This place was amazing!…read more It's a hidden Baroque gem about a 45 minute drive from the center of Stockholm. This place is a very old and unique summer castle from the height of Sweden's age of power. I was so surprised at how cool this place was when we showed up! There's an unfinished ballroom that was closed up and untouched for hundreds of years. It looks like the workers building it just went to lunch and never came back. Apparently, this is one of the only places that you can see a real good example of such a thing. I also had no idea that there would be such a nice apple orchard open to the public! I recommend going in August or September so you get to pick some of them. We took so many apples home i'm still kinda wondering what to do with them... LOL! It's hard to keep reminding yourself how old everything in this castle really is! Just looking at the paintings of men standing in their old-school version of M.C. Hammer pants can help a little though, lol! It's a nice place to take your time wandering around in. I don't recommend the "housekeeping" tour other than the fact that you get a glimpse of the large library. They lied and said that they would try to do some english for me on the tour, but they didn't. I would've probably gone on the regular english speaking tour if I had known that. I also feel like it dragged on forever. Everyone with me said she was a weird tour guide who wanted a "discussion" rather than a tour and that she knew hardly anything about history or how to answer peoples questions. Another downside to the castle was the lack of gardens. They had images in the castle library that showed plans for expansive baroque gardens that were not actually on site. It would have been nice to see that either restored or imagined in person. I also think that the "docking area" for ships, that has been let to ruin, would have been nice to see in its restored state as well. The original home of the castle builder on the sight, which is even older than the castle, was also not available for viewing. Kind of a bummer! Apparently, they rent that building out as actual livable apartments. So, if your looking for a unique place to hang your hat you can check out www.sfv.se for a vacancy! The cafe staff were pleasant and helpful despite the food not being so great. I didn't think my caesar salad was very exciting. The other people with me got their overpriced waffles. My significant other went back for a second because it wasn't enough food for a filling lunch. But, we obviously did not come here for the food. On another note, the art exhibits surrounding the halls really didn't make a lot of sense being displayed throughout the castle and cluttering it up. It made it feel a little cheaper than it would've without all that crap. I still don't understand the artist's exhibit that was there at the time. The actual painter that was featured had no real paintings on site. It was just other unknown contemporary artists that were "inspired from his works" so far as I could tell. Strange. What I thought was the coolest thing in the building was the Armory. It's freaking huge! They had such an enormous collection on site, I was thoroughly impressed. It's definitely a must see. I love how everything hanging in a real setting makes it feel so much more relatable than if it were just sitting in a museum. Standing there you could picture being one of the men that could just grab one of those suits and a sword to go do whatever knights go do. :) VERY COOL!

Another lovely little piece of history that you can take a day trip outside of Stockholm to see…read more Part of the castle is a hotel, part is a cafe/restaurant and part is a museum. So, basically, it's trifecta of awesome! You will absolutely love the expansive park and trails surrounding the castle in this part of the idyllic countryside as well. I highly recommend a visit! The history surrounding this place is absolutely amazing. Paying a small fee into the museum allows you to walk straight into the past. The museum really focuses on the most notable people who last lived here--the Swedish "adopted king" Karl XIV Johan Bernadotte (originally Jean Bernadotte) and his Queen Desideria (known as Désirée Clary). Their story is surrounded in so much intrigue! Just watch the movie "Désirée" from 1954 starring Marlon Brando and you will get a wonderfully illustrative version of the story of events surrounding these characters. In short, Jean Bernadotte was one of Napoleon's top generals and Désirée Clary was his ex-finance. Fun fact: an original picture of Napoleon that belonged to Désirée still hangs in this castle, right next to one of the first copies of the American Declaration of Independence (that was sent out to countries that aided the Revolutionary War!) Very cool stuff here if you're into history! I can't really comment on the conditions of the hotel, since I have never been a guest here overnight. I can say that the entrance to the museum is in the main entrance, while the Hotel check-in desk is through a door just to the right of that main front door. The lounge/cafe is also right through that second entrance as well and is really an nice place to lounge in. Everything is really well decorated! It even has a cute little pool table room at the end for guests who want to play a game. One other thing I like about this castle/restaurant/hotel is that they offer Afternoon Tea and Julbords (Swedish christmas buffets). On that note, I also like that they have a gym for the hotel. Sometimes that's important after eating a Julbord buffet! Lol. This castle is also the the perfect place to host to host a wedding! So, if you are getting married in the Stockholm area, you should totally consider having it here! The wedding chapel inside is absolutely beautiful. It's nice to note that the hotel rooms are both inside the castle and in an external structure outside -- a lot of "hotel castles" in Sweden typically only have an outside structure for any overnight guests. Additionally, I have to mention that the food in the restaurant is fun and french in keeping with the Bernadotte theme. Making it nice for a romantic evening dinner stay or even a wonderful wedding theme -- "French Scandinavian chic" anyone!? I think it's also fun to mention that the castle has it's own line of beer--including a perfect Julbord style "winter white" Ale! Santa, I know where I want to spend next christmas! ;)

A fun little excursion outside of Stockholm. And well connected by transit / ferry so it's pretty…read moreconvenient. I took the palace tour which really added to the experience- I think without the tour it would be a lot less enjoyable. The palace itself is large but the open parts don't take that long to go through, so getting a detailed verbal history helped a lot. The palace interior is beautiful and has a lot of interesting history, and the palace gardens and grounds are nice for a nature walk. Entering the palace and getting the tour aren't super expensive and are worth the price, but I around to a little annoying that there's so many little add on charges to see the other parts - specifically the Chinese pavilion and the theater.

Drottningholm Palace, one of Sweden's royal palaces, is where King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia…read morehave resided since 1981. We took a Stromma boat tour that took us from Stockholm out to the palace and back (with a two-hour block for exploring the palace and its grounds). The interior and the grounds are beautiful, and we enjoyed our two hours of exploring. The tour is self-guided, so you can wander at your own pace. With a charming cafe at the palace, I wish we'd had a little more than two hours, so we didn't have to choose between time at the cafe and continuing to explore the grounds! I recommend getting a guide book to the palace or using the audio guide, because there aren't many signs explaining about the history or architecture of the palace, but the rooms you can tour are beautiful, and the grounds are lovely, too. Overall, I highly recommend visiting the palace, whether by boat or by car if you have one while you're visiting Stockholm!