We knew we wanted to take a day trip to the Stockholm archipelago while in Sweden. While Vaxholm seemed popular and pretty cute, Artipelag had an ultra-cool vibe (almost like Stockholm’s version of Japan’s Naoshima) and it became our top choice.

Artipelag is a stunning art museum located on the Stockholm archipelago. It was actually created by the BabyBjörn founders (RANDOM). There are paved walkways through the forest and along the coast, with outdoor art installations (free), an indoor art museum (ticketed), fancy restaurant on the top floor, and a casual cafe on the ground floor. We spent about 2.5 hours there, which was just enough time to have a fika at the cafe, check out all the outdoor art installations, and peruse the gift shop.

The Solar Egg by Bigert & Bergström is the most famous piece at Artipelag and was a treat to see in person. It’s actually a sauna and can fit 8 people! I was also particularly impressed by some of the Maria Miesenberger pieces. Standing Motion is a black bronze sculpture located on top of the museum’s roof and can be easy to miss. Deeper into the property lives Change of Direction, which would fit in perfectly at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Another highlight was Ainsa IV by Jaume Plensa — this sculpture was tucked away in its own little section of the coastline and had benches nearby in case you wanted to have a quiet moment.

Transportation

There are many ways to reach Artipelag, but we opted for the 12:30pm direct bus there (50 SEK, 30 minutes) and a 3:20pm ferry back to Stockholm (265 SEK, 1.5 hours). The direct bus and ferry both had two departures per day in summer so we had to plan carefully to ensure we had enough time to explore.

The direct bus leaves from Stockholm City Terminal. The bus terminal and train terminal are across the street from each other so make sure you go to the bus terminal. You need to buy the bus tickets beforehand as they aren’t available to buy on the bus. There are also local buses that go to Artipelag but they take more time and require a bit more planning.

The ferry is actually a famous 1912 steamship, M/S Gustafsberg VII. It even has its own Wikipedia page! LOL The ride was nice because we got to see a bunch of other islands and everyone’s vacation homes. The ferry also had a cafe with snacks and drinks and there was enough room on the boat so that everyone had their own lil table. See ferry and ticket information here.