Sunny Stockholm

Ice and Sun in March 2022

By Francisco Morais

April 10^th, 2022

Winter in Stockholm: Five Days Among Ice and Light

Day 1: Arrival and Gamla Stan

We touched down in Stockholm just as dusk settled over Lake Mälaren, the city’s fourteen islands glowing in winter light. After checking into our canal-side hotel in Gamla Stan, we wandered cobblestone lanes past ochre-hued façades and the Royal Palace’s frost-tipped towers. A steaming fika at a hidden café—kladdkaka and cinnamon buns—felt like a warm embrace against the Baltic breeze. Nightfall brought gas lamps and quiet streets, the medieval heart of the city pulsing with soft gold.

Day 2: Vasa’s Majesty and Skansen’s Traditions

On a crisp morning, we crossed the water to Djurgården and stood beneath the colossal Vasa warship in its glass pavilion, marveling at its timbered carvings and storied fate. Next door, Skansen’s open-air museum transformed into a winter wonderland: red cottages dusted in snow, reindeer grazing by torchlight, and artisans crafting glass and wool. We savored pea soup and mulled glögg in a log-roofed tavern before joining a short hike through pine-clad hills echoing with Nordic folklore. By evening, Stockholm felt both ancient and alive—a tapestry woven from history and hearth.

Day 3: Ice Skating and Södermalm’s Bohemia

Morning found us at Kungsträdgården’s frozen lagoon, lacing up skates under fairy-lit trees. The city’s skyline—spires and glass towers—reflected in the ice as we carved loops beneath bundled Swedes sipping hot chocolate. Afternoon brought a tram ride south to Södermalm’s bohemian streets, where vintage shops and street-art murals peeked from snow-laden rooftops. We ended the day at a vaulted stone bar, sampling array of craft aquavits and toasted to Stockholm’s seamless blend of raw energy and hushed elegance.

Day 4: Underground Galleries and Archipelago Sightings

We descended into the Stockholm metro—hailed as the world’s longest art gallery—and paused at Rådhuset and Stadion stations, where mosaics and sculptures glow under halogen lights. Later, a harbor boat sliced through icy waters toward the outer archipelago. Even in winter, the rocky islets stood majestic, their windswept pines etched against steely sky. Back ashore, we warmed ourselves with saffron-baked semlor and planned tomorrow’s royal farewell.

Day 5: Drottningholm’s Palace and Farewell

On our final morning, a tram carried us west to Drottningholm Palace, UNESCO-listed and haloed by frost on its reflection pools. Inside, gilded salons and Baroque gardens felt like stepping into a crown-adorned dream, the Chinese Pavilion’s porcelain rooms whispering East-West exchanges of centuries past. A last cinnamon-scented latte at a waterside kiosk offered one more view of the frozen lake before we headed back to the airport. As we flew over twinkling islands, Stockholm’s ice-bright magic lingered—a winter break steeped in light, warmth, and Scandinavian soul.

The Vasa Museum: Sweden’s 17th-Century Naval Marvel

On Djurgården, the Vasa Museum shelters the almost fully intact warship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 and was salvaged in 1961.

Under a dramatic glass-and-steel roof, 95 percent of the original oak timbers remain, preserving ornate carvings of lions, angels, and sea monsters that once declared Sweden’s naval ambition.

Exhibits trace Vasa’s brief history through scale models, period maps, and recovered personal items—gloves, coins, even a child’s shoe—that bring 17th-century life to the present.

A surrounding walkway lets you circle the hull at multiple levels, from keel to deck, offering perspectives that shift with every step around this colossal time capsule.

The Stockholm Metro: An Underground Art Gallery

Stockholm’s subway system doubles as a vast art installation, with over 90 of its 100+ stations enlivened by sculptures, mosaics, paintings, and installations.

From T-Centralen’s blue-and-white grotto art to Solna Centrum’s crimson crystalline canyons, each stop feels like stepping into a different gallery.

Artists have transformed tunnels into narratives of Swedish history, folklore, and modern life, earning the metro the title “the world’s longest art gallery.”

Riding a train becomes part of the sightseeing: flickering carriage lights reveal hidden murals, and platform-to-platform walks uncover unexpected sculptures set into cave walls.