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Stockholm guide

Stockholm's Museum Waterfront: Blasieholmen and Skeppsholmen

From the National Museum on Blasieholmen across the bridge to Skeppsholmen, past the Far Eastern and Modern Art museums to the af Chapman. A walk for first-time visitors who want paintings, Asian antiquities and a tall ship in one stretch of waterfront.

Two small pieces of land face each other across a narrow channel in central Stockholm, and between them they hold a surprising share of the city's art. One carries a nineteenth-century palace of paintings, the other a former naval base turned museum island. Walk it in this order and the water is never far from your elbow.

Blasieholmen: the National Museum

Start at the National Museum of Fine Arts, a big Italian-style building at the tip of Blasieholmen. German architect Friedrich August Stüler designed it, and it opened in 1866. After a long closure for rebuilding, it reopened in October 2018.

National Museum of Fine Arts
National Museum of Fine ArtsMuseumGo in. Head for the Rembrandt, the Renoir and the Watteau, then look up at the staircase hall before you leave. Cross the road to the bridge to Skeppsholmen when you come out.Photo: Jonas Bergsten, Public domain

Skeppsholmen: Asia in an old naval store

The bridge drops you onto Skeppsholmen, where the navy once kept its gear. The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities sits in the old Tyghuset. Archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson founded it in 1926 with finds from his digs in China, and it has just reopened after a closure of more than two years.

Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities
Museum of Far Eastern AntiquitiesMuseumWorth a look inside now that it has reopened, especially if the National Museum left you wanting a change of scene. Check which galleries are open before you queue. Then follow the island road south.Photo: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0

The modern collection

The Modern Art Museum opened in 1958 and now works from a building by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. It holds the national collection of modern and contemporary art, and it looks out over the water, so even a short stop gives you a view.

Modern Art Museum
Modern Art MuseumMuseumPick one gallery rather than all of them, then sit by the shore outside or stop at the café. The masts ahead belong to your last stop; keep walking down towards the water.Photo: Kalle1~commonswiki, Public domain

A ship to finish

Moored on the west shore is the af Chapman, a steel sailing ship built in 1888 as the Dunboyne. The Swedish Navy owned her from 1923 to 1947, and today she serves as a hostel.

Af Chapman
Af ChapmanLandmarkStay on the quay. The three tall masts and the view back across the water to Blasieholmen are the point, and you can see the whole walk behind you.Photo: VirtKitty, CC BY-SA 2.0

Look back across the channel and Blasieholmen is right there: a palace of paintings on one shore, an island of museums and a three-masted ship on the other. Both shores are short enough to walk again in the other direction.