Your Go-To-Guide: Stockholm

Sweden

Your Go-To-Guide: Stockholm

Thanksgiving family trips are the best! They kick off the holiday season, it’s winter wonderland in most of the world, and work starts to slow down, making it the perfect time to escape Miami’s go-go-go lifestyle and get in the joyous holiday spirit. This year we were all craving to fully disconnect. For us, that meant getting out of our comfort zone and going somewhere new, with a 6 hour time difference, feeling lost with the language, experimenting with extravagant cuisine and getting hit with culture shock. Scandinavia checked all of the boxes.

DISCLAIMER

Norway was still closed off to Americans due to strict COVID restrictions, so we booked half of our 8 day trip in Sweden and the other half in Denmark.

We packed our best neutrals and coziest coats, triple checked the entry requirements, checked in our 4 large suitcases (now in retrospect not the wisest choice), hopped on the plane, and 9 hours later, we were in Stockholm ready to explore.

Here’s our recommendation for
4 days in Stockholm

STAY

Hotel Frantz – a small family-owned charming boutique hotel in a building from 1647, located between Stockholm’s Old Town and the district of Södermalm. It was close to absolutely everything, had a delicious breakfast every morning and was so welcoming.

 5/5

STROLL

Gamla Stan is Stockholm’s Old Town and the historic heart of the city. All of the main cultural landmarks are here, like the Stockholm Palace, as well as tons of excellent restaurants, cafes, bars, and magical cobblestoned-corners. If you visit Stockholm during the holiday season like we did, you’ll just fall in love with the Gamla Stan Christmas Market. It’s absolutely magical and you can eat and drink local delicacies and buy handcrafted goodies.

You should definitely visit the Södermalm area – it’s the posh, trendy and upscale sibling to Gamla Stan. It’s been listed on Vogue as “one of the 15 coolest neighborhoods in the world.” Here you’ll also find Stockholm’s Sofo area AKA south of Folkungagatan, which just so happens to be another trendy neighborhood full of hip cafes and cool shops.

We honestly were so caught up fika-ing, that we didn’t leave much time for shopping. Even so, we couldn’t miss passing by Norrmalm, a major shopping district full of life, where you’ll find all of the big name stores and about 3 huge H&M stores in that area alone!

PICTURE SPOTS

Stortorget is the main and oldest square in Gamla Stan, and no doubt one of the most instagrammable spots in Stockholm. Fun Fact: the name translates to “Big Square” in English, naturally.

TIPS

We highly recommend you soak in the laid-back Swedish culture and wonderful fika tradition. We learned that fika is a (for most) daily ritual and a very important part of Swedish culture. They believe that it refreshes the brain, revitalizes you, and simply makes you live a happier life. It’s essentially a break from normal activity during which you can drink coffee, eat sweets or other light snacks, and socialize with friends or colleagues.

FUN FACTS

Pippi Longstocking is from here! If you’re like us and grew up with the show, you’ll understand how she spreads magic everywhere. Magic is indeed everywhere in Stockholm. Did you know that the average Swedish person eats 300 cinnamon buns a year? We’re not surprised given how delicious they are! H&M and Ikea were born here!