Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(order at the bar, daily 11:00-22:00, closed off-season, behind the bike-rental
Dinner Cruises:
The Palace Park Dinner Cruise sails nightly from
Stadshusbron, offering a three-course dinner during a scenic cruise that in-
cludes a walking tour of the gardens at Drottningholm Palace (565 kr, drinks
extra, three-hour cruise, departs daily in summer 17:30-22:00, tel. 08/
1200-4000,
www.stromma.se
)
.
(See “Stockholm Hotels & Restaurants” map,
here
.)
On a balmy summer's eve,
Mälarpaviljongen
is a dreamy spot with hun-
dreds of locals enjoying the perfect lakefront scene, as trendy glasses of rosé
shine like convivial lanterns. From City Hall, walk 15 minutes along Lake
Mälaren (a treat in itself) and you'll find a hundred casual outdoor tables on
a floating restaurant and among the trees on shore. Line up at the cafeteria
to order a drink, snack, or complete meal. If it's cool, they have heaters and
blankets. The walk along the lake back into town caps the experience beau-
tifully (56-kr beer, 125-kr cocktails, 100-kr lunch plates, 150-200-kr evening
plates, open in good weather April-Sept daily 11:00-late, easy lakeside walk
or T-bana to Freedomsplace plus a 5-minute walk to Nörr Mälarstrand 63, no
reservations, tel. 08/650-8701).
(See “Stockholm Hotels & Restaurants” map,
here
.)
Just south of Gamla Stan, the Södermalm district is the gritty, funky, proud-
to-be-working-class part of town. It's the downscale antidote to the upscale,
ritzyareaswheremosttouristsspendtheirtime(Norrmalm,Östermalm,Djur-
gården, and Gamla Stan). And it's recently in vogue, thanks to the Stieg
Larsson's Millennium trilogy of novels, in which Lisbeth Salander and her
cohorts represent the “real,” hardscrabble Stockholm (all the villains come
from the posh north side). While the often-repeated comparison to “Stock-
holm's Brooklyn” is a stretch (this relatively sterile area lacks the loosey-
goosey hipster charm of many such neighborhoods in the US and other parts
of Europe), it does have a nice variety of restaurants where locals outnumber
