Vasastan and Kungsholmen: Stockholm Beyond the Tourist Trail

These are the districts where Stockholmers actually live. There’s no single big sight, but there are hill parks with views, a lakeside promenade, two literary homes and plenty of space to sit down. Here’s what’s worth your time, and what’s closed.

When you need this

Maybe you’re staying in Vasastan or on Kungsholmen and want to know what’s around you. Maybe you’ve done Gamla stan and Djurgården and want to see ordinary Stockholm. Or an older guide has sent you to the City Library or the City Hall tower. This page covers the public places and two museums. It names no cafés, bars or shops.

What these two districts are

Visit Stockholm, the city’s official visitor site, calls Vasastan “mostly a residential area” at the northern edge of the inner city, and Kungsholmen “primarily a residential island.” That’s the honest pitch. Neither has a headline attraction apart from City Hall on Kungsholmen’s eastern tip. What you get instead is turn-of-the-century apartment blocks, hill parks above the rooftops and a long walk by the water.

The names on signs are not the city’s administrative map. Vasastaden, Vasastan’s official name, belongs to the Norra innerstaden district along with Norrmalm, Östermalm and Djurgården. Kungsholmen has its own district, which also takes in Stadshagen, Kristineberg, Fredhäll, Marieberg and the two Essingen islands. This guide sticks to Vasastan and the island of Kungsholmen. Östermalm, Vasastan’s eastern neighbor, has its own guide.

Vasastan: hill parks and literary addresses

Vasastan’s best views come from its hills. Observatorielunden sits on a plateau of the Brunkeberg ridge around Sweden’s first observatory, built in the mid-1700s. The park was closed to the public until the early 1900s. From the benches on top you look out over Vasastan’s rooftops. The slopes are steep and there are stairs from Kungstensgatan and Gyldéngatan, so use the winding paths if you want to avoid steps.

Vanadislunden, further north, is the other view. Visit Stockholm says the hilltop looks out over Östermalm, Vasastan and the neighboring municipalities. A water reservoir from 1879 crowns the hill, and an outdoor pool at the south end opens in summer.

Vasaparken is the district’s largest park and its living room. It has a staffed playground (parklek), an artificial-turf pitch, basketball, an outdoor gym, boules and minigolf. In winter the pitch is flooded into an ice rink. Small Tegnérlunden, laid out in the 1890s, has Carl Eldh’s statue of August Strindberg, put up in 1942, and a playground for younger children.

Now the two addresses most visitors come for:

Visit Stockholm says Vasastan was Astrid Lindgren’s home for 60 years, in the apartment at Dalagatan 46. The Astrid Lindgren Society runs the tours. They take at most 12 people, tickets are released a month ahead, you can book at most four, and they cannot be cancelled, only transferred. When we checked, every tour through November 2026 was full. With children under 15, go to Junibacken instead; the society suggests the same. For crime readers, Dalagatan 34 is the sniper’s nest in the crime novel The Abominable Man.

Visit Stockholm also lists Bonniers Konsthall, Sven-Harry’s Art Museum and Carl Eldh’s Studio Museum, the sculptor’s home and studio, in Vasastan. Their hours vary and some open only in season, so check each one before you go.

Kungsholmen: the shore, the parks and City Hall

Norr Mälarstrand is the reason to come. Landscape architect Erik Glemme laid out this shore promenade in the early 1940s, and it was renovated in 2017–2019. It runs from Kungsholms torg in the east to Rålambshovsparken in the west, with small bridges, jetties, benches and a playground, and views across Riddarfjärden to Södermalm.

At the west end, Rålambshovsparken was begun in 1936, when Västerbron was built. Its amphitheater opened in 1953 for Stockholm’s 700th anniversary. It has a staffed playground with a paddling pool, a popular skatepark under Lilla Västerbron, sports courts and an outdoor gym. Visit Stockholm notes an outdoor cinema there in August.

From there, walk up onto Västerbron. The bridge opened in 1935 and carries pedestrians and cyclists from Marieberg over Riddarfjärden and Långholmen to Södermalm. With 26 meters of clearance for boats underneath, the walkway sits high above the water, and it’s a walking link to the Södermalm viewpoints.

Two more parks are worth knowing:

• Kronobergsparken, in the middle of the island, is a hill park built between 1891 and 1912 under Alfred Medin, the city’s first park gardener. It has a Jewish burial ground established in 1787, a staffed playground, a dog run, and sledging slopes in a snowy winter.
• Hornsbergs strandpark on the north shore was built on filled land and completed in 2012, when it won the Swedish Architects’ Siena prize. It has an outdoor gym, an outdoor shower, a grill area and public toilets.

Stockholm City Hall stands at Hantverkargatan 1 on the island’s eastern tip. You can only go inside on a guided tour; see our Stockholm City Hall guide for tickets and closures. Visit Stockholm also puts the District Court, the police headquarters and the City Archive in this corner.

In summer, swim at Smedsuddsbadet, an official bathing place on a bay of Riddarfjärden next to Rålambshovsparken, with a jetty, an accessible ramp, a toilet and a shower. The small jetty on Norr Mälarstrand also allows swimming, but diving is banned there because objects in the water are hard to see. Hornsbergs strandpark is popular for a dip, but the city does not list it as an official bathing place. Our guide to swimming in Stockholm has the water-quality details.

What is closed until 2028

Two of the best-known sights here are shut, and Visit Stockholm’s own district pages haven’t caught up.

The library’s temporary branch, Stadsbiblioteket Spelbomskan at Odengatan 59, focuses on children and young people, with a smaller selection of books and newspapers for adults. It is not the Asplund interior. The City Hall courtyard and waterfront stay open while the tower is closed. Expect tall scaffolding on the tower in 2027 and 2028.

Getting there and getting around

Both districts are a few minutes from T-Centralen:

One SL ticket covers the metro, buses and commuter trains, and tapping a contactless card at the gate buys a 75-minute single. Arriving from Arlanda, the commuter train stops at Odenplan, saving a change if you’re staying in Vasastan; see Arlanda to Stockholm.

Look at the station art while you’re there. Rådhuset is Sigvard Olsson’s pink cave, full of “forgotten” objects from Kungsholmen’s past. Odenplan and Fridhemsplan host rotating exhibitions that change every year; more in our guide to Stockholm’s metro art.

For step-free travel, two stations need care. At Rådhuset the Hantverkargatan entrance has only a ramp and a travelator. At Fridhemsplan the lift from Fleminggatan reaches the green line only via the blue line. Check lift status in the SL app before you set off.

Practical information

FAQ

Are Vasastan and Kungsholmen worth visiting?

Yes, if you have seen the main sights and want everyday Stockholm. Both are mainly residential, which is the point: hill parks with rooftop views, a long lakeside promenade, big family parks and a few small museums, nearly all free. Kungsholmen also has City Hall. They suit a half-day walk or a quieter base a few metro stops from the center.

What is there to see in Vasastan?

Mostly parks and literary addresses. Observatorielunden and Vanadislunden are hill parks with views over the rooftops, Vasaparken is the largest park, and Tegnérlunden has Carl Eldh’s Strindberg statue. Strindbergsmuseet is at Drottninggatan 85, and Astrid Lindgren’s apartment at Dalagatan 46 opens only for booked tours. The City Library is closed until early 2028.

What is there to do on Kungsholmen?

Walk Norr Mälarstrand, the shore promenade with views over Riddarfjärden to Södermalm, then spend time in Rålambshovsparken, with its amphitheater, skatepark and staffed playground. Swim at Smedsuddsbadet in summer, cross Västerbron on foot, or take a guided tour of City Hall on the island’s eastern tip. The City Hall tower is closed for renovation.

Is Stockholm City Library open?

No. Stadsbiblioteket, Gunnar Asplund’s library, is closed for renovation, and the city plans to reopen it to visitors in early 2028. Some pages, including Visit Stockholm’s Vasastan guide, still say 2027. A temporary library at Odengatan 59 focuses on children and young people, with a smaller selection of adult books and newspapers.

Can you visit Astrid Lindgren’s apartment in Stockholm?

Yes, but only on a guided tour booked through the Astrid Lindgren Society’s website. Tours last about an hour, take at most 12 people aged 15 or over, and cannot be cancelled. Dates are released one month ahead and sell out; every tour through November 2026 was full when we checked. It is not wheelchair accessible.

How do I get to Vasastan and Kungsholmen?

By metro. The green line serves Vasastan at Rådmansgatan, Odenplan and S:t Eriksplan; the commuter train from Arlanda also stops at Odenplan. On Kungsholmen, the blue line stops at Rådhuset and Stadshagen, and Fridhemsplan has both blue and green lines. Bus 3 stops outside City Hall. One SL ticket or a tapped card covers it.

Related guides

• Stockholm travel guide — how all the districts fit together.
• Stockholm City Hall — tour tickets, closures and the tower renovation.
• Where to stay in Stockholm — whether Vasastan or Kungsholmen suits you as a base.
• Swimming in Stockholm — Smedsuddsbadet’s water quality and the other city spots.
• Östermalm — Vasastan’s eastern neighbor.

Facts verified 2026-10-15. Sources: Stockholms stad (parks, districts, bathing places), Stockholms stadsbibliotek, Stockholm City Hall, Visit Stockholm, Region Stockholm/SL, Strindbergsmuseet and the Astrid Lindgren Society — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.