Gamla Stan
The whole medieval island, and a lane ninety centimetres wide.
Duration
2 hrs – 3 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Gamla Stan is the island on which Stockholm was founded around 1250, where Lake Mälaren spills into the Baltic. The whole city fitted on it until the seventeenth century: cobbled lanes, tight ochre houses, and Stortorget square, where eighty-two nobles were executed in 1520, an episode that triggered Swedish independence.
Mårten Trotzigs gränd, between Västerlånggatan and Prästgatan, is ninety centimetres at its narrowest and drops through thirty-six steps: the narrowest lane in the city. It was walled up for more than a century and reopened in 1945.
Getting there
Gamla Stan metro station, green or red line, at the southern end of the island. All on foot.
Rules on site
Västerlånggatan, the main street, is a run of souvenir shops and shuffles along in summer: the parallel lanes, Prästgatan and Baggensgatan, are empty and far finer.
