Sweden · Self-guided walk
Stockholm in one walk 8 sights, 35 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Stockholm Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.2 km loop, about 35 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.2 km, a loop
- Time
- about 35 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Stockholms slott
- Steps
- on Birger Jarls Torg, Högvaktstrappan
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Stockholm walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Stockholm, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Stockholms slott
the start
Four fronts, and no two of them agree. Go all the way round rather than stopping at the first one. On the north side the ramp comes up past the lions, on the south the slope drops away to the water, and the outer courtyard counts as a street in this level. There are dots on it. A courtyard I am allowed to eat is a rare thing.
Next: Riksdagshuset, 370 m, about 6 min, along Lejonbacken.
2. Riksdagshuset
about 6 minutes of walking from the start
It curves. Stand on the bridge at the north end of the level and follow the long front around as it bends with the water. Then walk between its two halves: a street runs right through the gap, under the arch that joins them, and a street with a roof over it is my favourite kind of leftover. Riksgatan and Riksplan are both on your route.
Next: Riddarhuset, 320 m, about 5 min, along Myntgatan, Riddarhustorget.
3. Riddarhuset
about 10 minutes of walking from the start
It stands free on all four sides, which on this island is almost showing off. Everything else here is wedged against a neighbour. Walk right round it, take the water side last, and look at the roof: it steps in halfway up, in copper gone green, and then thinks better of it and steps out again.
Next: Riddarholmskyrkan, 200 m, about 3 min, along Riddarholmsbron, Birger Jarls Torg.
4. Riddarholmskyrkan
about 13 minutes of walking from the start
Cross the little bridge west and the noise simply stops. Take Birger Jarls Torg slowly, then keep going until the land runs out at the water. The church sits in the middle of all that quiet, and it does not do what churches usually do. What it does, I am keeping to myself. The quiet is worth a detour on its own.
Next: Storkyrkan, 440 m, about 7 min, along Birger Jarls Torg, Riddarholmsbron, Storkyrkobrinken.
5. Storkyrkan
about 20 minutes of walking from the start
The high point of the ridge, and it wears two faces. From the west it is a smooth plastered box that keeps its age quiet. Come at it up Slottsbacken instead and the east end gives you bare brick and a big gable, which is what the rest of it is made of under the render. Storkyrkobrinken climbs to it. Everything on this island climbs to it.
Next: Tyska kyrkan, 190 m, about 3 min, along Trångsund, Skomakargatan.
6. Tyska kyrkan
about 23 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:30–16:30
Four street names here carry its name before you ever catch sight of the thing: Tyska Brinken, Tyska Skolgränd, Tyska Stallplan, Tyska Brunnsplan. The building itself hides in the block behind them, and you get in through a gate off Svartmangatan, not off a square. Slow down on that stretch. It is easy to walk the whole lane and miss what the lane is named after.
Next: Tessinska palatset, 200 m, about 3 min, along Kindstugatan.
7. Tessinska palatset
about 26 minutes of walking from the start
One of the narrowest fronts on Slottsbacken, and the most worked over. Stop at the door surround and count how little frontage the thing actually gets, then look up the slope behind it, because the good part is a terraced garden climbing out of sight. Narrow to the street, deep to the back. That is how every site on this hill is cut, done here by somebody who could afford to make a point of it.
Next: Nobelprismuseet, 100 m, about 1 min, along Trädgårdsgatan.
8. Nobelprismuseet
about 27 minutes of walking from the start
The square it opens onto is the oldest clear space on the island and the only place here where the lanes stop pressing in on you. Take the well in the middle as your marker, put your back to the door, and count the gabled fronts opposite. Then look down: this is the widest stretch of paving you will get all day.
Back to the start: Stockholms slott, 420 m, about 6 min, along Källargränd, Yttre borggården, Stockholms slott, Lejonbacken.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Stockholm.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 101 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Stockholm Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.