One of the best things about living in London is the proximity to most of Europe. In just over two hours you can be almost anywhere on the continent, so those of you living or working in the UK can take some fantastic weekend breaks. it was with this in mind we spent a weekend in Sweden’s capital of cool, Stockholm. Below is our guide to a weekend in the capital to maximise your time and see most of the main sites.

Saturday Day 1:

Kick off your day with a grab and go breakfast from one of the bakeries or supermarkets in the main train station. You will quickly find Scandinavian countries are expensive so a cheap breakfast will keep you on budget as well as save you time.

While eating breakfast head down to the Stockholm Town Hall. First guided tours in English are at 10:00am. The town hall is home to the Nobel Prize Banquets, is beautifully decorated inside and gives you a great introduction to the city. In the middle of summer you can also climb the town hall tower for some excellent views over the city.

From the town hall it is only a short walk over to the Old Town of Stockholm on the island of Gamla Stan. The Royal Palace is situated here and has a rather unique changing of the guards ceremony (12:15 daily, 13:15 Sunday’s and holidays). Spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Gamla Stan, there are a number of museums including the Nobel Prize Museum, peruse the numerous souvenir stores selling everything from Viking paraphernalia, anything yellow and blue to wooden Dala horses a traditional Swedish gift. Alternatively you can take in some retail therapy (remember H&M is Swedish)  along the pedestrianised shopping street of Drottninggatan.

This evening head over to the Skeppsholmen (an island opposite Gamla Stan) to watch the sunset over the city. Tonight you can dine in one of the many restaurants in Gamla Stan or head over to Södermalm home to loads of cool restaurants, bars and pubs. While you find them all over the world nowadays the original Ice Bar is in Stockholm, it is best to book ahead.

Sunday Day 2:

After an easy start to the day it is time to hit a couple of museums. First visit the Vasa Museum, showcasing the recovered and restored Vasa an enormous warship from the 1600’s that lay under water for over 300 years (it only sailed for less than 20 minutes!). Amazingly this museum is dedicated to one of the country’s biggest screw ups but is incredibly impressive. Make sure you watch the short documentary, the recovery of the boat is almost as fascinating as the boat itself.

From the Vasa a short walk will take you to one of the newest museums. Time to break out the sequins and flares as you step into the Abba Museum. With interactive displays, a piano linked up to Benny’s piano back home, so when he plays it plays and a flashing dance floor continuously pumping out Dancing Queen you don’t have to be a diehard fan to enjoy it!

The rest of Sunday you can do as you please, perhaps take a cruise around the islands, or just chill out in one of the many parks with the locals before you have to head back to the airport and home.

While a weekend is definitely not long enough to explore all Stockholm has to offer, for those of you short on time this plan of attack will help you cover most of the main attractions of the city.

– Dean

There are regular flights from London to Stockholm, check out http://www.ba.com or http://www.easyjet.com.

There is a regular train service from the airport to town centre and reverse and costs approximately, wait for it, £50, welcome to Scandinavia everyone!