Consistently rated Europe’s most attractive capital city, Stockholm manages to be relaxed, charming and impeccably civilized. Capital cities are seldom representative of their countries, but Stockholm is a manifestly Swedish city, exhibiting the national love of open spaces and intelligence in urban planning that together make this a wonderful place to visit.

Celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2002, Stockholm is richly decorated with magnificent buildings from its past. The ochre-red City Hall is the imposing building where the Nobel Banquet is held; the Royal Palace is unapologetically grand, and the city is dotted with extraordinary museums.

Sodermalm Island has the funky nightlife to match any European capital while Djurgarden is home to Skansen, a stunning, open-air museum of Sweden in miniature, and the breathtaking Vasamuseet with its intact, salvaged 375-year-old war ship. The Gamla Stan, the old town centred on Stadsholmen, contains the Royal Palace, and Stockholm’s oldest preserved building, the magnificent 13th-century Riddarholmen church.

With the warming influence of the Baltic Sea, Stockholm is a city for all seasons: on long summer days, it’s harbor cruises and buskers in the park; winter brings tranquility and buildings elegantly frosted with snow. Stockholm has plenty of historical and cultural attractions on offer, as well as simply being a charming city to wander around.

Royal Palace

The largest official royal residence in the world, the Royal Palace occupies a big chunk of Gamla Stan (the old city centre) and offers several interesting museums as well as a tour of the sumptuous royal apartments.

Royal Coin Cabinet

Also known as the National Museum of Economy, this stunning collection is part of the imposing Royal Palace and is certainly the most unusual and stimulating of the complex’s museums.

Highlights include a pristine example of the first coins ever minted during the reign of King Croesus in 550BC Greece. The gold coin is well preserved and bears the head of a lion in fine detail. Impossible to ignore is the world’s largest coin, propped in the entrance, and weighing in at 120kg. You can also see the world’s first banknote and incredible examples of inflation-ridden Weimar Republic notes in denominations of 1000 billion marks.

The museum strives to offer more than eye candy though as several exhibits explore all the social processes behind earning money and spending it. There are good interactive displays for children, and all exhibits have explanations in both Swedish and English.

Apart from the Money Museum other worthwhile visits include the Royal Armoury, which despite its name includes a display of royal lingerie, the 18th-century chapel, and Gustav III’s Museum of Antiquities, which shows the avaricious monarch’s souvenir collection from his 1783 trip to Italy. The Riddarholmen Church, the oldest building in Sweden, is also contained within the palace walls.

Nobel Museum

Sweden’s most respected cultural institution, with the possible exception of pickled herring, is the Nobel Prize, the premier worldwide acknowledgement of great achievements in peacemaking, science or the arts.

To mark the centenary of the illustrious prize the Nobel Foundation has created an exhibition entitled “Cultures of Creativity” to celebrate the 700-plus laureates who have received the award since its inception. The previous year’s winners are presented in quirky three-minute video vignettes, while the reconstructed Nobel banquet table conveys the grandeur of the big night.

For more details on exploring Stockholm, please call 972-530-0679, 800-615-5651 or e-mail travel@travelandtour.com.

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