22 Best Sights in Side Trips from Stockholm, Sweden

The 390-foot twin towers of Uppsala Cathedral—whose height equals the length of the nave—dominate the city skyline. Work on the cathedral began in the early 13th century; it was consecrated in 1435 and restored between 1885 and 1893. Still the seat of Sweden's archbishop, the cathedral is also the site of the tomb of Gustav Vasa, the king who established Sweden's independence in the 16th century. Inside is a silver casket containing the relics of St. Erik, who was assassinated in 1160, and it is also the burial place of other notable figures, including Carl von Linné.

In the archipelago, 12 miles east of Stockholm, stands this art and cultural venue, a 110,000-square-foot, primarily glass structure in which you can check out art exhibits, marvel at Swedish design, dig into local organic cuisine, or listen to world-class music. You might also just want to come to soak up the fresh breeze along the waterfront here.

The permanent home of the Swedish royal family since 1981 was commissioned by Queen Hedvig Eleonora in 1662 and was designed by the court architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, with the finishing touches completed by his son, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, who also designed the Royal Palace in Stockholm. During the 18th century, Queen Lovisa Ulrika put her own touches on the original baroque-style interiors, creating rooms that are a rococo riot of decoration with much gilding and trompe l'oeil. The palace is described on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as “the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles.” Behind the palace stretch the beautiful baroque gardens, with fountains, sculptures, manicured lawns, and gravel walking paths also commissioned by Queen Hedvig Eleonora. Beyond these formal gardens is a woodland park, designed for Gustav III in 1780 in the English landscape style. The gardens and many sections of the palace are open to the public.

Next door to the palace is the Drottningholm Theater, one of only a few surviving 18th-century theaters in Europe and the only one in the world still with fully functional machinery. Built for Queen Lovisa Ulrika in 1766, the theater experienced its glory days during the reign of her son, Gustav III, called the Theater King. It fell into disuse after his assassination at a masked ball in 1792 (dramatized in Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera). Join a guided tour to see the original backdrops and stage machinery and some amazing 18th-century tools used to produce such special effects as wind and thunder. To get performance tickets, book well in advance at the box office; the season runs from late May to early September.

The seats are extremely hard, so take a cushion.

In the 19th century, these four secluded islands were the last chance for archipelago residents to take a break before rowing into Stockholm to sell their produce. After more than 60 years as a military zone, the islands were opened to the public in the early 1980s. Today they are crammed with arts-and-crafts studios, shops, several restaurants and cafés, a traditional boat exhibit, an ingenious "shipwreck" playground, and a smoked-fish shop. It takes a 25-minute ferry ride to get here from Stockholm; boats depart from Slussen and Strandvägen, May to mid-September.

Ideally, you should start your visit to the area with a trip to Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala), 5 km (3 miles) north of the town. Here under three huge mounds lie the graves of the first Swedish kings—Aun, Egil, and Adils—of the 6th-century Ynglinga dynasty. Close by, in pagan times, was a sacred grove containing a legendary oak from whose branches animal and human sacrifices were hanged. By the 10th century, Christianity had eliminated such practices. A small church, which was the seat of Sweden's first archbishop, was built on the site of a former pagan temple.

The Gamla Uppsala Museum contains exhibits and archaeological findings from the Viking burial mounds that dominate the local area. The museum distinguishes between the myth and legends about the area and what is actually known about its history, as well as its links to the legendary Beowulf epic poem.

The island of Grinda has been popular with Stockholmers for a long time. Walking paths cut through the woods and open fields, making exploring easy. It takes around 20 minutes to walk from one end of the island to the other. If you want to stay longer, there’s an inn, Grinda Wärdshus, that dates from the turn of the 20th century and also has a noted restaurant, as well as kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and Jet Skis for rent. The trip from Stockholm to Grinda takes less than two hours.

Built in the 16th century by King Gustav Vasa, Gripsholm Castle is an imposing redbrick structure with four round towers that occupies a small peninsula in Lake Mälaren facing the harbor of Mariefred. Its well-preserved interiors span four centuries and include Gustav Vasa’s Hall of State and Duke Karl’s chamber from the 1500s, as well as Gustav III’s stunning 18th-century theater, located in one of the towers. Gripsholm is also home to the Swedish National Portrait Gallery, which includes more than 5,000 paintings from the 16th century to the present. A lovely park surrounds the castle, and a bit farther down the road there’s a deer park with ancient oak trees and about 100 fallow deer roaming freely.

Located on the grounds of Drottningholm Palace Park, the Chinese Pavilion was given to Queen Lovisa Ulrika as a surprise birthday present by her husband, King Adolf Fredrik, in 1753. At this time, there was a great interest in all things Chinese due to the busy import trade conducted by the European East India companies. The rooms in the Chinese Pavilion are decorated with lacquered screens, porcelain, silk wallpaper, and other imports from China, together with Chinese-inspired, Swedish-made rococo furnishings.

One of Uppsala's most famous sons, Carl von Linné, also known as Linnaeus, was a professor of botany at Uppsala University during the 1740s. He is best known for creating the Latin nomenclature system for plants and animals. The botanical treasures of the garden Linnaeus developed for the university have been re-created and are now on view at Linnéträdgården. Also on the grounds and included in admission is Linnémuseet, the house where Linnaeus lived with his family for 35 years.

The oldest building in Sigtuna still in use, the Church of St. Mary was originally part of a monastery founded by Dominican monks in the 1230s. The church was completed around 1255 and was the first structure in Sweden to be built using the technique of firing bricks. Its style is a mix of Romanesque with early Gothic elements, and it retains much the same appearance as it did at the end of the 13th century, when the vaulted ceilings and copper roof were added. The monastery was torn down during the Reformation, but the Church of St. Mary survived and has been used as Sigtuna’s parish church ever since. Its treasures include four 13th-century crosses, two medieval triptychs, stained-glass windows from the 16th and 17th centuries, and a carved wooden pulpit from 1647. The baptismal fonts are from around 1200 and predate the church itself.

During the early Middle Ages seven gray stone churches were constructed in Sigtuna. Most of these fell into ruin following the Reformation, but portions of three remain as evocative testaments to their former glory. All date from the 12th century. The best preserved are the ruins of S:t Olofs Kyrka, adjacent to the Church of S:t Mary, and S:t Pers Kyrka, just beyond the western end of Prästgatan. The latter is believed to have been the seat of Sweden’s archbishop until the see was moved to Uppsala in 1190. Between the two lies the ruin of S:t Lars Kyrka, of which only portions of a single tower remain.

A picturesque town at the southern edge of Stockholm’s archipelago, Nynäshamn is located on the mainland but has the flavor of the islands, particularly in the lively harbor area with its seafood restaurants, fish smokery, and red huts housing tiny shops and cafés. Cruise ferries to the island of Gotland and Gdańsk in Poland depart from terminals at the north end of the harbor. At the southern end, the Nynäshamn Tourist Office has bikes for rent. A great destination for a ride is Strandvägen, a gorgeous coastal road (open to cars in one direction only) that winds along the shore to Lövhagen, where there is a café with outdoor seating and nature trails.

If you’re a fan of historic trains, don’t miss the chance to take a ride on this narrow-gauge railway with steam engines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If you just want a quick taste, you can take the 14-minute journey to Läggesta and return on the next train. For a longer option, take the train all the way to Taxinge Näsby, home of Taxinge Slott, a stately home known as the “cookie palace” for the amazing selection of baked treats in its café. The trip takes about 50 minutes. A popular alternative is the round-trip “Slott och Ånga” (“Castles and Steam”) excursion, in which you travel one way between Mariefred and Taxinge by steam train and the other way aboard the historic steamship SS Mariefred from 1903. Schedules vary daily, so check the website for availability.

Nowhere else in the world has as dense a concentration of rune stones as Sigtuna, where there are somewhere between 15 and 25 in the town center—more if you count fragments—and around 170 in the municipality. These stones date from the late 900s to the early 12th century, and most were raised as memorials to one or more people who died, sometimes in distant lands. One stands on Stora Gatan just outside the Sigtuna Museum, and others can be found in and around the three medieval church ruins and outside the Church of St. Mary. The tourist office and Sigtuna Museum have a brochure outlining a suggested rune stone walk, which can also be downloaded from the museum's website.

One of the most popular archipelago excursions is to Sandhamn, the main town on the island of Sandön, which is home to about 100 permanent residents. The journey takes about three hours by steamship, but there are faster boats available. The Royal Swedish Yacht Club was founded here at the turn of the 20th century, and sailing continues to be a popular sport. Sandhamn’s fine-sand beaches also make it an ideal spot for swimming. Explore the village of Sandhamn and its narrow alleys and wooden houses, or stroll out to the graveyard outside the village, where tombstones bear the names of sailors from around the world.

At the far southern tip of Stockholm's archipelago lies Trosa, a mainland town situated where the tiny Trosa River empties into the Baltic Sea. The river is flanked by beautiful wooden villas painted white, red, yellow, and mint green—a reflection of Trosa's heritage as a seaside retreat for stressed but wealthy Stockholmers. Pleasures in Trosa are simple: enjoying a meal on an outdoor patio, strolling through the charming narrow streets, browsing the shops by the river, or enjoying an ice cream while watching boaters tie up along the wooden docks.

Founded in 1477, Uppsala's university is known for the Carolina Rediviva university library, which contains a large collection of Swedish and foreign works. Two of its most interesting exhibits are the Codex Argentus, a Bible written in the 6th century, and Mozart's original manuscript for his 1791 opera The Magic Flute.

Gustav Vasa began the construction of Uppsala Castle in the mid-16th century as a symbol of royal power over the church. Occupying an imposing hilltop position, it was the site of many dramatic events, including the murder of several prominent noblemen by the mentally unstable King Erik XIV in 1567. The castle was gutted when a devastating fire struck Uppsala in 1702. It was rebuilt some 40 years later, but the ruins of the original castle can still be seen within the southwestern section of the present structure.

Built in 1548 to defend Stockholm against shipborne attacks from the east, this historic fortification on the island of Vaxholmen, just east of Vaxholm, is now a museum. Visitors see the fortress as it was in 1854, and can enter the citadel’s bombproof vaults to imagine how things were during the Crimean War. You can also visit the World War II coastal defense artillery post.

Gotland's capital, Visby, is a delightful hilly town of about 24,000 people. Medieval houses, ruined fortifications, churches, and cottage-lined cobbled lanes make Visby look like something out of a fairy tale. Thanks to a very gentle climate, the roses that grow along many of the town's facades bloom even in November. In its heyday, Visby was protected by a wall, of which 3 km (2 miles) survive today, along with 44 towers and numerous gateways. It is considered one of the best-preserved medieval city walls in Europe. Take a stroll to the north gate for an unsurpassed view of the wall.