Östermalm

Stockholm's refined side

Östermalm is Stockholm's elegant, well-heeled district, with broad, tree-lined grand boulevards such as the waterfront Strandvägen, stately 19th-century townhouses, and the city's smartest shopping and dining scene. This is the place to wander between designer boutiques, galleries and refined cafés.

Food hall and museums

A highlight is Östermalms Saluhall on Östermalmstorg, a brick hall of 1888 with fish and game counters, cheese, confectionery and a good dozen eateries under one roof. It is the district's best address for a lunch stop, and the obvious one on a rainy day. It opens Monday to Saturday and closes on Sundays.

On the edge of the district sit two very different houses. The Swedish History Museum by the Djurgårdsbron bridge gathers the country's Viking treasures, including the Gold Room; the Hallwyl Museum on Hamngatan shows a late 19th-century town residence that the collector Wilhelmina von Hallwyl bequeathed to the state fully furnished. The Army Museum sits between the two. Archipelago and sightseeing boats depart from the Strandvägen harbour.

What defines the district

Östermalm was planned as a whole in the late 19th century, and it shows: broad, straight boulevards, closed blocks of grand apartment houses, very little medieval fabric. The Strandvägen axis between Nybroplan and Djurgårdsbron is the showpiece street, and behind it Nybrogatan, Sibyllegatan and Grev Turegatan make up the quieter shopping streets, with galleries, interiors shops and antiquarian booksellers. Stureplan, on the western edge, is the centre of the smarter nightlife.

For a breather in between there is Humlegården, an old royal kitchen garden and today a park in front of the National Library, and the waterfront benches on Strandvägen looking across to Djurgården.

Stylish, but pricey

Östermalm is a beautiful, quiet residential area within easy reach of the city centre, though it's also the most expensive in town. For a relaxed, elegant stroll away from the biggest crowds, this is the district to head for.