The Stockholmtown Blog

Swedens oldest city Sigtuna is a lovely and picturesque town one hour from Stockholm by train. The city offers plenty of nice shopping, cafées and some good sightseeing opportunities as well. Dont miss out on the historical sites and The Rosersbergs Palace, which is the only royal palace that you actually can stay at. Here is an itinery:

• Start at the Tourist Office on Storgatan (beautiful building and great souvernirs)
• Visit a café! Tant Brun is an exellent choice but there are some 10-20 cafées to choose from
• Lunch at 32 rum & kök or the top class 1909 Sigtuna Stadshotel
• Stroll along Storgatan-street and along the shore and do some shopping.
• Learn more about the findings, vikings etcetera at Sigtuna Museum
• Visit the historic sites, the ruins, the runestones and the town hall..
• Rosersbergs Palace

Me and my colleagues visited Sigtuna yesterday. And this is our story...

We met up with the Managing director Camilla and Sofia who works with PR at Sigtunaturism outside their tourist office situated in a garden with a view of lake Mälaren. What an office!

We started with some morning coffee and a "kanelbulle" (swedish cinnamon roll) at Tant Brun a café in beautiful red cottage from the 1700's. (Johanna and Camilla in the image). Look at the size of that bun - it tasted lovely!

The name Tant Brun (aunt brown) comes from the children book author and painter Elsa Beskow's books about two children (Petter and Lotta) who grows up with three sisters (aunt green, aunt brown and aunt lavender) - if i remember correctly. Mrs Beskow lived in Sigtuna. The book Petter and Lottas Christmas have defined christmas for many swedish children.

Here's a live aunt Brown... serving buns and coffee in an authentic setting.

This is the city landmark, the Sigtuna Town Hall, is the smallest one in Sweden - and maybee the smallest in Europe. Anyway, its surely its the cutest in Europe!  Never has a history lesson been so fun. Our guide Karin made everything come alive...

'She told us that the inhabitants of Sigtuna could enter the town hall whenever they wanted. Behind one of the shutters you could find the key. Karin vivedly told us about intoxicated inhabitants that used the key when it was too far to walk home....

Sigtuna was founded some 1000 years ago and is one of the first christian cities. There are plenty of churches, runestones and churchruins in the city. The Saint Mary church is a red brick church built in the mid-13th century and the parish church of the town. (Saint Olafs ruin in the image). Visiting the museum Sigtuna museum is definately a must. We met up with an archaeologist, Anders, at the museum and it was really interesting to hear of his personal findings. Wow.

The city is very picturesque. Here are some typical Sigtuna houses...

We ate lunch at the newly opened "32 rum & kök" restaurant, hotel (32 rooms) and conference 15 metres from Lake Mälaren. They offer a really nice atmosphere and good tasty food. I hope to get back to try the hotel part. Its a family business with the wife in the reception, the husband serving, the brother in the kitchen and the father that can do a wedding ceremony if needed. They have just opened a out door terrace viewing the water...

We took the car to the Rosersberg Palace, which is one of HM the Kings own palaces and went for a guided tour. A visit to Rosersberg Palace means taking a step back into an authentic royal milieu from the turn of the 19th century. The permanent interiors have been untouched since 1860. The best of all - you can stay here!

The hotel lobby is in the right wing and the rooms are in the left and right wing of the palace. Rosersberg Hotel & Konference offers really nice rooms and conference facilities viewing the beautiful park. In the morning they serve breakfast in a breakfast basket delivered to your room - I great idea. They offer 58 rooms 43 of them being single rooms at the moment. The rooms are newly refurbished (images on the site does not do them justice) and they are adding new double rooms.

We enjoyed an afternoon tea with the general manager of the hotel, Pär Hernell. The café offers a great view of lake Mälaren...

Time to go home...