Vasastan, the Stockholm neighbourhood few tourists know: a park with an 18th-century observatory, cardamom buns and Astrid Lindgren's terrace

We usually know Stockholm for Gamla Stan and the royal palace. Vasastan rarely makes it onto tourist routes - and that is exactly why it is worth it. Until the 19th century this residential district was fields, gardens and estates on the edge of town. Industry brought apartment blocks, and the neighbourhood took on its present look at the start of the 20th century, as part of the expansion Swedes call Stenstaden - "the stone city".

Nature here is not decoration. Around 60 percent of the Stockholm municipality's area is green space, and a walk through Vasastan starts on a hill: Observatorielunden park, with an 18th-century observatory and a view you will remember. Nearby is Stadsbiblioteket, the city library, but it is closed for renovation until 2028.

Swedes have a word every visitor learns fast - fika, the coffee break with something sweet. In a wing of the observatory is Kafé Himlavalvet, and for specialty coffee you go to Café Pascal, where the cardamom buns are the thing to order. Does our two-hour coffee on a café terrace back home deserve an equally nice name?

Odengatan is the neighbourhood's lively street. On Odenplan square stands the Gustav Vasa church, one of the biggest in the city. Vasaparken is for families: sports pitches, a large playground and plenty of grass. Close to Dalagatan street is the Astrid Lindgren terrace, named after the author of "Pippi Longstocking", who lived in this very neighbourhood.

The Sven-Harry art museum is a museum, gallery, restaurant and rooftop terrace all at once. The collection was gathered over 35 years, and on the top floor is a replica of an 18th-century house.

Where to shop, eat and sleep. ReRobe is for second-hand clothes, Thriftin for vintage, FUBUKI for rain and snow boots, and Acne Archive for fashion. To eat: Främmat, with creative cooking with a French touch, Rolfs Kök on Tegnérgatan, with classic dishes in a new version, and Erth, in the basement of the Hötorgshallen market hall, for meat and wine. To sleep there is the boutique hotel Villa Dahlia, in a building from the sixties, reopened in 2024.

We associate Scandinavian cities with high prices, and rightly so. But a walk through a park, past a church and down a street of old stone buildings costs nothing - and that is exactly what Vasastan does best.