Elite Traveler September-October 2015

EXPLORE STOCKHOLM

LIKE A LOCAL

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH SOFO

facing Nytorget, a grassy park and neighborhood social hub ringed with restaurants, bars and cafes. After dark, prosecco-sipping hipsters huddle under the heat lamps at Nytorget 6 ( nytorget6.com ), a stylish new restaurant with a buzzy bar. Local bands regularly play at Pet Sounds Bar, across the street from the legendary record shop of the same name. But the scene doesn’t get hotter than at Nada, a cozy two-room bar where guest DJs spin decks beneath the golden ceilings.

shop Stutterheim ( stutterheim.com ) proves that a rubberized raincoat can be a covetable clothing item when carefully designed and crafted by hand. Hours can be lost perusing the tables stacked with art, design and photography tomes at Konstig ( konstig.se ), an independent bookshop that also carries cult magazines and journals. And Pärlans Konfektyr ( parlanskonfektyr.se ), a shop styled like a plush 1930s-era parlor, sells the city’s best caramels, which are handmade next door by a team of vintage-clad women. Casual refinement is the name of the game at the new destination restaurant Nook ( nookrestaurang.se ), which serves a top-notch tasting menu in laid-back surroundings. Foodies trek from across town to sample the inventive Nordic-Korean plates – think white asparagus with chawanmushi cream, Kalix roe and crispy chicken skin. Yet SoFo’s standby is still Nytorget Urban Deli ( urbandeli.org ), a gourmet grocery, bar and restaurant popular for its multi-tiered seafood platters and sunny sidewalk tables

Beyond the cobblestone lanes and medieval charm of Gamla Stan is an even more hip island with a more modern appeal. The southern island of Södermalm, formerly a working-class area, is well known for its somewhat gritty portrayal in the dark crime novel (and equally dark movie) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo . But in reality, Södermalm is synonymous with cool – its creative, youthful atmosphere fueled by the many artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs that now call the island home. The area south of Folkungagatan, dubbed SoFo, is Stockholm’s trendiest neighborhood, a grid of about a dozen streets that are alive with activity from morning to night. Early risers take their coffee strong and their morning buns sweet at Cafe String ( cafestring.se ), a laid-back cafe furnished with a colorful mixture of tables, chairs and overstuffed couches favored by freelancers and bloggers tapping away on the latest MacBooks. The surrounding streets are packed with unique boutiques. The upscale

Clockwise from top: Parlans Konfektyr, Nytorget 6 and Stutterheim