Gamla Stan Guide: Stortorget, Narrow Alleys and the Royal Palace

Until the 1980s, Stockholm's medieval island core was officially called Staden mellan broarna ("The Town Between the Bridges"). Today known universally as Gamla Stan (The Old Town), the island of Stadsholmen and its tiny neighbours Riddarholmen and Helgeandsholmen preserve their 13th-century street grid of curving cobblestones, vaulted cellars and tall merchant houses painted in shades of saffron yellow and terracotta red.

How to walk Gamla Stan away from the crowds

Most day-trippers stay exclusively on the two main shopping lanes of Västerlånggatan and Österlånggatan, which trace the line of the demolished medieval city walls. Step just fifty metres uphill onto the higher spine of the island along Prästgatan, Svartmangatan or Kindstugatan and the streets fall completely quiet, lit at dusk by wrought-iron gas-style wall lanterns:

• Stortorget and the Nobel Prize Museum: the oldest square in Stockholm, framed by the stepped red-and-ochre gables of the Schantzska and Seyfridtzska houses (look closely at the 92 white stones set into the red façade of No. 20) and the 1776 pastel-green former Stock Exchange building, now home to the Nobel Prize Museum.
• Mårten Trotzigs Gränd and the Runestone: at the southern tip of Prästgatan, climb (or descend) the 36 steps of Stockholm's narrowest alley, which tapers to just 90 centimetres wide between plastered walls. Nearby at the corner of Prästgatan and Kåkbrinken, inspect an authentic 11th-century Viking runestone cemented directly into the base of a 17th-century house wall.
• Iron Boy (Järnpojken) and Storkyrkan: tucked inside the tranquil courtyard of the Finnish Church (Finska kyrkan) across from the palace sits Liss Eriksson's 15-centimetre iron sculpture of a little boy looking at the moon, Sweden's smallest public monument. Next door rises Storkyrkan (Stockholm Cathedral), housing Bernt Notke's dramatic 1489 carved oak sculpture of St George and the Dragon.

The Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet) and Riddarholmen

Dominating the north-eastern quay is the 18th-century Italian Baroque Royal Palace, one of the largest palaces in Europe with over 600 rooms, housing the Royal Apartments, the Treasury (with Erik XIV's 1561 crown) and the Tre Kronor Museum inside the medieval cellar vaults. Cross the short footbridge on the west side of Gamla Stan to Riddarholmen to see the cast-iron openwork spire of Riddarholmskyrkan (burial church of Swedish monarchs including Gustavus Adolphus) and look across the water from Evert Taubes Terrass toward City Hall.