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Bookmark & shareStockholm offers a great variety of activities for its taxpayers, and prices are subsidised. In summer, many people head for the coast and the islands with good swimming spots, or go picnicking in the parks. There are also indoor/open-air pools in the far south of Södermalm.
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boating
Seeing Stockholm by water is fantastic, and it's something every visitor should do if time permits. There are a number of outfits that hire out watercraft: try the Blue Water Cruising Club (tel: 717 68 00; Galärvarvsvägen 2) for sail boats and motorboats of all sizes; Djurgårdsbrons Sjöcafe (tel: 660 57 57; Galärvarvsvägen 2) rents out canoes, kayaks, rowboats and pedal boats; and Tvillingarnas Båtuthyrning (tel: 663 37 39; Strandvägskajen 27; closed Nov-May) hires out small sail boats and motorboats of all sizes.
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watersports
There are plenty of unofficial swimming spots throughout the city, including the terrace next to Stadshuset, Evert Taubes Terass on Riddarholmen, and best of all the beach at Långholmen.
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team sports
Watching a bandy match at Zinkensdamm Idrottsplats is great fun. The sport, which was a precursor to ice hockey but with more players (11 to a side) and less fighting, has become massively popular since the late-1990s rise of the Hammarby team. There's a round vinyl ball instead of a puck, and the rules are similar to football, except that you hit the ball with a stick instead of kicking it. The season lasts from November to March, which means it's absolutely vital to bring your own thermos of kaffekask - a warming mix of coffee and booze. You can also bring your own stick and ask to join in.
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ice
Stockholmers love ice hockey - the amount of water in the city means there's an abundance of frozen surfaces on which to play the game. Swedes are internationally competitive in hockey, and that's part of the reason it's such a popular spectator sport.
Ice hockey matches take place at Globen (tel: 600 34 00; www.globen.se) two or three times weekly from October to April. This is the most popular sport in Sweden during the winter; the two main teams, AIK and Djurgården, draw huge crowds with fierce (by Swedish standards) rivalries. If you're interested in spectator sports at all, don't miss the chance to watch an ice-hockey derby at Globen.
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