Drottningholm Palace

Drottningholm is the easiest royal day trip from Stockholm: a metro and a bus, or a boat in season. What catches visitors out is the calendar. The palace, the theatre and the Chinese Pavilion each close on their own schedule, while the park never does.

When you need this

You have a free half-day in Stockholm and want one royal palace outside the city. You are coming between October and April and need to know whether anything is open. You are choosing between the bus and the boat, or checking whether the boat still runs. Or you are travelling with a wheelchair, a pushchair or a suitcase and need to know what gets in.

What you can see, and what is private

Drottningholm Palace stands on the island of Lovön in Ekerö Municipality, about 10 km outside Stockholm. It is the private home of the King and Queen, who moved here from the Royal Palace in town in 1981. The rooms in the southern wing are theirs and closed to visitors. Everything else, the rest of the palace and the grounds, is open to the public.

The Royal Domain of Drottningholm became Sweden’s first entry on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1991. UNESCO calls it the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by Versailles. The inscription covers four things you can visit:

The name means “Queen’s Island”. King Johan III built the first palace here for Queen Katarina Jagellonica in the late 1500s. That building burned on 30 December 1661, and work on today’s palace began the next year. Lovisa Ulrika got Drottningholm as a wedding present in 1744. The state bought it in 1777, and Gustav III then laid out the English park.

When it is open

This is the part older guides get wrong. The Royal Court describes the palace as open to the public year round, but its own day-by-day calendar shows weekends only from October.

The calendar published in late September 2026 runs only to 6 January 2027, so check the Royal Court’s opening-hours page for later dates. If you arrive on a weekday in winter, the park is still open, and you can walk the gardens for free.

Getting there: bus, boat or bike

Metro and bus, all year. Take the metro’s green line to Brommaplan (trains towards Hässelby strand or Åkeshov), then a bus towards Ekerö to the stop Drottningholm. On 25 September 2026, SL’s live departure data showed lines 176 and 177 and several 300-series Ekerö lines serving the stop. Check the SL journey planner for your time. An ordinary SL ticket covers the metro and the bus; see our Stockholm public transport guide for how the tickets work.

No bus tickets are sold at Drottningholm. The kiosk that used to sell them has gone. Buy your ticket in the SL app before boarding, or tap a contactless card on the bus reader. Without one of the two, you have no easy way back to Brommaplan.

Boat, May to late October. A seasonal boat leaves Klara Mälarstrand by Stadshusbron, next to Stockholm City Hall, the same quay the Birka boats use (see our guide to Viking sites in Sweden). The operator is Strömma. The trip takes about an hour, with stops at Fridhem, Mälarhöjdsbadet and Kungshättan; return boats leave Drottningholm an hour after each city departure. In 2026 it ran weekends from 16 May, daily from 27 May to 20 September, and weekends only from 21 September to 25 October. Some high-summer departures used a faster express boat, 45 minutes each way. The operator says the boat is back in May 2027. It sets its own fares, so check its page.

Bike or car. The Royal Court points cyclists to the cycle path from central Stockholm. Drivers take route 275 towards Vällingby and follow the signs from Brommaplan. Parking costs 15 kronor an hour, for at most six hours.

Inside the palace: tours and rules

You can walk the reception halls on your own or join a guided tour in English of about 45 minutes. From October to April, tours run on Saturdays at 11:30 and 14:30 and Sundays at 11:30. From June to August they run daily at 11:30 and 14:30. Tickets can be bought online or at the cash desk.

There is also a free English audio guide in the Royal Palaces app (Kungliga slotten). Free Wi-Fi at the entrance lets you download it there; bring your own headphones.

The house rules are stricter than in most museums, and the second one catches people out:

• Carry bags and backpacks in front of your body; no luggage inside.
• There are no lockers or storage anywhere at Drottningholm.
• Pushchairs stay outside, in the entrance arcade, unattended and unlocked.
• Private photos are fine, but no flash, tripods or selfie sticks.
• No drone or 360-degree cameras.
• Take ice grips off your shoes indoors.
• Children under 12 must come with an adult.

The park, the theatre and the Chinese Pavilion

The park (slottsparken) is open all year, around the clock, and the Royal Court lists no admission charge for it. One walk takes you through three garden styles. First comes the formal Baroque garden by the palace, with the Hercules fountain and bronze copies of sculptures by Adriaen de Vries. The originals came to Sweden as spoils of war and are now indoors in Museum de Vries. Then the English park to the north, with ponds, canals and bridges, laid out from 1780. Finally the chestnut avenues around the Chinese Pavilion. The free Royal Walks app (Kungliga promenader) has four themed park walks in English.

The Palace Theatre (slottsteatern) is one of the two buildings that, according to Sweden’s National Heritage Board, decided the World Heritage listing; the Chinese Pavilion is the other. UNESCO calls it the only surviving 18th-century theatre whose original machinery is still regularly used, with its original stage sets and an auditorium seating 400. Guided tours ran daily from May to 4 October in 2026, at 13:45 and 14:45. They are listed in Swedish, and the machinery itself is not part of the standard tour. Performances are a summer season: in 2026 the main opera played eight nights between 1 and 15 August.

The Chinese Pavilion (Kina slott) began as a surprise. In 1753 King Adolf Fredrik had a wooden pavilion built in secret as a birthday present for Lovisa Ulrika. The present building replaced it in 1769, with Rococo furniture, imported Chinese objects and original silk wall coverings. It opens only in summer; in September 2026 it opened on weekends, and its last day was 20 September. A combined ticket with the palace costs less than two singles.

Accessibility

The palace is hard for wheelchair users. It has no lifts and no ramps. There are 22 steps from the ground to the entry level, 30 more up to the ticket desk, and 40 unrailed steps between floors.

The rest of the site is easier. The Chinese Pavilion has ramps on request, and the Palace Theatre has a permanent ramp at its main entrance for manual wheelchairs. Accessible toilets are in the Main Guard Wing and at the Chinese Pavilion, and accessible parking is free by the theatre. A guide or assistant enters free, and guide dogs are welcome.

The boat is not adapted for wheelchairs, and electric wheelchairs are not allowed on board, so take the bus. For step-free travel in the city, see our guide to wheelchair-accessible Stockholm.

Mistakes to avoid

• Expecting to see the royal family’s rooms. The southern wing is private.
• Arriving on a weekday between October and April. The palace is shut; only the park is open.
• Planning the Chinese Pavilion in autumn. It closed on 20 September.
• Counting on buying a bus ticket at Drottningholm. Nothing is sold there.
• Bringing a suitcase or a pushchair inside. There are no lockers.
• Assuming the boat runs all year. It stops after 25 October.

Practical information

FAQ

Can you visit Drottningholm Palace, and do the King and Queen live there?

Yes to both. The King and Queen have lived at Drottningholm since 1981, and the rooms in the southern wing are reserved for them and closed to visitors. The rest of the palace, the Palace Theatre, the Chinese Pavilion in season and the whole park are open to the public. The reception halls are what you see inside.

Is Drottningholm Palace open in winter?

Yes, but on weekends only. From October 2026 the palace opens Saturdays and Sundays 10:00–16:00, plus 31 December and a few days around New Year and Epiphany, and it is closed 7–30 December. The Chinese Pavilion and the theatre tours close for the season in autumn. The park stays open around the clock.

How do I get to Drottningholm from Stockholm?

Take the metro’s green line to Brommaplan, then a bus towards Ekerö to the stop Drottningholm; an ordinary SL ticket covers both. Buy it in the SL app or tap a contactless card, because nothing is sold at Drottningholm. From May to late October a boat also runs from Klara Mälarstrand by City Hall, taking about an hour.

How much does Drottningholm Palace cost?

In 2026 an adult ticket to the palace costs 170 kronor, 150 for students and 85 for ages 7–17; children 6 and under enter free with an adult. The Chinese Pavilion is 140 kronor, or 250 for both. The palace park has no ticket, so you can walk the gardens without paying.

Is the Drottningholm Palace park free?

Yes. The Royal Court lists admission charges for the palace, the Chinese Pavilion and Museum de Vries, but not for the park, and states that the park is open all year, around the clock. That covers the Baroque garden, the English landscape park and the chestnut avenues around the Chinese Pavilion, all part of the World Heritage site.

Is Drottningholm Palace wheelchair accessible?

The palace itself is not. It has no lifts and no ramps, 22 steps to the entry level, 30 more to the ticket desk and 40 unrailed steps between floors. The Chinese Pavilion has ramps on request, the Palace Theatre has a permanent ramp, and assistants enter free. Accessible parking is by the theatre. The boat is not adapted.

Can I see a performance at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre?

Only in summer. The theatre stages opera, concerts and dance with an 18th-century character each summer; in 2026 the main opera played eight performances between 1 and 15 August. Outside performances, guided tours ran daily from May to 4 October 2026. The hand-worked stage machinery is not part of the standard tour.

Related guides

• Stockholm travel guide: the base for a Drottningholm day trip.
• Stockholm public transport: the SL ticket for the metro and the Ekerö bus, and how tap-to-pay works.
• Viking sites in Sweden: Birka’s boats leave from the same quay by City Hall.
• Birka: the Viking city on Lake Mälaren: the other World Heritage day out on the lake.
• Wheelchair-accessible Stockholm: the Royal Palace in town, and step-free travel.

Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: the Royal Court of Sweden (Kungliga slotten, kungahuset.se), UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Riksantikvarieämbetet, Drottningholms Slottsteater, the boat operator and SL — full register in this topic’s source file. Hours, prices and seasons are 2026 figures. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.