How to Enjoy Your Walk Through Stockholm More by Doing Less

Enjoy Your Walk Through Stockholm More by Doing Less

The more I travel, the less I want to hit every one of the major tourist sights that other people tell me I must visit. On my recent trip to Europe, I wanted to stroll through the streets of Stockholm at my own pace.  Here’s how I think you can enjoy your walk through Stockholm more by doing less.

Don’t stay in your hotel. Wander out and explore even if you don’t have a plan.  Some of my best travel memories are of those days when I had no plan whatsoever.

Once you’re out and about, pick a destination and walk toward it.  It may be something of historical significance or you can do what I did, which was a restaurant (Hermitage Vegetarian Restaurant) that turned out to be some distance away from my hotel.  I could either forget about it or plan a long walk to and from there and skip the public transportation altogether.  I eagerly chose the latter to allow me some time to walk around Stockholm.

Don’t forget your camera.  While you may not think of a walk about town as a way to see the sights of a city, you might capture other things that grab your attention.  I was completely enthralled by The Riksdag or Riksdaghuset (Parliament House).  I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to find it, but once I did I was happy I could photograph it, even if only with my iPhone.

Stop and enjoy the moment.  Too often we become preoccupied with getting from point A to point B that we don’t see what is right in front of us.  Something as simple as a ripple in the water or buildings being reflected in the water can end up as one of your fondest memories.

Walk with a purpose, but notice the ground beneath you.  Think a street is just a street or a sidewalk is just a sidewalk?

I felt like I was always headed in the right direction as long as I was looking for the stripes on the ground in the pedestrian walkway.

Stop off and grab a drink or a quick bite.  Stockholm has a number of great bars and restaurants and I’ve always been a firm believer of bar hopping as a form of sightseeing.  Pharmarium in Gamla Stan has unique and unusual craft cocktails that are sure to impress with names like “Leatherface,” “From the Ashes,” and my favorite, “Opium.”

Pharmarium 
Address: Stortogret 7 111 29 Stockholm
Website: pharmarium.se

Appreciate the sun, shadows, rainbows, etc.  Nature is amazing isn’t it?  Sometimes the best pics I take are the accidental ones with nature stealing the shot entirely.  I loved how I was trying to take a shot of a busy street in Gamla Stan and the light reflecting through the upper windows from the opposite side of the street are dancing across these buildings.

Beauty can be found in almost anything. I spotted this intricate metal gate and had to stop and take a picture. Don’t know what it is or what it’s supposed to represent, but I liked it.

Pop into a local store. It appears that the Swedish might just like sweets as much as I do. Be it candy or Chokladbolls (chocolate balls),  I couldn’t get enough of the sugary goodness inside Karamellaffären.  They had everything from candies, chocolates, and more candy.  Had I rushed to get straight to my destination and back, I would never have seen this place and believe me it was totally worth the stop.

Karamellaffären
Drottninggatan 14
111 51 Stockholm, Sweden

After walking for a few hours, candy sure looks good and maybe you’ll want some Hello Kitty candy. Because everyone knows nothing beats Hello Kitty candy.

Don’t forget a pic of yourself on your walk.  Be it a selfie or like me, a foot selfie, take one to remember how much fun you had walking around Stockholm.  At this point I was just thinking, “Feet don’t fail me now.  We’re almost back to the hotel.”

While I may not have learned every historical fact about Stockholm on my walk, I did enjoy my walk through Stockholm by purposely choosing to do it at my pace and on my terms. Have you ever taken a walk through Stockholm? Did you do it as part of a tour or on your own?