Top Ten Museums in Stockholm

Stockholm has more than a hundred museums, which is a lot for a city of under a million people, and a surprising number of them are free. Several are clustered on Djurgården, the green island east of the centre, so you can do three in a day without getting on anything but a tram and your own feet.

Opening hours and admission change. Check the museum's own site before you set out, especially on Mondays, when a good many Swedish museums close.

1. The Vasa Museum

Djurgården. A 69 metre warship that sank about 1,300 metres into her maiden voyage in 1628, sat in the harbour mud for 333 years, and came up in 1961 with roughly 98 percent of her original timber intact. There is nothing else like her anywhere. If you only do one museum in Stockholm, this is not a difficult choice.

2. Skansen

Djurgården. The world's first open-air museum, opened in 1891: about 150 historical buildings brought here from all over Sweden and reassembled, plus Nordic animals. Open year round, and genuinely better in winter, when the Christmas market is on and there are fires lit in the old houses.

3. Nationalmuseum

Blasieholmshamnen, by the Grand Hotel. Sweden's national art collection: some 16,000 paintings and sculptures plus a very large holding of design and applied art.

Worth knowing if you are working from an older guide. The building closed in 2013 for a five year renovation and reopened in October 2018, so anything written between those dates will have sent you to a locked door.

4. Moderna Museet

Skeppsholmen. Modern and contemporary art from 1900, and photography back to the 1840s. Duchamp, Picasso, Dalí, Matisse. The island setting is half the pleasure and the walk over the bridge is short.

5. Fotografiska

Södermalm. A contemporary photography museum in a converted customs house on the water, opened in 2010, so it did not exist when this list was first written. No permanent collection, several changing exhibitions a year, open late most nights. The top floor café has the best free view in Stockholm.

6. Nordiska museet

Djurgården. Swedish and Nordic cultural history from the 16th century on, in a building that looks like a Danish palace and was meant to.

One name to get right, because it is widely muddled: this is Nordiska museet, the Nordic Museum. The Nordic Heritage Museum is a different institution entirely, and it is in Seattle.

7. Stockholm City Museum

Slussen. The history of the city itself, in a 17th century building. Free admission, and it reopened in 2019 after its own long renovation.

8. Nobel Prize Museum

Stortorget, in the old Stock Exchange in Gamla Stan. On the laureates and the work that won. It was called the Nobel Museum until it was renamed the Nobel Prize Museum, which is the name to search for now.

9. Junibacken

Djurgården. Astrid Lindgren's stories made physical, with a story train through the scenes and Pippi Longstocking's house to climb around. Aimed squarely at children and unapologetic about it. If you have kids with you and one rainy afternoon, spend it here.

10. ABBA The Museum

Djurgården. Interactive to a degree that sounds unbearable and is actually good fun: you can sing with holograms of the band and mix your own version of the records.

It was announced for 2009 and did not make that date. ABBA The Museum opened in May 2013 and has been there ever since.

A note on getting in

Several state museums in Stockholm have free permanent collections, including Moderna Museet and the Stockholm City Museum, and they charge for temporary exhibitions. Nationalmuseum, the Vasa and Skansen charge admission.

If you are going to do four or more paid museums in a few days, price up the Go City or Stockholm Pass options against paying at the door. For two or three, pay as you go and skip the arithmetic.

Photo by AbhijeetVardhan