When visiting Stockholm and explore its many museums, we recommend you include the Skansen open-air living museum in your schedule (open all year round). This museum is a small concentrate of Swedish culture, and we never saw the time go by!
As you’d expect, it’s one of Stockholm’s most visited sites. To avoid long queues at the ticket office, we advise you to book your tickets on the official online website, to save precious time on the day of your visit.
We give you below all the practical information to facilitate your visit (price, time of visit, opening day and schedule) ….
Skansen, the world’s oldest open-air museum
The Swedes know how to make the most of their heritage and make their museums attractive, with interactive, child-friendly spaces where learning is fun. This huge open-air venue is the proof.
A little history, this museum was created in 1891 by the founder of Nordiska museet (Nordic Museum) to preserve traditional folk culture. The idea was to create a small concentrate of Sweden, in which you can observe a hundred or so traditional habitats (houses, stores, churches, mills, farms, schools…) from each region of the country.
It’s a living museum, where you can interact with many passionate extras. The village is always lively. In summer, we attended a folk music concert. During the festive season, a magnificent Christmas market takes place in the alleys of the park.
There’s even a park with animals from the far north (reindeer, elk…). This is Stockholm ‘s must-see museum, and you’ll never see the time go by.
Visit the Skansen Museum: location, opening hours and prices
Where is the Skansen Museum?
The Skansen Museum is located at the following address: Djurgårdsslätten 49-51, on the island of Djaurgarden, nicknamed “Museum Island”, in the heart of the Swedish capital.
This is the Stockholm district not to be missed. Close to the Vasa Museum, Abba, and Grona Lund Tivoli Park (the funfair).
Opening hours
- April 10am – 4pm
- May to September 10am-6pm (some days until 8pm)
- October to March 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
Remember to check this information on your ticket before you arrive.
Skansen is a very lively park, open all year round, where different festivals are celebrated: a beautiful market and entertainment at Christmas, a summer festival… It’s a great idea for a winter activity in Stockholm!
Skansen Museum rates and reservations
As this is one of Stockholm’s most visited museums, we recommend that you buy your admission ticket directly online from the booking site, to avoid the long queues at the booking kiosks at the entrance to the site.
Price : €21 full price April to September then €16 full price October to March – reduced price for children – free for children under 4 – ideal for families – included in the“Go City” Pass
➡️Nous recommends that you opt for the“Go City” Pass, which pays for itself as soon as you buy your third museum ticket. Your ticket will give you free access to many of Stockholm’s museums, such as the Vasa Museum, the Skansen Museum, the Nobel Museum…
How to prepare for your visit
How to organize your visit?
We recommend you visit thehuge relief map at the main entrance to get a feel for the park’s vastness and plan your visit.
Residential / Craftsmen
Then you can start by visiting the various homes, churches and schools. What’s most interesting is to open the doors and observe the decorations, details and objects of the period.
It’s a veritable living museum, with costumed extras explaining the era you’re in and the function of the items in the various houses. We loved the rich explanations.
Afterwards, you can head off to the craftsmen’s and tradesmen’s district (potter, grocer, weaver, glassblower…). We loved watching the glassblower, which is always a mesmerizing moment for the whole family. We also enjoyed a short traditional dance performance.
Sami farms and camp
Then there’s a section featuring Swedish farmhouses, dismantled all over the country and reassembled in Skansen.
You’ll also be able to see some beautiful red wooden mills. The highlight for us was the Sami camp (a people from northern Sweden) with its tepee-shaped huts, where we made pancakes over an open fire in a tent.
Nordic Animal Zoo
We skipped this area of the park, as if you read us regularly you may know that we’re not big zoo fans.
We’d planned to spend 2 hours in the park, so we didn’t have time to explore much more. We were also very lucky during our trip to Scandinavia, as we were able to observe an elk and numerous reindeer up close in the wild (here are a few photos).
Our opinion and visiting time
We were there for 2 hours, without waiting at the entrance as we had bought our tickets online. Although we could have spent the whole day surveying the park, we had plenty of time to enjoy it.
We loved theatmosphere inside the park and the various reconstructions. It really is a wonderful journey into traditional Sweden, so go for it!
Where to sleep in Stockolm?
To get the most out of your stay, we recommend that you sleep in the Norrmalm and Östermalm districts of Stockholm. For smaller budgets, the Södermalm district may be a good alternative.
– Favourite ♥: Hotel Birger Jarl, Noormalm district (the best place to sleep in our opinion): the hotel’s location is perfect for visiting central Stockholm on foot. In a beautiful, completely renovated building, our accommodation was spacious with a mini fridge and carefully decorated, excellent value for money where you’ll feel right at home. We would definitely go back.
– Cheap € : City Backpackers Hostel, a nicely decorated youth hostel, certainly the best value for money in Stockholm, €75 for a double room in the trendy Sodermalm district (one of our favorites). I stayed there on my first visit to Stockholm (Floriane).
We wish you an excellent trip to Stockholm, and one last word of advice: don’t miss its incredible archipelago!
Feel free to leave us a quick note or 5 stars below, to tell us if you’re planning this trip, to ask any questions you may have, here or on Instagram, we’ll get back to you with great pleasure.
