Stockholm in 5 days

The old town, first recorded in 1252, of cobbled lanes and 17th and 18th-century facades around Stortorget, scene of the 1520 Stockholm Bloodbath.

Finished in 1754 on the ruins of Tre Kronor castle: 600 rooms, the royal apartments, and a Treasury holding the crown regalia of 1561.

The former working-class island of cafés, vintage shops and galleries, where the 500-metre Monteliusvägen path looks over Lake Mälaren, Riddarholmen and City Hall.

Ragnar Östberg's red-brick hall of 1923 hosts the Nobel banquet in the Blue Hall and the ball in the mosaic-covered Golden Hall.

The 69-metre warship sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 after about 1,300 metres, was raised in 1961, and is 98 per cent original.

Opened in 1891 as one of the first open-air museums: some 150 farms, houses and workshops from across Sweden, with craftspeople blowing glass.

The royal family's home since 1981 and Sweden's first UNESCO site, with state rooms, a baroque park, an English garden and the 1769 Chinese Pavilion.

About an hour by boat from Strömkajen, the gateway to the archipelago: painted wooden houses, a fortress begun in 1548, and waterside cafés.