In Stockholm for about 24 hours and staying at Clarion Hotel Stockholm in Sodermalm provided an opportunity to explore parts of Stockholm I had not visited before.
I walked around 8 km/5 miles from the hotel along a waterfront nature cycling and pedestrian trail around the western side of Sodermalm island, then crossed a couple other Stockholm islands to reach Norrmalm city center by Stockholm Central Station.
Part 1 of this article has photos of my walk from Stockholm Central Station across Gamla Stan and Sodermalm to Clarion Hotel Stockholm and the beginning of the Sodermalm nature trail.
Sodermalm Waterfront Walk
As I mentioned in my previous article, this was only my second time on Sodermalm island in Stockholm. Reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and other books in Millennium trilogy gave Sodermalm name recognition to me. A Clarion hotel in Sodermalm for 10,000 points seemed like something to investigate.Â
The Sodermalm area appeals to me more than other places I have been in Stockholm. Djurgarden is a nice park and museums area, but I did not find much happening in that area on my stay in summer 2016.
Sodermalm area seems more lively with a higher ratio of locals to tourists than the area around Central Station main hotel area, Gamla Stan old town and Djurgarden.
On the streets of Stockholm in early spring
Stockholm in mid-April stays light until around 8pm. The temperature was in the mid-50s, cloudy with no rain. After walking unbroken urban streets and bridges across the islands and water for about three miles from Central Station to the hotel, I was surprised to find Clarion Hotel Stockholm at the south end of Sodermalm island near a pedestrian cycling trail along the tree lined rural waterfront. The northern side of Sodermalm island facing Gamla Stan is highly developed.
My walk across Stockholm city started from ErikdaIsbadet pool complex, next to Clarion Stockholm Hotel, at the southern side of Sodermalm island. A right turn took me in a clockwise direction around the western side of the island on paved trails, streets and a couple of bridge crossings to reach Kungsholmen island after 3 miles/5km.
From Kungsholmen I walked another 3 km passing City Hall on my way to visit the Sergels Torg and Drottninggaten flower memorials established for victims of April 7, 2017 terrorism truck attack that happened four days earlier.
Sodermalm Island southern waterfront, Stockholm.
Outdoor pools at Eriksdalsbadet pool center, Stockholm.
The indoor and outdoor pool complex of Eriksdalsbadet is elevated from the island waterfront 100 meters away. A trail near the water provides a clockwise trip around the Sodermalm waterfront.
Eriksdalslunden are garden plots and small cabins established since1906 with small allotments on the waterfront hillsides. The gardens became an important food resource for the city in the years of deprivation during World War I.  Â
This wooded area of Sodermalm had a reputation for criminals in the late 19th century according to an informational history sign.
There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of these small garden cabins on Sodermalm.
The north side of Sodermalm was working class residents in the 19th c. The entire island area today is one of the more desirable residential locations in Stockholm.
Stockholm central city apartment building residences are always nearby, yet separated by water, bluffs and garden cabins from much of the waterfront trail.
Sodermalm waterfront residences.
Eriksdalsbadet 1.9km, Hornstull 1.3 km, Arstaberg 2.2 km
Dip In, Out Sauna
A first time sight for me was seeing a person plunge in the frigid Stockholm sea water and quickly exit out for a sauna on the pier.
A sandy beach beyond the sauna pier looked like a place to remember for next summer if the weather is warm when I am in the city.
The water nearby is deep enough for diving boards at the end of a pier.
My wife likes to watch TV shows about Americans moving to international locations. I particularly like the ones where Americans complain about not having a residential yard in the middle of the city.
Public living in Stockholm saves island land space by concentrating people in smaller residential spaces. In California we watch spacious McMansions build up everyday across our vast open landscapes.
3km walked, 5 km to go
Eriksdalsbadet 3km, Langholmen 0.7km
Langholmen Island, Stockholm
Langholmen is another of Stockholm’s 14 city islands and considered a green oasis in the city center.
Langholmen was Stockholm’s prison island until 1975. The prison is now a hotel, cafe and pub.
The only people I saw behind high fences on Langholmen were young football club players. An open gate I could enter freely offered a photo of island life in Stockholm.
Langholmen is a small island and it took less than 15 minutes for me to be walking across the 1935 Vasterbron bridge, 602-meter steel arch span onto land in Kungsholmen, Stockholm.
Langholmen Island view on left bank seen from Vasterbron bridge.
This is a nice photo, but I sure would have loved photos from the other side of the bridge too looking towards City Hall and Gamla Stan.
Marieberg is a district in the Kungsholmen island borough of Stockholm.
Stockholm skate park in the shade of a Kungsholmen highway.
A puppy on a leash held by a young white Swedish woman excitedly scurried to jump up and lick the young Middle Eastern man who had just arrived. A touching scene to witness four days after an immigrant terrorist attack in Stockholm.
In the 19th century there were plots of island land around Stockholm, like Langholmen and parts of Kungsholmen with rocky, barren soil. Beginning in the 1860s when urban sanitation reforms were being implemented, some of the barren spaces in the city were covered with soil to plant trees, bushes and grass for park space in congested urban areas.
Landstingshuset is Stockholm County Council building.
Street market stalls in the vicinity of Stockholm City Hall on Kungsholmen were closing down after the 7 pm hour.
Stockholm City Hall (1911-1923)
Stockholm City Hall hosts the Nobel Prize banquet.
In July 2016 my wife and I stayed at Radisson Blu Waterfront Stockholm for a couple of nights. Our hotel room view looked out to Stockholm City Hall.
Radisson Blu Waterfront Stockholm is rectangular building behind the Waterfront Congress Center. The entrance to Radisson Blu Waterfront is on a dead-end lane directly across the street from doors to Stockholm Central train station access.
April sunset in Stockholm illuminated some buildings, while others remained in shadow.
I walked a 12km/7.5 mile full circle route around Stockholm, from Central Station across central Gamla Stan and central Sodermalm, then around the Sodermalm western waterfront to Langholmen and Kungsholmen and back to Central Station on April 11, 2017.
Stockholm city view to Gamla Stan near sunset.
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