Rebecca Engel
Stockholm in winter is dark, cold and surprisingly cozy. The city is built across fourteen islands, and once the snow settles on the old copper roofs and candles come out in every café window, it feels like a different place from the bright summer city on the postcards.
These things to do in Stockholm in winter run in the order the season does, from the Christmas markets and Lucia in December to saunas, museums and semla buns in February. Each one says when it runs, so it’s easy to match the list to your dates.
1. Peek At The NK Christmas Windows On Hamngatan
NK, short for Nordiska Kompaniet, is Stockholm’s grand old department store, and it has dressed its street windows for Christmas every year since 1915. Each year has a new theme that’s kept secret until the big reveal, and the windows fill up with moving scenes that pull in kids and grownups alike.
The windows are unveiled on a Sunday in mid to late November, when Santa rolls up in a horse and carriage. Go after the store closes for the evening if you’d rather not squeeze in with the crowds.
While you’re on Hamngatan, look up. The city strings around a million lights across more than 40 streets and squares from mid November, so the walk there is half the fun.
2. Sip Glögg At The Stortorget Christmas Market In Gamla Stan
Stortorget is the little square at the heart of Gamla Stan, the old town, ringed by tall painted houses in red, orange and yellow. A Christmas market has set up here since 1837, which makes it the oldest one in Sweden.
About 40 red wooden stalls sell handmade crafts, smoked sausages, game meats, caramels and plenty of glögg, the Swedish mulled wine. It’s served hot with raisins and almonds dropped in the cup, and it’s exactly what you want with cold hands.
The market usually runs every day from late November until December 23, and it’s free to walk around. Go in the late afternoon, when it’s already dark and the stalls are lit up.
3. Shop The Skansen Christmas Market On An Advent Weekend
Skansen is an open air museum on Djurgården, filled with old farmhouses, workshops and manor houses moved here from all over Sweden. Its Christmas market has been running since 1903, and it’s the most traditional one in the city.
The market opens on the four Advent weekends before Christmas, Friday through Sunday. Stalls sell candles, crafts, Christmas sweets, waffles, roasted almonds and glögg, and the old buildings around them are decorated the way Swedes did it generations ago.
You’ll need a regular Skansen ticket to get in. Winter days are short, and the park closes in the middle of the afternoon, so go early and save the walk back along the water for dusk.
4. Vote For Your Favorite Gingerbread House At ArkDes
ArkDes is Sweden’s national center for architecture and design, on the small island of Skeppsholmen. For more than 30 years it has hosted a gingerbread house exhibition every winter, and it’s one of the sweetest things to do in Stockholm in winter.
Anyone can enter, so the houses range from tiny cottages built by kids to wild designs by real architects. Visitors vote for their favorite, which makes it easy to spend longer than planned picking a winner.
The exhibition usually opens in late November and runs into early January. Skeppsholmen is a short walk across a bridge from the city center, with great views of the old town on the way.
5. Book A Julbord At The Grand Hôtel Or Operakällaren
A julbord is the Swedish Christmas buffet, and it’s a serious meal. Expect pickled herring in several flavors, cured salmon, meatballs, Christmas ham, Jansson’s temptation (a creamy potato and anchovy bake) and rice pudding to finish.
The Grand Hôtel serves a famous julbord on its Veranda overlooking the water, and Operakällaren serves its version on a glassed in veranda facing the Royal Palace. Plenty of other restaurants around town put one on too.
Julbord season runs from late November until Christmas. The best tables fill up early, so book as soon as your dates are set, and pace yourself. Swedes go back to the buffet several times, starting with the fish.
6. Hear A Lucia Concert By Candlelight
Lucia Day falls on December 13, right in the darkest stretch of the year. Choirs dressed in long white gowns walk in slowly holding candles, led by Lucia herself wearing a crown of lights, and sing traditional songs as the room goes quiet.
Skansen holds short Lucia concerts in its little wooden Seglora Church, included with your entry ticket. Storkyrkan, the old cathedral in Gamla Stan, and other churches around the city hold concerts too, and some of these need tickets booked ahead.
Grab a lussekatt afterward. These saffron buns, curled into an S shape with a raisin in each end, are everywhere around Lucia and taste great with a cup of glögg.
7. Walk The Nobel Week Lights Trail
The Nobel Prizes are handed out in Stockholm every December, and the city celebrates with Nobel Week Lights, a free festival of light art. Artworks inspired by the prizes and the people who won them pop up on buildings and squares around the city center.
It runs for about a week in early to mid December. Since it gets dark so early, you can walk the trail before dinner and still have the whole evening ahead of you.
The festival is organized by the Nobel Prize Museum on Stortorget, so it pairs well with a look at the Christmas market in the same square.
8. Go Ice Skating At Kungsträdgården
Kungsträdgården is a park right in the middle of the city, and every winter part of it turns into an outdoor ice rink. It’s one of the classic things to do in Stockholm in winter, with locals gliding past on their lunch breaks and kids wobbling along in helmets.
Skating is free if you bring your own skates, and you can rent a pair on site if you don’t. The rink usually opens around November and stays open into March, as long as the weather plays along.
Go in the evening, when the trees around the rink are lit up. Plenty of cafés sit just around the corner for a hot drink afterward.
9. Warm Up In A Sauna At Hornstullsbastun
Swedes take their saunas seriously, and Hornstullsbastun is an easy way to try one in the city. It sits right on the water on Södermalm and is run by the city, so it’s simple and good value rather than fancy.
You book a 90 minute session, with times for women, men and mixed groups. Between rounds in the heat, cool off under the outdoor showers, tip a bucket of cold water over your head, or climb down into the water if you’re feeling brave.
It’s open all year, and winter is when it’s at its best. There’s something very Swedish about sitting in a hot sauna while the lake outside is close to freezing.
10. Have A Kanelbulle And Fika At Café Saturnus
Fika is the Swedish coffee break, and it’s practically a rule. People stop once or twice a day for coffee and something sweet, and in winter it’s the easiest way to get warm between stops.
The classic fika treat is a kanelbulle, a soft cinnamon bun spiced with cardamom and topped with pearl sugar. Café Saturnus in Östermalm is a favorite spot for them, with a busy, cozy room that feels made for a cold afternoon.
Don’t rush it. Fika is about sitting down and taking a real break, not grabbing a coffee to go.
11. Squeeze Through Mårten Trotzigs Gränd In Gamla Stan
Gamla Stan is where Stockholm began back in the 1200s, and its crooked lanes are even prettier in winter, when they glow with lanterns and window candles. It’s an easy place to wander for an hour without any plan at all.
Make sure to find Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, the narrowest lane in the old town. It’s a steep little stairway between two buildings, and at its tightest point it’s only about 90 centimeters wide, so you can touch both walls at once.
Watch your step if it’s icy. The stairs get slippery in winter, and the walls make it hard to move aside for anyone coming the other way.
12. Step Aboard A 17th Century Warship At The Vasa Museum
The Vasa was meant to be the pride of the Swedish navy. It sank in Stockholm’s harbor on its very first voyage in 1628, sat on the bottom for more than 300 years, and was finally raised in 1961.
Today it fills a huge hall on Djurgården, and almost all of what you see is the original ship, carvings and all. It’s one of the best things to do in Stockholm in winter, because you can easily spend a couple of warm hours inside.
The museum is open every day of the year apart from a few holidays, with later hours on Wednesday evenings. Kids and teens under 18 get in free.
13. Spend A Dark Evening At Fotografiska
Fotografiska is a photography museum in an old customs building on the Södermalm waterfront. It shows a changing lineup of exhibitions, so there’s always something new on the walls.
The best part in winter is that it stays open until 11 at night, every day. When it’s dark by mid afternoon, that makes it a great place to spend an evening instead of just a few minutes before closing.
Finish at the bar upstairs, where big windows look out over the water toward the old town and Djurgården.
14. Sing Along At ABBA The Museum
ABBA is Sweden’s most famous export, and this museum on Djurgården is all about the band. You’ll see costumes, gold records and the stories behind the songs.
It’s very hands on. You can sing in a recording booth, try out your dance moves and step onto a stage with the band, so it’s a lot more fun than a typical museum, even if you’re only a casual fan.
It’s open every day in winter, with shorter hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Buy tickets for a set time online to save a little, and bring a card, since it doesn’t take cash.
15. Ride The Tunnelbana To See The Art Underground
Stockholm’s subway, the tunnelbana, is often called the longest art gallery in the world. Most of its stations are decorated with paintings, sculptures and mosaics, and many of them are carved right into the bare rock.
Start at T Centralen, where blue vines climb across the cave walls. Then hop over to Kungsträdgården, Solna Centrum with its red ceiling and green forest, and Stadion with its rainbow.
All you need is a regular transit ticket, so it’s one of the cheapest things to do in Stockholm in winter. Best of all, it’s warm down there.
16. Catch A 3pm Sunset From Monteliusvägen
Monteliusvägen is a short path along the top of a cliff on Södermalm. It looks out over Lake Mälaren, the City Hall tower and the spires of Riddarholmen, and it’s one of the best free views in the city.
In December the sun sets before 3pm, so you don’t need to stay up late for a sunset here. Time a walk for early afternoon and you’ll catch the sky turning pink and orange over the water.
If you want a second view, head to Fjällgatan, a street of old wooden houses on the other side of Södermalm that looks back toward Gamla Stan and Djurgården.
17. Take The Winter Ferry To Vaxholm
Stockholm sits at the edge of an archipelago of thousands of islands, and you don’t have to wait for summer to see it. The Waxholmsbolaget ferries sail out to Vaxholm all year round, and the ride takes about an hour from the city center.
Sit inside where it’s heated and watch the islands slide past, often with snow on the rocks and ice along the shore. Vaxholm itself is a small, quiet town of wooden houses with a fortress guarding the channel.
If you’d rather stay closer to town, sightseeing boats also run short winter cruises out into the archipelago, with blankets and warm drinks on board.
18. Take A Day Trip To Sigtuna, Sweden’s First Town
Sigtuna was founded more than a thousand years ago and calls itself Sweden’s first town. It’s a small place on the shore of Lake Mälaren, with low wooden houses, church ruins and old rune stones dotted around town.
Getting there takes under an hour. Take the commuter train to Märsta, then a short bus ride into town.
In winter it’s quiet and very pretty under snow. Warm up in one of the little cafés on the main street, and if there’s snow on the ground, join the locals sledding on the Klockbacken hill.
19. Eat A Semla Before Fat Tuesday
A semla is a cardamom bun with the top cut off, filled with almond paste and a big swirl of whipped cream, then dusted with powdered sugar. Swedes eat them in huge numbers every winter.
Bakeries start selling them just after New Year and keep going until Easter, but the big day is Fat Tuesday, which lands in February or early March. Expect lines at the popular bakeries, including Stora Bageriet in Östermalm.
It’s the perfect way to round off a winter trip, and it gives you a reason to come back in the new year after the Christmas markets close.
Tips For Visiting Stockholm In Winter
Winter days are short in Stockholm. Around the middle of December the sun rises close to 8:45 in the morning and sets before 3:00 in the afternoon, so plan sights and walks for daylight and save markets, museums and dinner for the evening.
It’s often around freezing or a bit below, with wind off the water. Bring a warm coat, a hat, gloves and shoes with good grip, and wear layers you can peel off indoors.
The Christmas markets wrap up by December 23, and a lot of things close or shorten their hours on December 24, since Swedes celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th. Sweden is also close to cashless, so bring a card, because some places don’t take cash at all.
A few of the best things to do in Stockholm in winter depend on the weather. Skating on the frozen lakes outside the city usually starts in mid to late January if the ice is good, and it’s safest with a guided tour. When there’s snow, you can ski at Hammarbybacken right in the city or follow the cross country tracks at Hellasgården. If you’re planning a bigger Scandinavian trip, these things to do in Copenhagen in winter make an easy pairing.
Final Thoughts
Winter is when Stockholm feels most like itself. The days are short, but the candles, the markets and all that fika make up for it, and coming in from the cold to something warm never gets old.
Pick a few of these things to do in Stockholm in winter, from the Christmas markets in December to a semla in February, and let the dark evenings be part of the fun. If you’re heading farther north afterward, these things to do in Lapland in winter make a great next stop.
