Calendar of Events & Festivals 2017

It is that time of year again... time to publish my annual list of events and festivals in Stockholm. Hopefully this will help you in planning when you want to visit or, if you have already booked your trip, what to do during your visit. In the list are the main events and festivals. There are of course a myriad of smaller sporting events, concerts and other happenings that aren't listed. If you are staying at the Rival Hotel, contact me directly and I can let you know what else is happening during your stay. Keep in mind that even though a certain event is going on during your stay which you are not interested in... it may affect your stay nonetheless. For example, a large sporting event (i.e. marathon) will mean road closures and traffic problems, a popular concert or convention will mean fully booked hotels & restaurants and a bank holiday will mean banks, liquor stores and certain shops will be closed.
It is still early in the year and I will be adding events as they are announced, so make sure to check back now and again ahead of your visit. Some of the links might not work yet for later events (or they direct to last year's information), just keep checking back to see when they update their websites. I have put in some of the larger fairs, but there are a plethora of them going on, covering all sorts of interests from gardening to design to boating. Check the Stockholm Fairground's website (Stockholmsmässan) to see if there is something that piques your interest.

January

• 18th to 21st- Formex, the largest fair for Nordic interior design at Stockholmsmässan. 
• 29th to 31st- Stockholm Fashion Week at various venues.
• 31st- The FIS Ski World Cup Stockholm at Hammarbybacken. 

  

  Press image from Vikingarännet. 

February

• 6th to 12th- Stockholm Design Week at various venues.
• 7th to 11th- Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair at Stockholmsmässan.
• 12th- Vikingarännet. Outdoor, long distance ice skating race. Subject to weather.
• 17th- The Weekend, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 25th- Andrea Bocelli, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 28th- Shrove Tuesday (the day to eat a semla). 

March

• 4th- Drake, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 7th to 10th- Kings of Tennis, tournament at Stockholm Waterfront.
• 11th- Melodifestivalen final at Friends Arena. Song competition. Winner represents Sweden at Eurovision. 
• 25th- clocks "spring" forward one hour (Daylight Savings Time).
• 25th- Stockholm City Line Tunnel Run. Underground race!
• 25th- World Cup Qualifying football match (Sweden vs Belarus) at Friends Arena. 
• 30th- Ed Sheeran, concert at Ericsson Globe.
  

  

  Spring means cherry blossoms in Kungsträdgården.
  Photo by Henrik Trygg/mediabank.visitstockholm.com

April

• 1st- Stockholm City Bike season starts! 
• 1st- Premiärmilen (10k run) at Stockholm University/Frescati.
• 1st & 2nd- Lakritsfestivalen, world's largest liquorice festival, at Annexet. 
• 1st & 2nd- Weeping Willows, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 14th to 17th- Easter weekend.
• 29th- Stockholm Culture Night (Kulturnatt) at various venues throughout the city.
• 29th- Gröna Lund amusement park opens for the season.
• 30th- Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Eve).

May

• 1st- International Workers Day (Labour Day). Bank holiday.
• 3rd- Enrique Inglesias, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 5th- Depeche Mode, concert at Friends Arena. 
• 6th- KISS, concert at Tele2 Arena. 
• 6th- Lidingöloppet mountainbike race on Lidingö. 
• 8th- Ariana Grande, concert at Friends Arena. 
• 13th- Kungsholmen Runt (running event) on Kungsholmen. 
• 17th- Shawn Mendes, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 20th- Bruno Mars, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 22nd to 24th- FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress at Stockholmsmässan.
• 24th- UEFA football Europa League finals at Friends Arena. 
• 25th- Kristi Himmelfärds Dag (Ascension Day). Bank holiday. 
• 26th to 28th- Elitloppet, popular harness (horse) racing championship at Solvalla. 

  

  Happy June 6th!

June

• 1st to 6th- Taste of Stockholm (Smaka på Stockholm) restaurant festival in Kungsträdgården. 
• 1st to 6th- Stockholm Early Music festival at various venues in Gamla Stan. 
• 3rd- Stockholm Marathon. 
• 6th- Swedish national holiday. A good place to celebrate is Skansen. 
• 9th- Radiohead, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 9th- World Cup Qualifying football match (Sweden vs France) at Friends Arena. 
• 9th & 10th- Summerburst. House music festival at Gärdet. 
• 17th- Celine Dion, concert at Tele2 Arena.
• 18th- Bauhaus Athletics, international track & field meet (Diamond League) at Stadion.
• 23rd to 25th- Midsummer weekend (major Swedish holiday). 
• 29th- Guns & Roses, concert at Friends Arena. 
• 29th to July 2nd- Stockholm Street festival in Kungsträdgården. 
• 29th to July 7th- ÅF Offshore Race (sailing regatta) at Skeppsholmen (Stockholm harbour). 

July. This is generally a slow month with events and festivals as most Stockholmers have their summer vacation at this time and tend to leave the city.

• Continuation of both the street festival and offshore race (see June).
• 29th- Robbie Williams, concert at Ericsson Globe. 
• 29th to 31st- Stockholm Music & Arts Festival on Skeppsholmen. 

  

  Stockholm Pride. Photo by: Yanan Li/mediabank.visitstockholm.com

August (EDIT: I have made a more detailed list for August here)

• July 31st to August 6th- Stockholm Gay Pride at various venues throught the city.
• 15th to 20th- Stockholm Culture Festival (Kulturfestivalen) in the downtown area. Everything cultural, all free. 
• 15th to 20th- We Are Sthlm, youth festival in Kungsträdgården.
• 16th to 20th- Outdoor Cinema, in cooperation with the Stockholm Film Festival, in Rålambshovs Park. 
• 19th- Midnight race (Midnattsloppet) on Södermalm. Festive atmosphere! 
• 22nd to 29th- Baltic Sea Festival (Östersjöfestivalen) classic music. 
• 23rd to 26th- Formex, the largest fair for Nordic interior design at Stockholmsmässan.
• 26th & 27th- Vattenfall World Triathlon Championship.  
• 27th- Raoul Wallenberg's Day at Raoul Wallernberg Torg. 

  

  Tjejmilen! Photographer: Rickard Forsberg/Tjejmilen

September

• 1st & 2nd- Popaganda, pop music festival at Eriksdalsbadet. 
• 2nd- Tjejmilen, 10k womens race (largest of its kind in the world) around Djurgården. 
• 3rd- Sthlm Bike, bike race in the city. 
• 9th- Stockholm Half Marathon. 
• 10th- Velothon Majors bike race (round trip race between Stockholm and Nynäshamn). 
• 23rd- FIM Speedway Grand Prix at Friends Arena. 
• 28th to 30th- 25th annual Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival at Nackastrandsmässan. 

October

• 5th to 7th- 25th annual Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival (part 2) at Nackastrandsmässan. 
• Stockholm Jazz festival at various venues throughout the city (dates to be announced).
• 15th to 22nd- IF Stockholm Open, tennis tournament at the Royal Tennis Hall.
• 28th- clocks "fall back" one hour (Daylight Savings Time).
• 31st- end of Stockholm City Bike season. 

  

  Press image for IF Stockholm Open.

November

• 1st to 4th- European Health Congress at Stockholmsmässan. 
• 4th- All Saints Day (bank holiday).
• 9th to 12th- Sthlm Food and Wine, food & beverage fair at Stockholmsmässan. 
• Light festival in Hagaparken (date to be announced).
• Christmas market season starts (dates to be announced).
• 30th to Dec 3rd- Sweden International Horse Show at Friends Arena.

December

• until the 3rd- continuation of Sweden Horse Show (see above).
• 10th- Nobel Day.
• 13th- Lucia Day.
• 24th & 25th- Christmas (the 26th is also a bank holiday).
• 31st- New Year's Eve.