Skeppsholmen Tours and Activities

One of the largest of the Stockholm Archipelago’s 24,000 islets and skerries, Skeppsholmen is close to the channel leading out into the Baltic Sea and historically had great tactical significance to Sweden’s capital city. However, although its 18th-century Bergrummet complex originally played a military role, now it has been transformed into museums and cultural emporiums including the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Museet), the East-Asian Museum (Ostasiatiska Museet) and the avant-garde Theatre Galeasen. Other sights on this peaceful backwater island include a 19th-century fortress; the elegant Neoclassical church of Skeppsholmskyrkan, which is now a concert venue; an historic shipyard where wooden boats are still made; and open-air installations of unique sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle and her partner Jean Tinguely.

Accessible from mainland Stockholm by road bridge, Skeppsholmen is also connected to the neighboring islets of Blasieholmen and Kastellholmen by foot bridges. The island’s leisure facilities include restaurants and an upmarket hotel as well as a floating youth hostel on the yacht Chapman. The week-long Stockholm Jazz Festival also takes place on the island every July. These days Skeppsholmen is on the itinerary for Segway tours of Stockholm as well as hop-on, hop-off boat tours of the city.