Stockholm, Sweden + Add a trip

Automobiles

A taxi costs SEK 400. A car is only an advantage if you want to leave the city centre.

Planes

Arlanda Airport is 40km from the centre. The 45-min Flygbussarna bus service costs SEK 100. If you end up flying into Skavsta airport, a bus into Stockholm takes an hour and a half.

Trains

A 20-min Arlanda Express Train costs SEK 180 and takes you into Stockholm Central Station. From here you can access Stockholm's underground, called the Tunnelbana.

Dialing

Country code for Sweden: 46. Stockholm: 8.

Reads

The Magic Lantern: an Autobiography by Ingmar Bergman; The Messiah of Stockholm by Cynthia Ozick.

Do go / Don't Go

In winter, the city gets just five hours of daylight. At weekends in July, it can be very quiet as everybody heads to their summer-island properties.

Cuisine

The smörgåsbord, surströmming (fermented Baltic herring), köttbullar (meatballs). Owing to long winters, traditional dishes are heavy and rich, but modern Swedish cuisine is lighter, with more fresh vegetables.

Taxis

You can hail cabs on the street; short trips are usually inexpensive.

Tipping

Tips are included; for good service, round up the bill.

Currency

Swedish kronor; SEK 10 = about €1.

Packing

Deck shoes, eye-mask in summer (only three hours of darkness), contemporary-furniture wish list, duty-free booze and smokes.

Arts

The Moderna Museet has a superb collection of Swedish and international art. More than 16,000 paintings and sculptures are housed in the National Museum on Södra Blasieholmshamnen. The open-air museum Skansen on Djurgården recalls the Sweden of bygone days, with flora and fauna, farms, manor-houses and craftspeople at work. The Vasamuseet: the Vasa is the world's only surviving 17th-century ship (www.vasamuseet.se).

And...

Get a boat out to the archipelago of Vaxholm in summer and have a champagne picnic (ask the hotel to pack you one). Or sail to the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (two hours from the central port) and visit the pretty beaches and harbour at Sandhamn, on the island of Sandön.

Shopping

Biblioteksgatan, near Stureplan, has a concentration of upmarket shops. On Hornsgatan are irresistible interior design and art shops. Södermalm has many secondhand and antiques shops, as well as one-off boutiques and skater shops. For handicrafts and knick-knacks, visit the Old Town of Gamla Stan. Don't leave without visiting Östermalmshallen Market on Humlegårdsgatan, open until 18h Monday-Thursday; 18h30 Friday; 16h Saturday and 14h Sunday. In a characterful building next to the flower market, it's a huge delicatessen selling every type of top-quality food you can think of.

Viewpoint

The best and most self-indulgent place from which to view the city is the restaurant Eriks Gondolen on Stadsgården (see under restaurants).

Something

Watch the changing of the guard (12h15, or 13h15 on Sundays) daily in the Outer Courtyard of the beautiful Royal Palace. Play in the snow in winter!

June Midsummer skies barely grow dark, and Swedes celebrate on the weekend closest to 24 June. At Skansen, the oldest open-air museum in Europe, the festivities bring out maypoles, traditional costumes and games, and folk musicians and dancers. July Stockholm Jazz Festival (www. stockholmjazz.com). 13 December St Lucia Day: celebrations in honour of the patron saint of light, to brighten up a very dark time of the year.