What to see in Stockholm in 1 day

Gamla Stan, the old city on its own island, with its colored houses tightly packed along medieval alleys, is where to start: here you find also the Royal Palace, one of the world's largest royal residences still in use.

In Gamla Stan's main square, Stortorget, the stepped facades in pastel colors remain among the city's most photographed images, besides being the place where in 1520 the bloody Stockholm Bloodbath took place.

Crossing a short bridge you reach the island of Djurgården, where several museums stand including the Vasa Museum, built around a warship from 1628 recovered nearly intact from the harbor bottom over three centuries after its sinking.

For lunch, the Södermalm neighborhood, with its concentration of cafés and venues, offers a good stopping point between one museum and the next.

Skansen, the world's oldest open-air museum, recreates traditional Swedish houses and farms from across the country, complete with Nordic animals.

The Stockholm City Hall, the red brick building where the Nobel Prize banquet is held annually, has instead a panoramic tower over the archipelago.

The streets around Stortorget, in Gamla Stan, propose for dinner Swedish cuisine dishes like meatballs with cranberry jam.

Gamla Stan, the Royal Palace, and the Vasamuseet already tell Stockholm's medieval history and maritime identity, with the afternoon choice between Skansen and the City Hall completing the day.

The fashionable Östermalm neighborhood and a boat trip among the archipelago's islands await a return. Seeing the colorful facades of Stortorget reflected in the cafe windows is perhaps Stockholm's most direct image.