You all know by now that I just came back from Stockholm, where I spent a few days discovering a city I had been dreaming about for years. It didn’t disappoint at all. In fact, I suspect that Axl Rose wrote the lyrics to Paradise City after his first trip to Stockholm.
Take me down to the Paradise City
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home (Oh, won’t you please take me home)
As soon as I arrived at Arlanda Airport, late on Wednesday night, that’s what struck me: the girls are pretty. But it’s not just the girls. Everyone I could see was pretty. Children, men and women. Old and young. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Strangely enough, instead of crushing my confidence, it made me feel great, totally exhilarated.
I stayed in a hotel just opposite Central Station. I didn’t choose the location of the hotel, but it was really quite central and practical. Stockholm is pretty small (at least compared to London), so from where I was, it was easy to walk everywhere.
Here are a few places I went to that I would recommend checking out if you are in Stockholm…
Södermalm
This is the island south of the city center. It seems to be a much younger, trendier area. It would be the equivalent of East London, I suppose. There are lots of vintage shops, cute little cafés and secret gardens. However, there is no need to go there too early in the morning because the shops open from 12 onwards.
I went there at about 10 and the streets were really quiet, which is good because I wanted to wander around the area first.
There are two main streets of interest: Götgatan & Bondegatan.
If you walk down Götgatan from the t-bannan station called Slussen, you will see everything there is to see in this street. You can follow it till it crosses Bondegatan, further South.
On Götgatan make sure you check out Monki, Gina Tricot, Weekday (high street shops with a Swedish twist) and the magazine shop. Also, you will find the best Emmaüs ever on Götgatan.
On Bondegatan, stop for a coffee at Louie Louie or Café String, then carry on to visit Tjallamalla (independent designers), Lisa Larrson and Repris (vintage).
Denim and polka dots at Tjallamalla
Tjallamalla
Lisa Larsson
Make sure you stop in the lovely Vitabergsparken, there is a slightly hidden entrance on Ploggatan, where it crosses Bondegatan. It is a park perched on rocks, that you access through wooden stairs and narrow little streets.
Vitabergsparken
On the way back, check out more vintage shops on Asagatan, including the ubiquitous Beyond Retro (a very large shop, but you won’t find anything you wouldn’t find in London) and Life is Good (a small vintage shop with nice hand picked items)
Life is Good
On Nytorsgatan you will also find a really big Acne shop and a few cute decoration and kids shops…
That’s it for today, next time I will tell you more about another area of Stockholm!
You can see my pictures from the trip on Flickr or have a look at my google map (click below)
