1) The author visits Stockholm in winter and participates in traditional Swedish winter activities like jumping naked into a frozen lake and going to the sauna. 2) He goes ice skating on the frozen Baltic Sea and finds Stockholm to be a relaxed city with many outdoor winter activities and a lack of pretentiousness. 3) The author concludes that Stockholm is an ideal destination to disconnect from technology and experience the natural beauty and quirky local culture and traditions.

1. Expecting a too-cool-for-school hive of
Scandi-hipsters, Ed Cooper is pleased to find
Stockholm is in fact a far more relaxed affair,
with enough wintry activities, casual nudity
and friendly bars to ensure visitors stay
chilled. Jumping into frozen lakes: optional
IllustrationbyBenTallon
Experiences
STOCKHOLM
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2. Scandinavians
take their saunas
seriously, and the
golden rule is – no
swimwear. Nudity is
required, though you
should take a towel
to sit on (shy folk
can wrap up in it).
F
orever chilled,’ my gravestone
would read. At least, that was my
initial thought after voluntarily
plummeting, naked, into an
ice-cold Lake Källtorp, a small
body of water in Stockholm’s
outdoorsy epicentre, Hellasgården. This
forced me to face the very real possibility
of a frosty demise: trapped under ice in
an undercurrent, with locals looking on in
horror – a recipe for a
PR nightmare.
Of course, these were just morbid
thoughts jolted into me by the shock of the
frigid lake’s shrivelling temperatures. The
reality: merely a typical case of bumbling
journo (guilty) risking bodily parts in the
name of a good
story. I surface to the
sound of rapturous
laughter from a group
of locals, seemingly
congratulating me
for being daft enough
to plummet into the
unforgiving depths.
Alive? Yes. Stupid? Undoubtedly.
Wind back the clock about 20 minutes
and you’d see me embark on the first stage
of the lake-jump preamble: stripping down
and setting course for one of Hellasgården’s
saunas to endure 80°C heat with a handful
of locals and my guide, Marco. “Do you
share any similar traditions in England?”
he asks. I struggle to draw comparisons
to the lunacy of the naked lake jump,
managing only to uncover a fraction
ABOVE: The bay of Riddarfjärden on an icy
Lake Mälaren, with the striking architecture
of Stockholm’s Old Town behind. The Old
Town dates from the 13th century, but most
buildings are 18th- and 19th-century
I SURFACE
FROM THE
LAKE TO THE
SOUND OF
LAUGHTER
FROM A
GROUP OF
LOCALS
’
PhotographbyChadEhlers/Alamy
Experiences
STOCKHOLM
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3. As well as ice diving,
Sweden offers a
number of wreck
dives, including a
variety of Second
World War ships
around the island of
Öland, off the coast
of Småland.
PhotographbyJohnerImages/Alamy
of idiotic similarity
in chasing a wheel of
cheese down a hill in
rural Gloucestershire,
which – according to
Marco, now in only
his birthday suit – is
“complete madness”.
If you’re wondering about the reasoning
behind this traditional Swedish silliness,
the theory is that leaping into a freezing
lake will shock you into living longer. An
imperfect plan, if you ask me.
Post-jump, I’m a little embarrassed (men
aren’t supposed to squeal) but completely
refreshed. Eventually, my lungs recover
and Marco (who’s still naked) and I return
to the relative paradise of the sauna.
Chatting away in the stifling heat, a few
locals (they’re naked too) recommend a
trip to Brunnsviken, a bay of the Baltic Sea
surrounded by parkland. At the time of my
visit (in mid-winter), Brunnsviken resembles
a Herculean block of ice, and tourists and
Stockholmers flock to it. Heaps of alternative
and winter-friendly activities are available
in and around the city, and Brunnsviken in
particular – hiking, cross-country skiing,
pimpling (that’s ice fishing to you and
me) and, for the truly masochistic, ample
opportunity for a spot of ice diving.
Having left Hellasgården armed with
a new aptitude for all things wintry, I set
course to spend my next day in Stockholm
slipping, sliding and – eventually – skating
along the Brunnsviken with Stockholm
locals and wintersports aficionados
ICEguide. Deploying onto the lake with a
backpack full of survival must-haves (that’s
a lifejacket, coffee, sausages and soup, in
case you’re interested or lost), and skates
sharp enough to shave with, I take to the
THE THEORY
IS THAT
LEAPING INTO
A FREEZING
LAKE WILL
MAKE YOU
LIVE LONGER
NEED TO KNOW
EAT & DRINK
B.A.R. (or Blasieholmens
Akvarium och Restaurang, if you
insist on being formal), in central
Stockholm, offers a traditional
pick-your-dinner and locally
caught fish bar towards the
back. Expertly encapsulating the
shabby-chic, not-quite-finished
feel that occupies many of the
best restaurants in the city, there’s
even some sumptuous Swedish
craft beer behind the bar, making
this place a case of straight outta
Shoreditch (minus the try-hards).
restaurangbar.se
STAY
Built from the ruined castles of
the 1700s and proudly registered
among Sweden’s listed historic
buildings, Hotel Skeppsholmen
was once a hospice for plague
victims, and later went on to
accommodate military employees
until 1900. Now sporting a
refreshing, forward-thinking
design, the hotel is itself a
representation of Swedish culture,
in terms of both hospitality and
typical Scandi-style.
hotelskeppsholmen.se
PARTY
A multi-purpose entertainment
venue on the corner of Berzelii
Park, Berns breathes the feel of
a venue that even Gatsby would
frequent, especially on a Friday
evening – which is when you
should be there, too. Elegantly
resplendent at its quietest and
eye-bogglingly opulent at its
greatest, skip that bloody Ice Bar
and settle in here.
berns.se/en
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Experiences
STOCKHOLM

4. Like any good
hipster hotbed,
Stockholm has a
fanatical coffee
culture. Södermalm
generally boasts the
best blogger-friendly
cafes serving ‘fika’ in
cut glass jars.
PhotographbyNils-JohanNorenlind/Getty
ice and – as soon as I’m able to look up
from my bumbling feet – am seduced by
the frozen Scandinavian seascape.
“OUR RELIGION IS ICE!” yells our
inimitably enthusiastic leader and
ICEguide’s founder, Joakim Malm, during
my comparatively bumbling baptism
behind him. Having been thoroughly
wooed by my surroundings, I’m inclined
to join his cult. Whether submerged below
the waves and
scrambling for dear
life in Hellasgården,
or skating on top of
the Baltic Sea in the
Brunnsviken, you are
powerless to resist
the merciless beauty
of Stockholm’s natural landscape.
Later in the day, we head to Tweed
Bar, a stone’s throw from Skeppsholmen
(an island, which shares its name with
my hotel), where Stockholm’s homage to
hyperlocal culture continues, particularly
in the drinks Tweed serves. The menu is
peppered with inventive cocktails and –
more notably – craft beers named
after some of the bar’s more,
let’s say, interesting employees,
which, done with less humour
and affection, could come across
as crushingly hipster. As it is, Tweed
– like the city itself – is welcoming
and unpretentious in a way you might
not at first expect.
As I sip of my Don Kypare (that’s
a craft IPA named after Tweed’s larger-
than-life Italian chef), I ruminate on
precisely what makes Stockholm so easy to
fall in love with.
For starters, it’s a quirky, idyllic
destination ideal for your own disappearing
act, with its vast expanses of nature and a
refreshing lack of cooler-than-thou attitude.
It’s also a place where you can totally
disconnect from the grid without venturing
far from the city limits.
This rush of utopian wonderment stays
with me as I my flight back to London soars
over Stockholm’s archipelago. Come as
you are, leave your comfort zone in the
departures lounge, and you’ll be welcomed
as a local. Consider it a city in which you’ll
be both literally and metaphorically chilled
– just remember to keep your head above
water and you’ll have a fine old time. e
GETTING THERE
FLIGHTS
British Airways flies to Stockholm
from London Heathrow, with fares
starting at £93 one-way; to book
visit ba.com or call 0844 4930 787.
MORE INFORMATION
Ed Cooper was a guest of Visit
Sweden. Head to the website to
find suggestions for both city
breaks and countryside escapes.
visitsweden.com
STOCKHOLM
IS A PLACE
WHERE YOU
CAN TOTALLY
DISCONNECT
FROM THE GRID
ABOVE: A boat makes
its way through the
frozen Baltic Sea that
surrounds Stockholm.
The city is made up
of 14 islands of the
wider Stockholm
archipelago
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Experiences
STOCKHOLM