Stockholm is built on fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, and the archipelago beyond it holds around 30,000 more. The city is roughly a third water, a third parks and a third built, which is why it feels less dense than its population suggests.
The practical consequence is the boats. Public ferries run as part of the transport network, commuter services connect the central islands, and the archipelago boats leave from the quay in front of the Grand Hôtel. In summer a boat is frequently the fastest way across the city and always the most pleasant.
The water is also clean enough to swim in and to fish for salmon in, in the middle of the capital, which is a piece of environmental policy that took decades.
The islands that matter
Norrmalm is the modern commercial centre north of the water, with the shopping and the station.
Gamla Stan is the medieval old town on its own island: ochre and rust-coloured buildings, the palace, and lanes narrow enough that two people pass sideways.
Blasieholmen and Skeppsholmen sit between them, with the Grand Hôtel, the National Museum and the Moderna Museet.
Östermalm, east, is the wealthy residential quarter with the food hall, the embassies and the best restaurants.
Södermalm, south, is the former working-class island now full of bars, vintage shops and viewpoints back at the old town. It is where a lot of the city's life is.
Djurgården is the park island, with the Vasa Museum, Skansen and the Abba museum, reached by a two-minute ferry.
The eleven below are grouped by island.
Blasieholmen and the waterfront
Facing the palace across the water, where the archipelago boats leave.
Grand Hôtel Stockholm occupies the 1874 building on the quay directly opposite the royal palace, with the archipelago boats outside, a spa and a veranda that is the city's meeting room. It is the grand hotel of Scandinavia.
Grand Hôtel Stockholm
Blasieholmen quay · 5★ · $$$$
Facing the palace with the archipelago boats outside
Check availabilityLydmar Hotel sits beside it in a smaller property with a bar that has been a Stockholm institution for years, an art collection and rooms looking across at the palace.
Lydmar Hotel
Blasieholmen · 5★ · $$$$
An institution of a bar and rooms across at the palace
Check availabilityBank Hotel, a Member of Small Luxury Hotels occupies a converted 1910 bank on Blasieholmen with a rooftop bar over the water and the most contemporary rooms in the centre.
Bank Hotel, a Member of Small Luxury Hotels
Blasieholmen · 5★ · $$$
A converted 1910 bank with a rooftop over the water
Check availabilityNorrmalm and the centre
The commercial core, walkable to everything.
Blique by Nobis, Stockholm, a Member of Design Hotels occupies two converted nineteenth-century buildings on Norrmalmstorg, including a former bank, with a courtyard atrium and a very good restaurant.
Blique by Nobis, Stockholm, a Member of Design Hotels
Norrmalmstorg · 5★ · $$$
Two nineteenth-century buildings around a courtyard atrium
Check availabilityAt Six sits on Brunkebergstorg with a large art collection, a rooftop bar and a design-led interior across eight floors.
At Six
Brunkebergstorg · 5★ · $$$
A large art collection and a rooftop bar over eight floors
Check availabilityÖstermalm
The wealthy quarter, with the food hall and the restaurants.
Ett Hem occupies a townhouse in a residential street with twelve rooms, a conservatory kitchen where guests eat with the staff, and no reception desk. It is the most personal hotel in Sweden and it books a long way ahead.
Ett Hem
Lärkstaden, Östermalm · 5★ · $$$$
Twelve rooms, a conservatory kitchen and no reception desk
Check availabilityHotel Diplomat Stockholm sits on Strandvägen, the waterfront boulevard, in a 1911 art nouveau building with rooms over the quay and the ferries.
Hotel Diplomat Stockholm
Strandvägen · 5★ · $$$
A 1911 art nouveau building over the quay and the ferries
Check availabilityVilla Dagmar occupies a position beside the Östermalm food hall with a courtyard, a spa and a design that references the market.
Gamla Stan and Skeppsholmen
The old town and the museum island.
Gamla Stan occupies a seventeenth-century building on the Gamla Stan waterfront with vaulted cellars, a spa and rooms facing the water.
Gamla Stan
Gamla Stan waterfront · 5★ · $$$
A seventeenth-century building with vaulted cellars
Check availabilityHotel Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, a Member of Design Hotels sits on Skeppsholmen in a 1699 building that housed the naval barracks, on a car-free island a few minutes from the centre with the Moderna Museet next door.
Hotel Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, a Member of Design Hotels
Skeppsholmen island · 4★ · $$$
A 1699 naval barracks on a car-free island
Check availabilitySödermalm
South, where the city's life is.
Hotel Rival occupies a 1937 functionalist building on Mariatorget with a cinema in the basement and rates below the central hotels.
Hotel Rival
Mariatorget, Södermalm · 4★ · $$
A 1937 functionalist building with a cinema downstairs
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The apartment rentals across the central islands are excluded, and Stockholm has a substantial supply serving long-stay visitors. They are apartments rather than hotels.
What to do
Get on a boat. The archipelago tours from the quay run from an hour to a full day, and Vaxholm, Grinda and Sandhamn are all reachable. In summer the light lasts until eleven at night and the trip back is the best part.
See the Vasa, a warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 in the harbour, was raised in 1961 and is now 98 percent original in a purpose-built museum. It is the best museum object in northern Europe.
Walk Gamla Stan early, before the coaches, and go up to the Monteliusvägen path on Södermalm for the view back across the water at it.
Eat at the Östermalm food hall and swim off Långholmen or Smedsuddsbadet in summer, in the middle of the city.
In winter the archipelago freezes in places and the city does dark extremely well: candles, saunas and long lunches.
Practical notes
Arlanda is 20 minutes by express train to the central station. Bromma is closer and mostly domestic.
June to August has the long light and the archipelago season, with midsummer in late June. September and May are quiet and pleasant. Winter is dark, cold and considerably cheaper, with the city at its most atmospheric in December.
The public transport card covers the commuter ferries, which most visitors do not realise.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Stockholm Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Can you swim in the city?
Yes, in several places. The water quality was fixed over decades and salmon run through the middle of the capital.
Which island should you stay on?
Blasieholmen or Norrmalm for the centre and the boats, Östermalm for restaurants, Södermalm for value and atmosphere.
Is the archipelago worth a day?
At least one. Boats leave from the central quay and the near islands are an hour away.
How many nights?
Four. Three for the city and one for the archipelago.