Sweden Guide
Around Stockholm
Drottningholm
Opening time: May– Aug daily 10am–4.30pm; Sept daily noon–3.30pm; Oct– April Sat & Sun noon–3.30pm
Price: 60kr
Website: www.royalcourt.se
Even if your time in Stockholm is limited, it's worth saving a day for a visit to the harmonious Unesco-listed royal palace of Drottningholm, beautifully located on the shores of leafy Lovön island, 11km west of the city centre. The fifty-minute boat trip there is part of the experience, with hourly departures from Stadhusbron (May to mid-Sept daily 9.30am–6pm; 90kr one-way, 120kr return); alternatively, take the T-bana to Brommaplan and then any bus numbered between #301 and #323 from there – a less thrilling ride, but one that's covered by the SL transport cards and the Stockholm Card.
Drottningholm is perhaps the greatest achievement of the architects Tessin, father and son. Work began in 1662 on the orders of King Karl X's widow, Eleonora, Tessin the Elder modelling the new palace in a thoroughly French style – leading to that tired and overused label of a Swedish Versailles. Apart from anything else it's considerably smaller than its French counterpart, utilizing false perspective and trompe l'oeil to boost the elegant, rather narrow interior. On Tessin the Elder's death in 1681, the palace was completed by his son, already at work on Stockholm's Royal Palace. Inside, good English notes are available to help you sort out each room's detail, a riot of Rococo decoration largely dating from the time when Drottningholm was bestowed as a wedding gift on Princess Louisa Ulrika (a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia).
Nearby in the palace grounds is the Court Theatre (Slottsteater; May– Sept, guided tours only, every 30min; 60kr), dating from 1766. Take a guided tour and you'll get a flowery though accurate account of the theatre's decoration: money to complete the building ran out in the eighteenth century, meaning that not everything is quite what it seems, with painted papier-mâché frontages masquerading as the real thing. The original backdrops and stage machinery are still in place, though, and the tour comes complete with a display of eighteenth-century special effects – wind and thunder machines, trapdoors and simulated lighting. If you're in luck you might catch a performance of drama, ballet or opera here (May– Sept).