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The Nordic Nomad

Stockholm, Sweden

Where to stay in Stockholm: the neighbourhoods you’ll love

The Nordics • Stay • Where to stay in Stockholm: the neighbourhoods you’ll love

Best areas to stay in Stockholm (and how to choose the right one)

Choosing where to stay in Stockholm means choosing which version of the city you want to live inside. Some streets hum with cafés, bakeries and late-night bars. Others dissolve into stone, parks and water. The city doesn’t sprawl, it flickers – block by block, island by island – and where you stay shapes everything: what you see, how you move, what mornings feel like. We have walked these neighbourhoods early and late, in winter, in high summer and each gives back a different city. Here are the places we return to – and what they offer, if you know where to look.

Norrmalm

Stockholm’s central engine, Norrmalm is where commuters cross slick plazas and tourists roll their suitcases past grand hotels. It’s practical, not picturesque, but for a first visit, it makes life easy. Central Station connects you to everywhere, ferries to the archipelago leave from nearby quays and Kungsträdgården – the city’s oldest public park – offers a leafy pause between shopping streets. If you prefer stepping straight into the flow of a city rather than hunting for its quieter corners, Norrmalm suits. It’s also the easiest area for early-morning departures or late arrivals. Just know that when the offices empty out, parts of it can feel polished but hollow, like the city left on standby.

Read the article on our pick of the best Norrmalm hotels.

Norrmalm pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Fast airport access	Feels quite corporate
Walk to main sights	Less lived-in charm
Big choice of hotels	Busy main streets
Handy ferry terminals	Fewer cosy cafés
Excellent transport hub	Can be pricey

Photography courtesy of Unsplash and Bank Hotel

Östermalm

Östermalm moves at its own quiet speed. Wide boulevards, discreet doormen, storefronts with no prices in the window. Old families and diplomats share the streets with shoppers moving between Hermès, Svenskt Tenn and the Östermalmshallen food market. We like staying near Östermalmstorg, where the grand avenues tilt slowly towards the museums and green spaces of Djurgården. This is not a neighbourhood that shouts for attention and that is part of its appeal. If you want polished hotels, morning walks along the harbour and a sense that life here has been settled for generations, Östermalm offers a kind of calm you won’t find elsewhere in the city. Just bring a budget to match the address.

Östermalm pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Wide elegant streets	Hotels are expensive
Quiet, safe feeling	Very quiet at night
High-end shopping	Less casual dining
Top-tier food market	Few lively cafés
Walk to museums	Pricey shopping scene

Photography courtesy of Ett Hem and Östermalms Saluhall

Södermalm

Södermalm – or just Söder to locals – is Stockholm’s creative core, where former working-class streets have grown into one of the city’s most desirable addresses. Students, young families and designers fill the pavements, slipping between vintage shops, bakeries and cafés with queues out the door. We like staying around Mariatorget or SoFo (South of Folkungagatan), where every corner feels stitched together with record shops, bookstores and easygoing bars. Flats here are among the hardest to get in Stockholm and locals carry their address with pride. If you want a stay that folds you into a real, stylish, fiercely loved neighbourhood, Södermalm is it. Just expect a few hills and the odd late-night crowd.

Read the article on our pick of the best Södermalm hotels.

Södermalm pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Stylish creative vibe	Some steep hills
Excellent cafés and bars	Noisy weekends
Vintage and design shops	Less polished streets
Real neighbourhood feel	Hotels quite scattered
Parks and waterfront walks	Limited luxury stays

Photography courtesy of Visit Stockholm and Stockholm Stadshotell

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s medieval heart, feels almost too cinematic to be real. Cobblestone lanes thread past ochre townhouses, opening onto small squares where cafés spill out in summer. Accommodation is limited here, often charming but rarely luxurious, but we like it for the atmosphere that lingers after the crowds fade. Waking early means you can have the alleyways almost to yourself, with the Royal Palace and the Nobel Prize Museum just steps away. It is not the quietest or the best value, but if you want to feel Stockholm’s oldest layers underfoot each morning, Gamla Stan still holds a certain magic.

Gamla Stan pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Storybook setting	Few hotels available
Walk to main sights	Limited luxury options
Quiet early mornings	Crowded by midday
Historic atmosphere	Tourist-focused shops
Cosy restaurants	Uneven narrow streets

Vasastan

Vasastan is Stockholm without the gloss. Long rows of sand-coloured flats, the clink of plates from corner cafés, parks where the biggest event of the day is a slow dog walk. We like it because nobody here is trying to entertain you. You slot into daily life, grabbing a cardamom bun from a bakery that has been there for forty years, browsing a dusty second-hand shop, walking slow leafy streets with no agenda. Odenplan brings the metro and commuter trains if you need to move fast, but wander north and the city thins out. If you want polished sightseeing, look elsewhere. If you want Stockholm at shoulder height, Vasastan stays open without ever inviting you in.

Vasastan pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Quiet lived-in streets	Few major sights
Good local bakeries	Evenings are quiet
Lower hotel prices	Hotels are modest
Metro and trains nearby	Limited dining range
Parks and cafés	Some distance to centre

Photography courtesy of Villa Dahlia

Kungsholmen

Kungsholmen is what happens when a city stops performing. Residential blocks stretch for miles, broken up by playgrounds, law offices and the occasional bakery that feels like it’s been waiting all morning for someone to come in. In all honesty, it can be dreadfully dull in parts. But along Norr Mälarstrand, where the water runs wide and cafés scatter tables by the shore, it softens into something easy, even romantic. We like it if you want breathing space without giving up the city entirely. Kungsholmen is not Stockholm at its brightest or sharpest. It is Stockholm off-duty, eating an ice cream by the water, wondering if the shops are even open today.

Kungsholmen pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Peaceful waterfront paths	Large dull stretches
Real lived-in atmosphere	Very quiet at night
Good bakeries and cafés	Hotels few and far
Quick metro connections	Limited dining scene
Slower everyday pace	Centre might feel distant

Photography courtesy of Lydmar Hotel

Djurgården

Djurgården belongs to central Stockholm, but standing under the old oaks with the water curling past the shore, it feels impossible to believe. Once royal hunting grounds, the island is now a stitched-together patchwork of parks, woodlands and faded waterfront villas. You come here to slow down: to walk the gravel paths before the museums open, to sit with a coffee at Rosendals Trädgård, to drift between the salvaged wreck of the Vasa and the Nordic history housed inside Nordiska Museet. We like it for the way it lets you step sideways out of the city without ever leaving it. Stay here if you want green mornings, quiet evenings and the city shimmering just across the water.

Djurgården pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Expansive green landscapes	Very quiet after dark
Landmark museums nearby	Limited hotel selection
Historic royal atmosphere	Few casual dining spots
Peaceful waterfront trails	Longer access to centre
Easy ferry links to city	Accommodation might cost more

Photography courtesy of Visit Stockholm and Rosendals Trädgård

Skeppsholmen

Skeppsholmen feels less like a neighbourhood than an anchored fragment of the city. Once a naval base, it is now a quiet island of museums, lawns and empty waterfronts. Moderna Museet’s bold galleries and ArkDes’s architecture exhibitions draw a daytime crowd but outside, the streets stay empty. We like it for the sense of pause it gives you: mornings when the harbour barely moves, nights when the bridges frame the city lights without pulling you in. Staying here means choosing distance over convenience. There is little nightlife, few shops and nowhere casual to drop into. Just water, stone and slow air, with Stockholm glowing quietly across the channel.

Skeppsholmen pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Isolated peaceful setting	Empty after dark
Landmark art museums	Only few hotel options
Stunning harbour views	No casual dining nearby
Walkable to the centre	Very limited shops and cafés
Quiet retreat from city	Can feel stark off-season