iHanna’s Guide to Stockholm – flea markets, crafts, art and fika
Hi, I’m not an expert but…
…I have my favorite places in Stockholm, Sweden (I was born just outside the beautiful capital of Scandinavia)!
…I’ve been asked so many times (and recently twice by e-mail) about my Do Not Miss This When You’re in Stockholm List by flea market hunters, artists and crafters who visit my creative blog. I thought I’d publish a small list here to help out if you’re new in town!
…I hope this guide to Stockholm will point you in the right direction so that you can go from here on and explore on your own.
Observe that this guide was written in 2008.
It’s a huge beautiful city, so let’s get started.
Craft and Art in Stockholm
- The Old Town in Stockholm
Well, it is the most touristy place to visit but still a must-see with the beautiful houses and narrow streets! Go early in the morning and enjoy the architecture and stillness. Then go back during the day and get run over by Americans, Germans, Italians out on a mission, hunting for knäckebröd and other Swedish artefact’s to bring back home… :-) But don’t miss a walk in the Old Town, coz’ you’ll find lots of fun shops (yarn, paper, crafts, clothes, candy), touristy stuff, little squares, statues, museums and those cozy cafes you can’t live without in big cities… it’s close the the water all the time and just around the corner is the Royal Castle too! - Paper, journals, stamps
Oh, and in Stockholm you’ll find the cute little paper shop Ljunggrens Papper where you’ll find beautiful papers, handmade books, stamps and cards. It’s run by author and bookmaker Barbara Bunke who wrote my favorite bookbinding book! At the huge, expensive and historic compartment store NK you’ll find ink, pens, beautiful notebooks (Moleskine, Paper Blanks etc.) and more paper! At Skapa Hobby you’ll find scrapbook supplies (the address is Hornsgatan 29).
Flea markets and thrift shops
The indie place “Street” has closed down and Skärholmen’s loppis (flea market) is not in Skärholmen any more. You will find other places though, new ones is popping up all the time. Off course the city is more expensive than other places to thrift in Sweden, but they will take time to find. Here are some shops so you can go browse through Swedish junk at your pleasure! :-)
- VÃ¥rbergs loppmarknad – big flea market outside of town (go by subway). Best on the weekends when temporary sellers come in and sell cheap.
- Myrorna Second Hand is goodwill that has several shops around Sweden and quite a few in the Stockholm area. Their homepage is only in Swedish and totally crappy for linking, but you’ll find all the shops at the Myrorna Shops List! My favorite is in Skärholmen (you go there by subway). The most central one is at Adolf Fredriks kyrkogata 5-7 close to another favorite for crafters Hemslöjden (see below).
- Stadsmissionens Second Hand is a goodwill and located at several places. Emmaus Stockholm (now Articel2) is another one, go by subway to Slussen and find three of their shops (650 square metre (kvm) second hand stuff)!
- I’ve enjoyed one knit café in Stockholm and there are several others to join if you have the time. Here is a knitting calendar to keep you updated.
- Bonus: Small and big flea markets in a huge list of Loppisar and loppmarknader in Stockholm!
iHanna’s Personal Stockholm picks
- Visit Pocketshop – row after row with beautiful new paper back books! They have a small selection of Swedish novels translated to English too. In the city my favorite Pocketshop is at Kulturhuset close to another favorite store (where I never shop but fill up with inspiration); Designtorget! There you’ll find cool new design (furniture, jewelry, books and fun little gifts). For a better view Sergles torg (the black and white square) including a place to sit and sip your caffe latte take the elevator (or preferably the moving staircase) up to the fifth floor where you’ll find art exhibitions and yummy Café Panorama!
Architecture then
- The architecture of Stockholms stadsbibliotek (the library) is a favorite, it’s very cool and worth a visit! It’s at Odengatan 63.
- Museums in Stockholm
I have several favorites even though you don’t go often enough in your own country! Visit the spring exhibit at Liljevalchs (for new art), Nordiska museet where you’ll learn about Sweden’s cultural history (don’t miss the craft part if you’re there in the summer)! And of course for a energy shoot of art go to Moderna museet (modern art and nice shop) and the huge Nationalmuseum (historic and new paintings and sculpture). - Gardens and green places in the city
Stockholm is a city on connected islands so the water is everywhere present and so are treas and grean areas. A favorite garden of mine is Bergianska (I ♥ this place) close to Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet (stuffed animals and lots of ancient history) that has a 3D movie theater called Cosmonova (I ♥ this place too, it brings out the child in me every time I go).I also like Rosendals Trädgård at Djurgården (close to the tivoli Grönalund and the city zoo Skansen with historic buildings, Nordic animals, Jonas Wahlström spirit and monkey house, etc!) and the huge Haga Garden with Fjärilshuset (green house with butterflies flying around you!).
I’m not listing all the smaller places because you’ll find them by yourself (plus they might move before you get there). I don’t live in the center of Stockholm (thank god!) but these are some of my favorite choices that you will be able to locate easily when you visit Stockholm. Have fun and let me know if you got there!
- Gula sidorna is where you can type any Swedish address and get a map with directions from A to B. Good luck!
- Stockholm Town – the official visitors guide!
- Stockholm Museums – lots of information about the big selection of museums!
- Caf̩kartan Рreviews (in Swedish) of cafes! Very handy site.
- Stockholmsbloggen – a blog in Swedish about Sthlm news
A warm welcome to Sweden!
Always remember my dear friends; the best art and craft material comes from thrift stores! And don’t forget to have lots of fika when you’re in Sweden – maybe I can meat up with you and join in for coffee and a cinnamon roll (or if it’s winter we’ll have saffron buns of course)! I’ll bring my knitting and you can tell me your secrets.
© All photos is by me, Hanna Andersson. This guide was created by Hanna Andersson, November 2008.
/iHanna
Disclaimer: Please do not send me your questions about this (as I don’t have addresses, road explanations or other details). I do not have the time to do research for you. This is my recommendations – take it or leave it. I’m putting it up there because I couldn’t find anything good online in English on this topic! I think you should google your way to further information! Please note that this is not a complete list of art and craft adventures in Stockholm and that I don’t guarantee that the information is still correct when you find it.
If you want to add your own personal favorite places feel free to comment below or make a list of your own and link here! Thanks! :-)
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28 Responses
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When I was a senior in high school my best friend was an exchange student from Sweden–Anna Dufva. She told me all kinds of cool stuff about Sweden and I always wanted to go. Reading your blog today rekindled that. What a lovely place?!
Thanks Hanna, I’m printing this out, just in case I make it to Stockholm. I’m a fan of Liza Marklund’s fictional investigative journalist “Annika Bengtzon” novels which are set in and around Stockholm; so with your tips and photos you’ve given me some idea of the sights and sounds and colours of Stockholm. Tack sa mycket. ( and that’s about the level of my svenska)
Hi!
Thank you for this guide! I’m an italian girl, who always read your full-of-energy blog! One of my dreams is to visit sweden (but Finland and Norway, too), I think this guide will be usefull for me! :)
Thank you also because your creativity is an important ispiration for me (and sorry for my bad english!!!).
Uva
oh, wow. I’m going to print this out and read it while I’m supposed to be working.
Do you KNOW how much I want to go to Scandinavia?
I’m sure I’ll be back with about a gazillion questions.
oops!
What I mean is, I won’t send any questions!
I am soooo wanting to come and visit, but I’m afraid its going to be a few years to save for it. It is on my list of things to accomplish though!We had a friend from Sweden stay the summer with us when I was in Jr. High school. My sister and him played bassoons together in the Colorado Symphony. He was crazy fun!
Love this list! I hope to one day be able to visit every single one of those spots and more!
*hugs*
Sophie
stockholm is on our to visit list, probably in 2010 as we hope to be travelling to a theme park in Finland. So, I will bookmark this page but will window shop only as not much room on our motorcyle.
I’ve been to Stockholm several times and some things are famialiar but this post makes me want to go back again.
I am booking a plane ticket right now. :-)
Thanks for this post. I happened to be in Stockholm the weekend before last and would have loved your hints on Gamla Stan. I was looking for special craft/yarn/fabric stores but missed out. I went to Panduro, but that is too much for just a short trip and in my humble opinion not inspiring in itself.
Anyway, I had a good time and enjoyed the city and this short trip very, very much. Memories came back while reading.
My recommandations:
– Of course a (longer or shorter) boat cruise through the marvelous Sch?rengarden, those hundreds of little islands.
– If you look for a perfectly situated hotel with atmosphere: Check out the Anno 1647. It is supposed to be the oldest of Stockholm. It’s not that cheap, but special (I got invited *hihi*)
– Near the Hotel is a typical Swedish restaurant directly on Slussen. It serves very Swedish food and has a wide range of beer. Good atmosphere here as well and good value for money.
I plan to do a blog post myself, but fear it won’t be today or tomorrow, so that’s why I wrote here in the comments.
w-o-w (l?s: imponerad)
Lovely photos Hanna. The library is very impressive and colourful.
I am book marking this for the next time I go to Stockholm ! Gorgeous city and I’m sure it will be even more fun with your suggestions :) Thanks – I know it takes quite a while to compile these things :)
Thanks Hanna. I just found this blog invaluable as we’re setting off from Yorkshire on Monday for our first visit to Stockholm. Pat is hoping to find time to visit the Garn shops and she’ll be bringing knitting too
Thank you for taking the time to write this! I just moved to Stockholm and was hoping to find a good guide to continue my craft life. I will miss Micheals back home, but looking forward to checking out Stockholm’s craft scene!
Thanks for this, I live in Stockholm and was having a really hard time finding art supplies. Pandora is not very good, in my opinion, and I’d been to the Kreatima store, but couldn’t remember the name, and wanted to make sure they have what I’m looking for! Boy, do I miss the States where you can buy a child some colored pencils for a reasonable price!
this is amazing — thank you so much! i happened across your blog today from a link in craftzine (great work on the planner!), and when i found out you were swedish i immediately scoured your blog for recommendations such as this. i’m headed to stockholm on vacation this summer and will be printing this out to bring with me! thanks again!
Hi!
all this information is great! I am going over to Stockholm and other cities in Sweden this summer so it’s good to know about all of this nice places to visit. Thanks!!
xxx
Sweden is my favorite place in the whole world. I’m especially fond of Dalarna, the land of my great-grandmother, Anna Lena. But every trip to Sweden (there have been 12 now) includes some time in Stockholm. I’m a big lover of folk art, so always go to the Nordiska Museum and Skansen, but I haven’t done the flea market scene. You can bet I will next time. Last time I was there my sister and I were lucky enough to be invited to a family wedding that took place on Dalarö Skans. A cherished memory for sure. Thanks for this post. I know it had to take a long time and a lot of thought. Oh, and if we have coffee, may I please have kardemumma bullar?
Oh, I wish I had read this last Summer when I traveled to Stockholm! I’d love to visit that cozy yarn stores you mention.
I visited the library, and it’s true, totally worth a visit!
Thx for your Stockholm-inside-facts. Really nice.
Regards,
Ralf (Hamburg, Germany)
Finally I took time to read trough your Stockholm guide. It looks like lots of trips ahead in the near future!!! ;)
Thanks Hanna.
Hanna,
Thank you for the tips and suggestions of where to go. I followed your advice and went to the rose garden in the djurgarden area. What a delightful experience!! The whole djurgarden was marvellous. Loved it loved it loved it. I also check emmaus per your suggestion, and got a remnant of josef frank textile from svensk tenn for 80 kroner. What luck!! Too short a visit. I hope to visit stockholm again!
Katzies
Ps:
I also went to nordiska museet, following your advice. Fell helplessly in love with the folk art room and textile room.