Visiting Stockholm in autumn

Enjoy your coffee break the Swedish way

The Swedes are known worldwide for their love for fika, a cosy coffee and pastry break. Hence it is no surprise that you’ll notice a sheer endless variety of pastries and bakeries when visiting Stockholm. The most popular buns for fika here are kanellbullar, cinnamon rolls, and kardemummabulle, rolls filled with cardamom. The cinnamon roll even has its own annual day: the Kanelbullens dag is celebrated on October 4th each year.

The hunt for the most delicious fika buns in town is certainly a delightful one! One of the most popular bakeries with three shops across town is Vallhallabageriet. Enjoy the fluffy yet packed flavour-packed buns in an authentic bakery atmosphere, especially the cardamom buns are a fan favourite here!

Find ghosts in Stockholm

Autumn is the ideal time for a spooky tour through the oldest parts of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town, or Södermalm that offers a new perspective on the city’s history. The 90 minutes long Stockholm Ghost Walk takes you on a walk through Stockholm’s equally intriguing and scary history. You will not only learn more about its underground legends and unsolved mysteries, murders, executions, fascinating myths, ghosts and diseases but also get the opportunity to smell, touch and even taste the history!

If hauntings are what you are looking for, Stockholm can certainly scratch that itch for you. Especially, of course, at Halloween. Amusement park Gröna Lund has a popular Halloween celebration filled where the entire park transforms and fills with horror houses, attractions and evil beings around every corner. This year's new horror attraction is Zombiesta, a horror house unlike any other.

Take a tour through the Swedish parliament

If you want to learn more about Sweden’s past and present political situation, you can take a tour through the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament). You'll find out how the Riksdag works and the duties of its members as well as its history. You can either attend a guided tour or witness public hearings and debates – in line with the principle of the Swedish democracy to be open and transparent to the public. 

From September onwards, there are free public tours on Saturdays and Sundays. The English spoken tour is offered three times per day. Just arrive in good time before the tour starts, since security controls are carried out for visits to the parliament.  

Attend a festival or event during autumn in Stockholm

There are several festivals and events to visit in Stockholm in the autumn months. As summer ends and autumn starts in the city Stockholm Fringe Festival (STOFF) takes over the city. This 5-day long art festival includes anything from performance art to art installations.

From 11 to 20 October Stockholm Jazz Festival is in town, which is one of the oldest and biggest music festivals in Sweden. You can see almost 280 performances at around 70 locations throughout the city, from churches to museums and cafes.

Concurrent with the Jazz Festival, you can also visit some world-class tennis games at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open, also known as the Stockholm Open at the Kungliga Tennishallen. In 2023, Gaël Monfils, who currently ranks 45th in the world, took the title. For 2024, both Stan Wawrinka and Casper Ruud (8th in the world ranking) have already committed to playing in Stockholm.