Hello and good morning friends! On our first trip to Stockholm we just fell in love with Gamla Stan, or “Old Town”, and knew we wanted to stay there on our next trip. Keep reading for all the details of our stay in Gamla Stan with The Victory Hotel.
Dating back to the 13th century, the beautiful island of Gamla Stan features medieval alleyways, cobbled stone streets, stunning architecture and colorful 17th and 18th century buildings. It’s also home to the Royal Palace!
I have been following The Collectors Hotels since our first stay in Stockholm and have become completely obsessed with their hotels: The Victory, Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson.
The Collector’s Hotels are located in the heart of Gamla Stan. In their hotels guests are surrounded by an incredible collection of antiques, currently the fifth largest private collection of maritime objects in the world! So cool! The Victory is the flagship hotel with spacious rooms, multiple restaurants and multiple bars. The Lady Hamilton is both romantic and charming. And lastly, The Lord Nelson is a slightly more budget friendly alternative that still oozes charm.
We were staying at The Victory Hotel, which opened its doors in 1987 and just like Lord Nelson Hotel and Lady Hamilton Hotel, it is filled to the brim with fascinating antiques. The various small collections are all part of a big collection that the founders Gunnar and Majlis Bengtsson have aquired over the years. Besides the amazing and beautiful collection of maritime antiques displayed throughout the hotel, The Victory Hotel also boasts remnants of the Leijontornet, a tower that was once part of the defense wall in Stockholm in the 14th century.
We arrived at The Victory Hotel late in the afternoon and checked into our charming cabin. We freshened up and were off to explore our favorite part of Stockholm!
Our first stop was Pharmarium, a cocktail lounge in the Stortorget for drinks. The Stortorget, Swedish for grand square, is the oldest square in Stockholm. We sipped our tasty drinks in the medieval square, just thrilled to be staying in Gamla Stan!
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On our way to dinner we popped into an antique store, Zedell Konst och Antik, and had the most charming time! The owner was so knowledgeable and explained every piece to us while he played the piano and we played with his sweet terrier pup. The ceilings in this shop, located on the oldest street in Stockholm, were painting during the 30 years war in 1635. So cool! Judi bought a piece of art there and I bought two! If you love antiques and art this is a shop for you!
Then we were off to dinner at our favorite restaurant in all of Stockholm, The Hairy Pig Deli. Located just a few minutes walk from The Victory Hotel, is a charming and very small Swedish tapas restaurant offering cozy vibes and outstanding comfort food! We got our usual. White wine, salmon pate, the sausage of the day, moose lasagna, empanadas and potato salad. This is a must for lunch or a casual dinner when in Stockholm and I highly recommend the salmon pate, the sausage of the day and the moose lasagna!
On our walk back to the hotel we stopped into Marten Trotzig for an apple strudel and Port.
We arrived back to The Victory Hotel to find chocolates and Port waiting for us in our room. What a lovely surprise! We put on our cozy hotel robes and enjoyed a night cap.
The next morning we enjoyed a beautiful breakfast buffet at the hotel amongst the ancient walls of Stockholm and were off for more Gamla Stan adventures!
The Royal Palace is the official residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden and with 1,430 rooms, one of the largest palaces in Europe! The Palace was largely built during the 18th century in the Italian Baroque style. The royal residences have been built on this very location since the 13th century. The palace contains apartments for the Royal family, guest Apartments, State Apartments, The Apartments of the Orders of Chivalry and the Bernadotte Apartments, which were our favorite to tour!
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While in the palace it had started to rain so we made our way to the Stortorget in search of Irish coffees. We sat on the patio of Stortorgskallaren and sipped our spiked coffees and watched the rain fall in the colorful medieval square.
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The rain stopped and we set off to find meatballs for lunch in Gamla Stan. We decided on Tre Valv where I had the reindeer meatballs which were amazing and Judi had the regular Swedish meatballs , which she said were very good as well.
After lunch we stopped into one of our favorite shops in Gamla Stan, Antique Maps and Prints, and I purchased about a dozen pieces. One piece I got was from 1865! It is now framed in our gallery wall in our living room.
To celebrate our wonderful purchases we had wine and olives at Pastis Gamla Stan. It’s a quaint and charming restaurant that we for sure want to eat at on our next visit!
On our walk back to the hotel we stopped by Uppland Runic Inscription 53.
This Viking stone that is embedded on a street corner just blocks from our hotel, is believed to be older than the city itself. Though its exact origin is unknown, it’s estimated to date back to the 11th century. Officially called “Uppland Runic Inscription 53,” the Gamla Stan stone is prominently located at the intersection of Prastgatan and Kakbrinken. The stone depicts a serpent body in decorative winding loops. I find it so fascinating to be surrounded by so much history when in Gamla Stan.
For dinner that night we dined at Den Gyldene Freden, meaning “The Golden Peace”. Den Gyldene Freden has been in business continuously since 1722. One of Sweden’s most well known restaurants, it is the second oldest restaurant in the world to have the same surroundings, according to the Guinness World Records. Its surroundings and environment are more or less unchanged since the day the restaurant opened. How cool is that?! For our dinner we split the beef wellington for two which was served on a bed of spinach. You could literally cut the meat with a spoon it was so delicious! This was our best meal in Stockholm and an absolute must when in Gamla Stan!
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On our walk back to The Victory Hotel we stopped in for dessert and Port at Michelangelo Ristorante.
We arrived back to our hotel to surprise Port and chocolate again and much like the night before, we sipped in our comfy robes.
We had our final breakfast at the hotel and were so sad to leave its unique charm.
The front desk kindly held our luggage for us as we did some final exploring before saying good bye to Stockholm.
With only a new hours to burn we visited the National Museum, which had been closed due to repairs in our last visit and boy I’m glad we visited this time! As an artist and art history nerd, I was in heaven! The museum was founded in 1792 and the present building was opened in 1866. The museum’s collection consists of about half a million pieces of work from the Middle Ages to 1900. Also in their arsenal, a 17th century collection of Rembrandt and other Dutch painters, which had me swooning!
We had our final meal at Mr. French, a trendy water front restaurant in Gamla Stan. We sipped rose and both had the shrimp salads.
We sluggishly walked back to The Victory Hotel sad to leave, but it wasn’t “good bye”, just “until next time”.
I highly recommend staying at one of The Collectors Hotels in Gamla Stan. The charm and character is like no other!
Thank you so much to The Victory Hotel and The Collectors Hotels team for making our stay in Gamla Stan one we will never forget.
Kisses and Swedish wishes,
