliant café/restaurant on the 5th floor has great views and a sunny summer terrace.

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  25. Kungliga Myntkabinettet

    Anything but a dreary accountant's fantasy, the fabulous Royal Coin Cabinet sparkles with a priceless collection of world-turning currency, including Viking silver, the world's oldest coin (created in Greece in BC 625), as well as its heaviest (a copper plate weighing 19.7kg). The exhibitions are innovative, the kids' playroom is fun and the kitsch collection of piggybanks is worth the trip alone.

    Information and floor plans are available in English and there's also a cafe and souvenir shop.

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  26. Kungliga Slottet

    Built on the ruins of the original Tre Kronor royal fortress, this mammoth 18th-century palace boasts 608 rooms and three museums: the blingy Skattkammaren, the archeologically inclined Museum Tre Kronor and the hit-and-miss Gustav III's Antikmuseum. Upstaging them all are the lavish Royal Apartments, dripping in rococo excess and home to the decadent Karl XI Gallery, inspired by Versailles' Hall of Mirrors and considered the finest example of Swedish Late Baroque.

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  27. Liljevalchs Konsthall

    If you're in town February to mid-March, the Vårsalongen Art Show held here is a fun place to shop for high art and kitsch from both new and established Swedish artists. Otherwise, come for the neo-classical architecture, Carl Milles statues by the entrance and top-notch temporary exhibitions of modern art, which range from video, photography and sculpture to painting, drawing and etching.

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  28. Livrustkammaren

    Quite frankly, the Royal Armoury Museum is brilliant. A regal storage attic of sorts, its engrossing collection of booty spans over 500 years of royal childhoods, coronations, weddings and murders. Sneak a peek at lavish royal wardrobes, King Gustav III's masquerade costume (worn when shot in 1792) and the preserved stomach contents of Baron Bielke, one the conspirators to the king's assassination.

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  29. Magasin 3

    Aptly set in a gritty dockside warehouse, Magasin 3 is one of Stockholm's bratpack galleries. Its six to eight annual shows of contemporary art often feature specially commissioned, site-specific work from names like Siobhán Hapaska, James Turrell, Ronald Jones, Katharina Grosse and provocative American artist Paul McCarthy.

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