Straddling 14 islands where the Baltic meets Lake Malaren, this shiny Nordic star seems to have it all - edgy creativity, inner-city forests and waterways clean enough for a bracing downtown dip.

Here, heritage and hip live side by side; urbanites toast the spring with old-school tunes and wooden huts sidle up to modernist blocks. Washing the lot is a pure northern light, from ice-blue winter tones to amber autumn hues. It hits the earthy red and saffron buildings and makes them glow with fairy-tale appeal.

...

WHAT WILL YOUR STOCKHOLM ENCOUNTER BE？

...catching a poetry reading at Street, Sodermalm's hippest market and hangout (p18)

...ampling a cloudberry truffle at Chokladfabriken (p94)

...pondering pygmy marmosets at the open-air Skansen museum (p80)

...savouring fika (coffee and cake) in the barrel-vaulted cellar of Cafe Art (p45)

...picking up some new threads at trendsetting Acne's flagship store (p59)

...zipping around in the Baltic Sea on a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) (p20)

THE AUTHOR

THIS IS STOCKHOLM

HIGHLIGHTS

STOCKHOLM DIARY

ITINERARIES

NEIGHBOURHOODS

>GAMLA STAN

 & RIDDARHOLMEN

>NORRMALM

 & VASASTADEN

>DJURGARDEN

& SKEPPSHOLMEN

>SODERMALM

& LANGHOLMEN

>OSTERMALM, GARDET

& LADUGARDSGARDET

>KUNGSHOLMEN

STOCKHOLM

ARCHIPELAGO

>VAXHOLM

>SANDON

>FINNHAMN

>GRINDA

SNAPSHOTS

>ACCOMMODATION

>SHOPPING

>FASHION

>DRINKING

>FOOD

>GALLERIES

>ARCHITECTURE

>DESIGN

>MUSEUMS

>MUSIC

>MULTICULTURALISM

>GAY & LESBIAN

>KIDS

>ECO STOCKHOLM

>SEASONS & THE CITY

BACKGROUND

DIRECTORY

INDEX