When asked about their favourite city around the world, there is a
surprisingly large proportion of business travellers who answer Stockholm
without a moment’s hesitation. It’s easy to see why – its setting on a
series of islands means you are rarely without a view over water, it has
some jaw-dropping buildings and a sense of stylish cool that evades many
other destinations.
Around 150,000 business travellers go to Sweden each year – drawn there by
business in industries as diverse as forestry and telecommunications and by
big global brand companies such as Ikea, Volvo and Ericsson.
As we mentioned in our previous quirky
business guide to Dublin, many business travellers do not just want to
go and see the obvious sights, stay in the mainstream business hotels and
eat in the same restaurants as every other corporate clone. So where should
you go in Stockholm? Read on.
Quirky eating
In Britain, eating at garden centres is the preserve of chavs on coach outings
and senior citizens looking for a bargain but in Stockholm things are more
stylish.
The Rosendals Trädgård
is a bakery and restaurant, garden and greenhouse on the island of
Djurgarden, close to the Skansen open
air museum and a tram ride from the popular Vasamuseet
with its restored 17th century sailing ship. There are no Monday OAP special
offer lunches here – you’ll find fish soup, ciabatta stuffed with smoked ham
and fresh salad, carrot cake and inventive salads instead.
On warm days, the place is buzzing with tray-holding visitors, desperate to
find a table to sit, people-watch and drink in the sights, smells and sounds
of the surrounding avenues, and planted beds.
As an aside, finding fresh vegetables – other than potatoes coated in
mayonnaise - always seems to be a problem in Stockholm. Yet I was interested
to see that at the Skansen zoo, the baboons were gorging themselves on a
diet of asparagus and broccoli. I was so in need of vitamins I was nearly
tempted to climb in and retrieve some.
Quirky drinking
A city on the water deserves a drink by the water. Head for the island of Kungsholmen
and the bar-restaurant of the same name. It really comes into its own on
warm summer nights when you can sit out on a pontoon surrounded by the water
and sinking a few cocktails – if the expense account will stand it.
The world’s first permanent ice bar is also in Stockholm, at the Hotel
Nordic Sea. It has spawned many copies but the Absolut Ice Bar at the
hotel can still claim its crown. It’s amazing they can get people to pay to
go into a bar - 180 Swedish kroner (around £15) if you prebook or 195 at a
weekend drop-in session – but the fun of dressing up in a metallic blue
thermal cape and drinking from glasses made from ice makes it just about
worth it.
Quirky shopping
