Where to stay in Gamla Stan — by area
The right area depends on your trip. Here's who each one suits.
Riddarholmen
- history with water views
Palaces now hold government offices and rooms are absent, so beds lie across the water at Södermalm. Rooms are few around here — worth securing early.
Most visitors stay in Södermalm →
Things to do in Gamla Stan
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
- Stockholms slott Heritage-listed — official residence of the Swedish monarch
- S/S Blidösund Heritage-listed — Swedish steamship built in 1911
- S/S Björkfjärden Heritage-listed — working life museum
- Nobelprismuseet — museum about Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize
- Livrustkammaren — Swedish state historical museum with exhibits of Swedish military history
- Museum Tre Kronor
5 more
- Gustav III:s antikmuseum
- Skattkammaren — museum where regalia of Sweden and other valuable objects are exhibited
- Postmuseum
- Kungliga Husgerådskammaren — organization that manages the furnishings collections of the royal palaces of Sweden
- Ivar Lo-museet
Churches & Religious Sites
- Tyska kyrkan Heritage-listed
- Finska kyrkan Heritage-listed — Church of Sweden church building
- Riddarholmskyrkan — burial church of the Swedish kings and was opened approximately in 1300
- Svartbrödraklostret i Stockholm
- Gråbrödraklostret i Stockholm — monastery for males of the Franciscan Order
Castles & Historic Sites
- Bondeska palatset Heritage-listed
- Wrangelska palatset
- Axel Oxenstiernas palats
- Olaus Petri — statue and memorial
- Statue of Lars Johan Hierta in Gamla stan
Landmarks & Notable Places
- Medeltidsmuseet — presents the origin and medieval development of Stockholm
- Jakob Sauers hus — Medieval house
Gamla Stan — common questions
What is the best area to stay in Gamla Stan?
Riddarholmen: history with water views.
About Gamla Stan
What are the main landmarks in Gamla Stan?
The island is the city's historic core. Stockholms slott, the royal palace, fronts the water with its state apartments, armoury, and the treasury vault of Skattkammaren, while the spire of Tyska kyrkan rises over the old German merchants' quarter. Beneath the Parliament on Helgeandsholmen, Medeltidsmuseet keeps the excavated town wall.
Stortorget, the oldest square, opens at the centre.
What is the history of Gamla Stan?
Stockholm began here. The town first enters the written record around the middle of the thirteenth century, when Birger Jarl is held to have fortified the island to guard the passage between the Baltic and Lake Mälaren. Trade with Lübeck and the Hansa filled its lanes.
In 1520 Stortorget ran with blood in the killings remembered as the Stockholm Bloodbath.
Where is Gamla Stan?
The district lies in south-eastern Stockholm, in eastern Sweden, on Stadsholmen with the islets of Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg around it.