Back with another travel post today! Last week it was time for another trip of mine and its destination was Stockholm! You probably already guessed that by the title, but I just like to say it one more time in case you didn’t! About a year ago I went to Copenhagen and also visited Lund and Malmö in Sweden for two days. I loved my time there a lot, so I decided to go back. I am planning on making a full on Stockholm guide, but before I do that I wanted to share my personal travel story as I do with all my city trips, like New York City, London and Barcelona.
Day 1
I am not a morning person and yet I always book the earliest flight possible. I feel that this way you get the most out of the time you spend at your new destination. So there my friend Denise and I went, boarding at 6:20AM at Amsterdam Airport. The flight was very smooth and I basically watched Friends the whole way through. Once we arrived in Stockholm we took the train to the city centre and from there walked to our new home for the next couple of days: Generator Hostel. I also stayed with them when I was in Barcelona last October and really enjoyed it. Both times I had a private room, but next week I will stay in one of their shared rooms, so I will keep you updated on my experience.
After dropping our luggage and testing the bed -it was sooo GOOD- we went for a proper brekkie at STHLM Brunch Club. We found this spot on Instagram and although it was really nice I don't think it was worth the hype. I had the bacon & maple pancakes and a carrot ginger juice, which were good but not as good as the spot that we visited the next day. When we left there was a huge queue outside too, and although I have queued up for many places I don't think this café is worth it to wait for 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat.
After the delicious pancakes -not saying that they weren't extremely yummy- we walked our way through Norrmalm and did a bit of damage in the shops. I picked up this amazing rainbow striped jumper at Monki and popped into Lagerhaus for some home goods. We ended the day with a McVegan burger and fries from McDonalds. I normally hate it when you go to a different country and eat at the same old fast food chains that you have back home, but since the McVegan is only available in Finland and Sweden we had to try it out. I love that McDonalds is picking up these trends and the burger was good too -not as good as Vegan Junk Food Bar in Amsterdam, but still for a Mc burger it was good!-.
Day 2
We were up bright and early -kinda- and went for some brunch at my soon to be favourite café in Stockholm: Greasy Spoon. They have two locations but we visited the one in Vasastaden. The café was very spacious and modern and it had some Metropolitain vibes. I ordered a turmeric latte and the berry & pistachio pancakes -not surprising really- and they will definitely be in the top 3 of best pancakes I have ever eaten. We stayed there for a bit, chatted as we ate all the yummy goodness and walked all the way down to Gamla Stan and Södermalm, two different islands. Gamla Stan is the old part of Stockholm and the part that you'll recognize from all the photos. The yellow houses that you spot everywhere give the city so much character and it's definitely my favourite part of the city, despite it being touristy.
Södermalm is the neighbourhood with all the cool independent shops and hip cafés. I'm going to be honest here and say that I have not seen much. Rain fell down from the sky like there had been a drought for 4 years and I was basically looking at my feet the entire time to see if I didn't step in a big puddle of water. To hide from the storm that was happening outside we popped into Pom & Flora, another Insta famous café. I went for another turmeric latte and order an acai bowl. Should have picked something warmer considering the cold outside, but hey, at least it was healthy and yummy. Luckily the rain slowly went away and we popped into a few independent shops along the way. For dinner we chose to go to Lily's Burger, a cute American diner style café. I had a cheese & bacon burger with fries and a Nutella & banana milkshake. The milkshake was the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. Nutella and banana is just the best combo in the world! We then walked all the way back, had a chai latte/coffee break at Espresso House and chilled back at the hotel.
Day 3
Not much happened to today. For breakfast we went to Kaffeverket, a café that was recommended to us by a colleague and Instagram. We had a chia bowl and some avocado toast -I had another turmeric latte- and it was pretty tasty. We had another walk around the neighbourhood and had a tea and cinnamon bun break at Sophies Canelé. I love cinnamon buns and this one was really good. You could taste that it was not one of those store bought ones you know, and the large amount of butter probably helped too haha.
We then walked back to the hotel to get our swim suits, because we were going to the spa! It's actually a very Swedish thing to do and you can find many of them in the city. We went to Centralbadet, which you can find in Norrmalm. It has been open since 1904 and the entire spa has that old art deco vibe. You also get a student discount, so don't forget your card! We basically hopped from sauna to steam room to swimming pool to sauna to another pool and back to the steam room. We spent about 3,5 hours there before our hands started to get all wrinkly; when that happens you know it's time to go. From Centralbadet we walked to a huge Hemköp a couple of streets away. Foreign supermarkets are the bomb dot com for me. I could spent hours looking at all the different foods and picking up a few of my favourite things. In the end I chose cinnamon buns, some chocolate and salt & vinegar crisps -my fave from the UK-. We went for, yes, another burger, but this time at Max, the Swedish version of McDonalds. They have lots of vegan and veggie options too and I do prefer it to McDonalds. We indulged in that and again chilled back at the hotel.
Day 4
On our last day we walked back to Greasy Spoon for some delicious pancakes. Again I had the berry & pistachio ones; I'm going to miss those fluffy things so much! The weather was dreadful today as well, so we had another wonder around Gamla Stan and quickly walked inside at Chokladkoppen. It's located on the famous Stortorget square and serves amazing hot chocolate and kladdkaka -aka chocolate cake-. When you walk inside there is hardly any lighting and the chairs are made for dwarfs I tell ya, but the drinks and chocolate cake were good, so I was in a chocolaty coma after that. Because the weather was very miserable we didn't know what else to do so we hopped from Joe & the Juice to Espresso House and went on the train back to the airport with my last chai latte from Espresso House, which I'm going to miss so much. Please make you way across the pond Espresso House. I need you!
And that was my trip to Stockholm! The weather could have been better, but as long as you bring an umbrella you should be fine. Although I did like the city I don't know if I'll go back soon. London and New York have that kind of homely vibe to me. The kind of vibe where I see myself living there and Stockholm didn't do that for me. Hopefully I can go back in a couple of years around the summer time, because I think that's when the city lights up and the people will be a lot friendlier too.
Have you ever been to Stockholm?
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X Marjolein