Places With a View Over Stockholm

Looking out at City Hall

You don't have to go far from the Rival Hotel to find a good vantage point to see the city. The hotel's neighborhood is on a slight rise that dominates the island of Södermalm so there are several viewpoints close by. Directly across the street (Hornsgatan) from the hotel you'll see gentle stairs leading up to a small, quaint neighborhood of cobblestone streets. At the end of the the lane you have Monteliusvägen which is a 500 meter long walking path that gives you great views of the Old Town, City Hall and Lake Mälaren. All pictures here are from Monteliusvägen.

Looking back towards the hotel

A little further away, about a 10 minute walk, you have popular Mosebacke Square which connects to Katarinahissen and there you have a view over both Lake Mälaren and the waterfront. Here you will also find the very popular restaurant Gondolen. The popularity is mainly due to the views... be aware that you should book a table here at least 2 weeks in advance. They also have a very nice bar where you can have a drink and admire the views without having to book a table.

Monteliusvägen

If views are your thing, then here are several other spots in Stockholm with great views: restaurant Och Himlen Därtill on top of the Skrapan "skyscraper", historical street Fjällgatan, the TV tower Kaknästornet with restaurant and bar and the newly built SkyView. This last one is a glass gondola that takes you to the top of the Globen Arena, which is located in the southern part of Stockholm. Someday soon I'll try the SkyView and come back with a report...

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AN park, restaurants, sightseeing, tip, view

Restaurant Gondolen

Gondolen as seen from Slussen

 I believe most towns and cities have that one mainstay restaurant where businessmen take visiting clients, husbands take wives for anniversary dinners and locals take out-of-towners who they want to impress. While there are a few restaurants in Stockholm that fall into this category... Gondolen is the one that comes first to mind for me! Established in 1979, it has been around awhile too, which means that most Stockholmers have been there once or twice. I visited the restaurant today for just one of these reasons... a lunch celebrating a friend's 40th birthday.

Back entrance from Mosebacke square

Views towards Slussen and Gamla Stan

The restaurant is owned by celebrity chef Erik Lallerstedt (since 1994) and, in fact, the restaurant's full name is Erik's Gondolen. The food, Swedish/international cuisine, is great, but what really brings in the guests year after year is the fantastic views. Located on the heights of Södermalm, where the locks separate the island from Gamla Stan, it has impressive views of the harbour, Djurgården and (of course) Gamla Stan. It is hard to miss the restaurant... it sticks out from the Södermalm heights like a pier, with its name emblazoned on the side. That, and the digital clock & thermometer on the end of the restaurant, has made it a Stockholm landmark.

Table with a view.

Main dining room.

To get to the restaurant from the Rival Hotel is very easy... just a 10 minute walk! You can either enter the restaurant using an elevator from the bottom of the building at Slussen, or you can enter the back way, across the bridge, from the square Mosebacke Torg. One word of warning... this is a restaurant that needs a little advanced planning to visit. Because of its popularity, one should book a table at least a week or so in advance (in order to be guaranteed a table). I often get guests who come to me in the early evening and want me to book them a table the same evening. Difficult! If no tables are available, I usually recommend that they visit the restaurant's cocktail bar, which is very good, have a drink and enjoy the views before heading to another restaurant for dinner. Another good tip is that during the summer months they have a roof-top (open air) barbecue restaurant as well, which is on drop-in basis only... no reservations!
Click here for other restaurant recommendations and click here for other places in town with a view.

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AN restaurants, Södermalm, view

Walk Along Västerbron (The Western Bridge)

View from the top, looking at City Hall

One of my favorite walks to take on a sunny, summer day is over Västerbron (The Western Bridge). Built in 1935, this 600 meter long bridge connects the islands of Södermalm (where the Rival Hotel is located) and Långholmen with the island of Kungsholmen. It provides great views of Gamla Stan and downtown Stockholm to the east and the Essinge islands in Lake Mälaren to the west. Location.

Locks left by lovers at the top.

As there are great walking paths around both Södermalm and Kunsgholmen, the bridge can be combined with a longer walk... for example, there is a beautiful promenade along the south coast of Kungsholmen between the City Hall and Västerbron. Lovers have taken up leaving padlocks on the railing at the apex of the bridge, symbolizing the hope that their relationship will last forever.There are subway stations on each end of the bridge. On the Södermalm side you have Hornstull (red line) and on the Kungsholmen side you have Fridhemsplan (green & blue lines). A bit of trivia: this walk is part of the Stockholm Marathon route and is considered (with its slow uphill rise) to be one of the toughest parts. Much easier to walk it!

View of the bridge from Kungsholmen.

One of Sweden's most beloved artists, Monica Zetterlund, sang a beautiful song about Stockholm called "Sakta vi gå genom stan" which contains a wonderful reference to the bridge.

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AN view, walk

SkyView at Globen

SkyView

I did it! I'm not the best person when it comes to heights and enclosed spaces, so I've been a little leery about trying one of Stockholm's newest attractions... SkyView. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity during an educational seminar led by the Stockholm Visitors Board last week. SkyView is a specially designed glass gondola that takes you 130 meters up to the top of the Ericsson Globe Arena.

Going up...

Called Globen for short (the globe), it is the largest indoor arena in Stockholm with a capacity of up to 16,000 people and is the venue for most large concerts (Lady Gaga, Paul Simon, Tom Petty this summer) and indoor sporting events (ice hockey world championships this May) in Stockholm. The building itself is quite unusual & spectacular. Shaped like a large white ball (some say it looks like a golf ball), it is the largest spherical building in the world and a famous part of the Stockholm skyline.

and up...

SkyView is a funicular railway on the outside of the building with two gondolas that take up to 16 passengers at a time to the top of the arena. At the top of Globen, visitors have an unobstructed 360 degree view of the southern part of Stockholm. Each ride takes 20 minutes and the gondolas depart 6 times an hour. Tickets cost 130 SEK (100 for children and seniors) and includes a 10 minute information video about Globen and SkyView). Tickets can be purchased there or on their website. At the base you have a nice café and gift shop (great Swedish ice hockey souvenirs). To be honest, while it is an amazing view... it is not an amazing view of Stockholm city. Globen is located south of the central part of the city, so the view is mainly of the southern suburbs. I definitely recommend SkyView for the experience itself. It's not every day you ride in a glass ball on the outside of a giant white globe! But if it is views of downtown Stockholm that you are interested in, then I recommend Kaknästornet, Monteliusvägen, Fjällgatan, Gondolen or Skrapan. Click here for my tips regarding this. To get to Globen/SkyView from the Rival Hotel, take the subway (green line) from Slussen south, in the direction Hagsätra, for four stations.

Photo by Sören Andersson, SVB (the other 3 by me!)

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AN music, sport, view

Kaknästornet

On my outing last week to Thielska Galleriet, I took advantage of the great weather and made a stop at the famous TV tower Kaknästornet (Kaknäs Tower) to enjoy the views. Completed in 1967, this 170 meter high (including antenna) tower was the tallest building in Sweden up until the year 2000. It is often depicted as part of the Stockholm skyline along with the Globe arena and the city hall.
To be honest, the building has a bit of a retro Soviet look to it these days and its location, on the outskirts of the city, make it a little problematic to get to. I wouldn't make a special trip just to the tower, but if you are in the area then it is worth the visit. For example, there are several museums and art galleries in the area as well as great nature walks (in the surrounding Djurgården city park) that can be combined with a visit to Kaknästornet. The tower has amazing views from the top... Stockholm to the west and south and the beginning of the archipelago to the east. The entrance fee is 45 SEK for adults and 20 SEK for children between 7 and 15. There is both a restaurant and a café/bar at the top. If you have a table reserved in the restaurant then there is no entrance fee. They also have a souvenir shop on the bottom level. The best way to get there is by taking either bus 69 or 69K from Norrmalmstorg.

When I was there it was late afternoon and the sun made it hard to take pictures of the city, so I concentrated on the views to the east instead! Pictured above is the entrance to Stockholm harbour with the quaint Fjäderholmarna Islands (beginning of the archipelago).

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AN Djurgården, view