Enjoying the Fall Colors on Djurgården

On one of my parents' last days visiting this past week, I took them on walk around the island of Djurgården... one of our favorite activities. I have blogged about something similar earlier, but I thought I would add a twist. Besides the beautiful walk, one passes quite a few attractions that visitors might think are hard to reach... but really aren't. Both on the bus trip out and walk back. So in this article I will list the attractions one can visit on this route.

There are many ways to get to Djurgården from central Stockholm (like ferry or street car), but what I like to do is take the bus out to the very end of the island (Blockhusudden) and then walk back to the city along the south shore. Another variation is to start on the city side and then make a circular route ending back in the city. But for the first route you need to take bus #69 from Nybroplan all the way out to the last stop. There is a bus #69K as well, but this will only take you about half way (Kaknästornet).

The bus ride takes 25 minutes but along the route you have a whole slew of interesting attractions in case you want to make a cultural pit-stop. Immediately after leaving the Östermalm area and embassy row, you have a collection of museums right next to each other: Sjöhistoriska (naval history), Etnografiska (world culture), Riksidrotts (sports) and Tekniska (technology) and Polis (police). It is good to note that these museums are very child-friendly and the first three listed have free admission.

Kaknästornet.

The next interesting stop along the bus route is Kaknästornet, one of the tallest structures in Sweden. Definitely worth a stop to take the elevator up to the top and enjoy the views. At the top you will find both a café and a restaurant. Earlier blog article. After this the bus route continues over the bridge, passing the restaurant Djurgårdsbrunn, before heading out to the last stop. At the end of the route you also have one of my favorite museums for Scandinavian art: Thielska Galleriet.

We saw three deer on our walk.

From here you can choose several different walking paths back... though, as I mentioned, I like walking along the water. There are many beautiful mansions along the way as well as parkland and wildlife. The walk, at a leisurely pace without major stops, takes about 1½ hours. Towards the end of the walk you come to a high concentration of attractions and you will definitely visit this area during any trip to Stockholm. Attractions include Waldemarsudde, Skansen, Gröna Lund, ABBA the Museum, Nordiska Museet, Vasa Museum plus many more.

The first leaves are starting to change colors.

Besides all of these points of interest, you also have the beautiful nature of Djurgården to enjoy... forest, waterways, open park and wetlands. For more information about Djurgården and its attractions, check out the Visit Djurgården website. Otherwise, if you are staying at the Rival Hotel, contact me for more information regarding Djurgården, attractions, directions or even other nature walks.

The Nordiska museum.

Garden at Waldemarsudde.

End of the walk... at Strandvägen.