Oh hi! If you follow me over on Instagram then toy *miiiight* have seen a few (okay about a hundred) pics of my most recent trip to Stockholm. It was a fairly last minute trip and mostly a product of me whining to Charlie that we didn’t have anything fun booked in for October. We checked out Skyscanner, picked a weekend and checked out the cheapest flights, which was Stockholm. As its somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a few years  it didn’t take us long to snap up some £30 flights and away we were. Except….the flights were with Ryanair and yes they were £30 woohoo but we then realised we were actually flying into Skavsta. Fun. It was ok though, we booked a return seat on the coach that runs to and from the city centre hourly and it was only about 20 quid each. A lesson – always check the airport!

The Lowdown

Location: Stockholm

Length Of Stay: 2 nights

Vital Info: Wrap up warm if visiting in winter it is COLD

Where To Stay

I’m a little bit fussy when it comes to hotels, I want somewhere with good reviews, central, clean and quirky. I like contemporary hotels along the lines of Mama Shelter and Ace Hotel. When I came across Hobo it ticked all of the boxes, and, it wasn’t too expensive either. We paid around £270 for the two nights. I’m going to post all about our stay at Hobo in an upcoming post so stay tuned…

What To Do

As we booked our trip super last minute, and with what had been a CRAZY month we didn’t have much time to plan our days. I wasn’t too bothered by this as I was happy to go with the flow and just enjoy such a beautiful city. Stockholm is actually made up of 14 islands and can be quite difficult to navigate. Well, for us anyway! We ended up on a fair few wild goose chases but it just meant we got to take in more sights of the beautiful buildings, bursts of colour and glistening water. We were so lucky to enjoy bright, sunny yet crisp days whilst we were there. It made a change from the usual bursts of rain we encounter on city breaks.

On our first day we only had a couple hours of afternoon left, so we decided to drop our bags and wander over to the Gamla Stan area. I really loved this part of the city, it’s the old town and SO SO beautiful. Rows of multicoloured buildings, cobbled streets and winding paths. We found a cosy vegetarian/vegan restaurant, enjoyed a refuel and carried on our wandering.

As you may be aware from previous blog posts, my Instagram and YouTube, whenever we’re in a new city we HAVE to go to a Hard Rock Cafe to buy a cap. It started off as a joke but turned quite serious, especially when we were in America and ended up buying about 10 in one trip haha! We’ve got at least 20 now which is crazy, so of course we headed over to Hard Rock for a few drinks which happened to include a lovely stroll through the park. The trees looked just beautiful!

On our first night we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a few drinks in the bar. As well as being a hotel, Hobo is also a really popular destination for drinks and dinner. It had a super cool vibe and we were happy to wind down from a hectic day in the knowledge that our bed was just a few floors up. We’d been up since 4am what can I say!

On our second day we wandered through Gamla Stan again as we didn’t get much time on our first day to really explore the area. We then headed over to Sodermalm for a late brunch followed by a long browse in Weekday, Monki and & Other Stories. You’ll also find the concept store Grandpa here which is worth a quick trip to. This part of the city felt much more gritty and modern compared to the cobbled streets of Gamla Stan. I quite liked the contrast though and it made for an interesting morning of wandering. 

After our morning in Sodermalm we headed back through Gamla Stan, stopped for a little afternoon Fika (it’s Swedish tradition – AND I found a vegan bakery) then moved onto Brunkebergstorg. We ditched our bags, freshened up in the hotel, put on a couple of extra layers and ventured back out but this time to Normmalm and Ostermalm. I actually loved these parts of the city and it felt almost London like. Tonnes of shops, restaurants and cafes to enjoy alongside fashion favourites including Acne Studios, Stella McCartney, H&M and so on. We also stopped by the Ostermalmshallen food hall but there was a lot of meat and it made me feel sick so I soon made a quick exit.

We tried to visit as many different areas as possible whilst in Stockholm and we stayed on foot for the whole trip. We didn’t want to waste money on taxis and most places we headed to were only ever a maximum of 25 minutes away, plus we walk quite quick!

On our second and final night in Stockholm we decided to chance a restaurant I found on my Happy Cow app called Surfers. Unfortunately when we rocked up it was absolutely packed and a two hour wait for a table. We didn’t hang around. We found a little Italian restaurant around the Gamla Stan area instead and ended up having a really lovely evening. I do wish I’d taken a warmer coat though as it was absolutely FREEZING at night time.

On our final day we had great intentions of catching a boat over to Drottingholm Palace, a private residence of the Swedish royal family, however we’d got the times mixed up which meant we missed the boat by about 20 minutes. We were pretty gutted but I’d definitely like to go back to Stockholm in the future so it’s something to keep on the list for next time! Having missed our boat we had a few hours spare before having to catch our coach back to the airport. We went for a long stroll around the water, stopped to people watch for about an hour and then headed over to Sodermalm for the second time to enjoy one of the best lunches I’d EVER had at Hermans (more on that later). After filling up on delicious vegan goodness we found a cosy pub and enjoyed a few drinks before heading back to Hobo to pick up our suitcases and depart this wonderful city.

Where To Eat

I’m always a little concerned about visiting new cities in the case that I’ll be stuck for vegan options. Luckily the HappyCow app is a god send and Stockholm was brimming with amazing choices. Vegan buffets, bakeries and brunch. I was totally spoilt for choice and I’m actually going to be putting together a post on where the best spots to hit are. Watch this space, but for now a little taster…yes those croissants are VEGAN!