Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen: Moderna Museet and Peaceful Quay Walks

Directly opposite the Royal Palace and Grand Hôtel in the middle of the harbour sit the twin linked islands of Skeppsholmen and tiny Kastellholmen. For three centuries they served as the closed naval base of the Royal Swedish Navy before being handed over to museums, art academies and wooden boat restorers. With almost no motor traffic, mature linden trees and gravel paths right at the water's edge, a two-hour loop around the two islands is the calmest walk in central Stockholm.

Crossing Skeppsholmsbron and Niki de Saint Phalle's Sculptures

Begin on the mainland at Blasieholmen next to the freshly renovated Nationalmuseum (Sweden's flagship gallery of fine arts from the Middle Ages to 1900, worth two hours in its own right for Rembrandt, Carl Larsson and glass-roofed courtyards) and step onto Skeppsholmsbron. Built in 1861 as Sweden's first wrought-iron bridge, its mid-span railings carry the most photographed symbol of Stockholm: a forged iron and gold-leaf Royal Crown (Kungakronan) framed against the ochre facades of Gamla Stan and the steep cliffs of Södermalm.

As you climb the gentle tree-shaded hill on Skeppsholmen, the lawn explodes in primary colours around The Fantastic Paradise (Paradiset), a 1966 outdoor sculpture ensemble of playful curvaceous figures by French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle and kinetic mechanical contraptions by Jean Tinguely.

Moderna Museet, ArkDes and the Wooden Ship Quays

• Moderna Museet and ArkDes: housed in a light-filled building designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo alongside an 1850s naval drill hall, Moderna Museet holds one of Europe's premier collections of 20th- and 21st-century art, including works by Picasso, Dalí, Matisse, Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Swedish pioneer Hilma af Klint, plus a restaurant terrace looking straight across the channel to Strandvägen and Djurgården. Under the same roof sits ArkDes, Sweden's national centre for architecture and design.
• Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Östasiatiska museet): occupying the 1699 yellow rope-house warehouse of the royal bodyguards near the bridge, displaying Chinese Neolithic ceramics and Japanese prints.
• af Chapman and Kastellholmen: follow the western shoreline past the permanently moored 1888 three-masted white steel sailing ship af Chapman and cross the short wooden bridge onto rocky Kastellholmen, where a red brick 1848 citadel (Kastellet) flies the three-tailed naval flag above open Baltic water.