Stockholm Central Station Layover: Hötorget
Part of the full Stockholm's Gamla Stan on an ARN Layover
Three stops sit within fifteen minutes of Stockholm Central Station on foot: Hötorget’s market square and the blue concert hall along one side of it, Klara Church and its 116-metre spire two minutes from the entrance, and the island of Riddarholmen with the Swedish monarchs buried in its church.
Stockholm Concert Hall, where the Nobel prizes are handed over
Hötorget is a square seven minutes north of the station, and the long pale blue building with ten stone columns across its front is Stockholm’s concert hall. Ivar Tengbom finished it in 1926, and almost every 10 December since, the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and economics have been handed over on its stage, under a blue carpet laid for the occasion, before everyone crosses the water to eat at the City Hall.
The square in front has been a market since the 1200s, when it sold hay, which is what its name still says. Fruit, vegetable and flower stalls run across it on weekdays, and a flea market takes over on Sundays.
Hötorgshallen, a food hall under the market square
Underneath Hötorget is a second market entirely: Hötorgshallen, a food hall opened in 1958 as part of the postwar rebuilding of this quarter. Fishmongers, butchers, cheese and spice counters, and a run of small places to eat, most of them serving at counters rather than tables.
The hours are the thing to know: 10am to 6pm Monday to Thursday, to 6:30pm on Friday, to 4pm on Saturday, and shut on Sunday. It is the most reliable hot meal within ten minutes of the platforms.
Klara Church and its 116-metre spire
Two minutes from the station’s Vasagatan entrance, behind a wall and a screen of trees, Klara Church has the tallest spire in Stockholm at 116 metres, added in the 1880s. A convent of St Clare stood on the ground from the 1280s until Gustav Vasa had it pulled down in 1527; Johan III put the present church up between 1577 and 1590, with two Dutch master builders running the work.
The churchyard is the better half of the stop. It dates from the 1600s, it is walled off from the traffic on three sides, and Carl Michael Bellman, the poet and songwriter whose drinking songs Swedes still know by heart, was buried in it in 1795. Entry to both costs nothing. The church runs 8am to 5pm on weekdays, 11am to 3pm on Saturdays and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.
Getting here from the platforms is the one part worth planning: the station concourse sits directly over the passages where three metro lines and the commuter platforms meet, and they narrow badly at rush hour.
Riddarholmen Church, where the Swedish monarchs are buried
Riddarholmen is a small island a quarter of an hour south of the station, joined to the old town by a bridge and lined along its quay with 17th-century palaces. Its church is the oldest surviving building in Stockholm, begun in the 1270s as a Greyfriars monastery. Lightning took the spire down in 1835; the replacement went up in 1840 in openwork cast iron, and it is the dark lattice you see from the water.
Almost every Swedish monarch from Gustavus Adolphus to Gustaf V lies inside, along with Magnus Ladulås and Charles VIII from much earlier; Queen Christina is the exception, buried in Rome. The congregation was dissolved in 1807 and nothing has been preached here since. Adult entry is 65 kronor, 30 for ages 7 to 17, free under 7, and it only opens from about May to September.
The other reason to cross is free and open whatever the season. Evert Taubes terrass is a stone platform at the western tip of the island, right down at the waterline, with benches facing the City Hall tower and the Södermalm shore. Sightseeing boats work these channels all year from the quay below the City Hall, and a combined bus and boat pass covers both if you would rather see this stretch from the water. For the square with the painted merchant houses, the warship and the summer tower climb, the full Stockholm guide covers a longer day than this one.
A train to the airport leaves every fifteen minutes
The Arlanda Express runs from Stockholm Central’s own platforms, so there is no transfer at this end at all: 18 minutes to Arlanda South for Terminals 2, 3 and 4, 19 to Arlanda North for Terminal 5, with a departure every quarter of an hour. An adult single is 340 kronor and under-18s ride free alongside one. Allow 35 to 45 minutes door to door once the walk down to the platform and the wait are in.
Cheaper options leave from the same block. The commuter train goes from Stockholm City station directly below, about 38 minutes, though Arlanda’s own station adds a 157-kronor passage fee on top of the transit fare. The airport coach leaves from Cityterminalen next door, every 20 minutes, about 40 minutes on the road. Every one of them is cashless.
Pick your suitcase back up before the platform rather than after: the drop-off points cluster around this station and the old town, and there is nowhere to collect one once you are on the way out.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do during a layover near Stockholm Central Station in Stockholm?
Two or three hours covers three stops on foot, none of them more than fifteen minutes from the platforms. Hötorget is seven minutes north: a produce market on the square, a 1950s food hall underneath it, and the pale blue concert hall along one side where the Nobel prizes are handed over every December. Klara Church is two minutes from the station entrance, free to walk into, with a 116-metre spire and Carl Michael Bellman buried in the churchyard. Riddarholmen, a quarter of an hour south across the bridges, has the royal burial church and a free terrace at the water's edge looking west. Only the burial church charges, and it shuts for the winter, so that is the one stop to check before you count on it.
Is there anywhere quiet to sit near Stockholm Central Station?
Klara churchyard is the closest thing to it, two minutes from the station entrance and walled off from the traffic on three sides, with benches under the trees and gravestones going back to the 1600s. The church itself is open weekdays 8am to 5pm, Saturday 11am to 3pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm, and costs nothing. Further out, Evert Taubes terrass on Riddarholmen is a stone terrace on the waterline with benches facing west across the bay, open at any hour with no gate on it.
Is Riddarholmen Church open in winter?
No. It opens daily from around May to September, 10am to 5pm, and closes for the rest of the year, which is worth knowing because the island itself stays open and looks the same in February. Adult entry is 65 kronor, 30 kronor for ages 7 to 17 and free under 7, and a combined ticket with the Royal Palace and its museums runs 180 kronor for an adult. Guided tours in English run through the middle of the summer at 11:30am.
What is worth doing near Stockholm Central Station in the dark months?
Stockholm loses daylight fast from November onwards, and this is a walking itinerary, so the indoor half carries it: Hötorgshallen runs to 6pm on weekdays and 6:30pm on Fridays, Klara Church is lit and open until 5pm, and the concert hall's own programme runs into the evening. If you want the water rather than the streets, the sightseeing boats keep going through the cold months from the quay by the City Hall, and a heated winter tour can be booked ahead for a guided hour on the ice-free channels.
Is the walk from Stockholm Central Station to Hötorget step-free?
Yes, if you stay above ground. Out of the main entrance on Vasagatan and north on Klarabergsgatan and Drottninggatan, the route to Hötorget is flat pavement and pedestrianised for most of its length. The underground route through the station's lower level and the metro passages is also step-free but involves several escalators and lifts, and it is the busier of the two at rush hour. Hötorgshallen itself sits below the square and has both stairs and a lift down to it.