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Sweden
Only a short ride from Stockholm, you will find a magnificent red brick building, which used to be a factory, brimming with activity. This is the 'science centre' Tom Tits Experiment.
Here children (and adults) can try out more than 400 experiments using water, wind, gravity, sound, light and movement while at the same time learning about themselves and the world around us.
The huge house has four floors, and an enourmous outside area for water experiments. There is a buffet restaurant serving food that will appeal both to the young and older taste buds, but there is also space for eating a packed lunch.
Tom Tits Experiment is located in Södertälje 35km south of Stockholm, close to the E4 and E20. If travelling by train from Stockholm, it is within walking distance from Södertälje station.
en.tomtit.se/
Fantastic and underrated modern art museum/ gallery on Djurgarden (past the huge tourist destination, Vasa Museum). Every year it hosts about four exhibitions of contemporary and modern art.
We were there for an exhibition of Alberto Giacometti and it was amazing to see 'Walking Man 1' in full height. His drawing and paintings were an absolute revelation and it was a great way of spending the afternoon.
Djurgårdsvägen 60
STOCKHOLM
www.liljevalchs.stockholm.se
It's 100 giant outdoor photos of wildlife from all over the world. you can see it at even at night.
The photos are huge, incredible, and moving, and the whole exhibition is easy to find, and free!
Raoul Wallenbergs Torg. Really central.
Just north of Stockholm is Linnaeus' garden. It is also the 300th anniversary of his birth this year so there are exhibitions about him. He was the man who intoduced the notion of species and genus etc.
This is Sweden's national gallery and shows a wide range of work from the middle ages to the start of the twentieth century.
Like the other countries in Scandinavia, Sweden's painters especially loved landcape and nature, and there are many beautiful examples of this kind of work. The murals on the grand staircase are by Carl Larsson.
Nationalmuseum, a short walk from Gustav Adolf's Torg (city centre) westwards, along the waterfront, past the Opera House.
A former private house which is now the home of a collection of paintings, prints and sculpture of the former owner, Ernest Thiel, an art collector of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Swedish government purchased the house and the collection in 1924. The gallery houses a wonderful range of work, especially that of Edvard Munch, but also Carl Larsson, Vuillard and Lautrec. It retains the atmosphere of an individual's own home, with the owner's collection still in place. Also great bar/cafeteria and garden.
Sjotullsbacken 6-8, S-115 25 Stockholm. On Djurgarden, just outside Stockholm, reachable by No. 69 bus from the city centre. Twenty minute ride.
Like the Mary Rose, the vanity of the ruling classes caused it's downfall (having too many cannons in this case). Only unlike the Mary Rose it is a full-size ship, very well-preserved and impressive. You will take one look at it's top-heavy shape and wonder how they thought it would ever float. It lasted about two minutes, taking many innocent lives down with it.
The Vasa Museum, Galarvarvsvagen 14.
Tel : (00 46) 851 954 800
www.vasamuseet.se
Tom Tits is a museum with a science theme for children. To get there take the train from Stockholm or hire a car (easiest).
The museum is filled with small experiments over four floors. In the summer the garden is open with even more to do, but in the winter it is nice to be indoors. The experiments are aimed at schoolchildren but my one-year old and five-year old always find loads to do there. Parents will find plenty to play with. Quiet during the week if you miss the school parties.
Tom Tits Experiment, Storgatan 33, SE-151 36 Södertälje, Sweden
Tel. +46-(0)8-522 525 00
www.tomtit.se
One of Sweden's main national parks and a true wilderness is only 20km from the centre of Stockholm. It is perfect for summertime walks and berry picking or cross-country skiing in winter, with many special tracks to follow. There is also an historic village with museum and cafe.
Tyresta National Park is an easy drive out of the city. Or take the 807 bus from Gullmarsplan tube station to Svartbäcken. Change there for the 834 to Tyresta. The buses are easy to use.
Quirky, rather old fashioned childrens museum devoted to the stories of Astrid Lindgren, including perhaps her best-known Pippi Longstocking books.
Galärparken, Djurgården;
tel: 08 587 230 00;
www.astridlindgrensworld.com; www.junibacken.se
No visit to Stockholm is complete without a visit to this outdoor museum of Swedish life. They have everything from Swedish houses, crafts, cultures and also a zoo complete with Swedish bears, reindeer and wolves. This would also be great for families.
This museum houses the Vasa warship which sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628 and lay on the sea bed in Stockholm harbour until it was raised in 1961. It is a wooden ship with the most amazingly preserved carvings. It is displayed in a sort of half-light to preserve it and very ingeniously the museum is built around the ship with viewing platforms and a reconstruction of life on the ship.
Skeppsholmen is a tiny island best reached by crossing Skeppsholmsbron, a bridge from the Blasieholmen district (where the Nationalmuseum is, which might be worth a visit - check what exhibitions are on). Skeppsholmen is good for a pleasant stroll, and to see the exhibits at the Moderna Museet, which is the Tate Modern of Stockholm. Skeppsholmen also is home to af Chapman, Sweden's most famous youth hostel, a huge ship that, with its masts rigged, is a famous Stockholm landmark.
An outdoor museum of Swedish traditional handicraft as well as a zoo where you can watch typical Scandinavian animals such as bears, lynx, wolves and elks. A great way to see them all is the guided feeding walk which starts every day at 14.00 by the wolverines. The Aquarium costs extra and houses exotic fish, snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies. There is also a children's zoo of baby animals, and don't miss the bakery and glass-blowing cottage.
Djurgården, bus 44 or 47 from T-Centralen.
www.skansen.se
I stopped at Stockholm on my trip to the North Cape in 2001 (in a motorhome). The island of Djurgården is the best part - away from the city centre which, let's face it, is just like any city centre. Djurgården has great parklands and museums, the best of which is Skansen, the world's first open-air museum. With exhibits from all over the country, it gives a great taste of Swedish life.
This converted prison on the small island of Langholmen was home to Stockholm’s most notorious criminals until 1975. It now serves as an inexpensive hotel/hostel where the former cells have been turned into rooms, complete with original doors and small windows (minus the iron bars). Rooms are pretty basic, as you’d expect, but the building itself is impressive and has retained loads of authentic features. It’s absolutely vast, and has a restaurant, bar, cafe and museum. The traditional Swedish breakfast is worth paying extra for but we were disappointed not to see porridge on the menu.
Langholmsmuren 20, Gamla Kronohaktet, Langholmen; nearest station is Hornstull;
www.langholmen.com
This museum houses the only remaining, intact 17th-century ship in the world. Commissioned in 1625 as a warship, the Vasa sunk on its maiden voyage. After the wreck was salvaged in 1961 the lower rig, masts, stays and shrouds were rebuilt. So you now see the whole, ornately carved, vessel looking just as it would have when it set out to defend Sweden's Baltic empire all those years ago.
The Vasa Museum
Box 27131
SE-102 52 Stockholm
Sweden
There are lots of great museums in Stockholm. Nordiska museet (The Museum of Nordic history) is my favourite, located in a colossal 19th century building on Djurgarden island in central Stockholm. Just to see the building is worth the trip and Djurgarden is the most beautiful part of central Stockholm. Note that most museums are closed on Mondays and most of them are free to visit.
Nordiska museet, Djurgardsvagen 6-16, next to the bridge.
Telephone : (00 46) 8519 546 00 or (00 46) 8457 06 60 (Swedish and English 24-hour line).
Wolverine feeding time was amazing, as was the fish broth by the lake for the humans.
Skansen is situated on the island of Djurgarden. It a pleasant walk from the city centre along the waterfront, or from the Central Station bus 47 goes there or bus 44 goes via Tekniska hogskolan and Karlaplan.
The heritage trams (route 7) from Norrmalmstorg or Nybroplan run on weekends from March to mid-December and throughout the summer.
www.skansen.se
Get a boat from central Stockholm out to the island of Vaxholm (about an hour away). Vaxholm has cafés, shops, and an old fort museum that you can go and visit. It's a great day trip for a sunny day. You get to see a lot of Stockholm from the water on your way out.
Waxholmsbolaget also runs boats to loads of other islands - their website has good English pages telling you about them.
The ferries go from Stromkajen near the Grand Hotel. Look for the Waxholmsbolaget sign.
www.vaxholm.se/turism/eng/index.asp
www.waxholmsbolaget.se/
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