Discovering The Incredible Metro Station Art In Stockholm

If you’ve read my latest blog post, you’ll know that the main reason I stopped off in Stockholm was to stay at the jumbo jet hotel at Arlanda airport. But there was one reason I wanted to go into Stockholm itself: to check out as many underground metro stations as possible!

You see, I didn’t have much interest in Stockholm above ground. As it turns out, this was a huge oversight on my part, as I ended up loving Gamla Stan in the very brief time I had there; so much so that I’ve decided I need to go back (for one thing, I wanted to stay in the cockpit suite at the Jumbo Stay hotel with Ash – but it’s closed down as of March 2025!! Waaahhh!).

No, my sole interest in Stockholm lay in the fact the metro system is a giant art installation.

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In fact, they reckon it’s the longest art exhibition in the world!

And so it was that I headed into Stockholm on a mission. You can buy a single metro ticket that lasts 75 minutes, and it was my plan to see as many of the best metro stations in that time as possible.

This involved quite a lot of planning, and to be honest this is far from the only blog post out there covering this exact mission, so it feels remiss not to mention that the best resource I read for the best stations was The Atlas Edit, although she managed to visit a few more than I did, in more than 75 minutes. There are plenty of blog posts smashing through some stations in 75 minutes, but to be honest some of them went to stations I didn’t go to at the expense of skipping others.

Here’s how I used my 75 minute ticket!

Start: T-Centralen
> red line
Stadion
Tekniska Högskolan
> back to T-Centralen, change to blue line
Radhuset
Solna Centrum
End: Kungstradgarden

I started at T-Centralen station and ended in Kungstradgarden. Both of these are right in the centre of Stockholm so seemed like good points to start and end.

Because I was only planning to use one single ticket, I had to prioritise exactly which stations I was aiming for, and work out timings based on where the furthest station would be. For me, that was Solna Centrum, almost 20 minutes from T-Centralen, meaning that this alone would take up half of my ticket time, so I decided to take the red line first to check out stations I’d prioritised higher. By the time I got to Radhuset, I knew whether I was going to have time for Solna Centrum.

If there was time, I would have changed to the green line on the way back to T-Centralen, and gone to Thorildsplan, a station that has video game-style pixel art, and Odenplan, a station with a pulse motion like a heartbeat on the ceiling that looks pretty cool (but apparently that particular area of the station isn’t obvious to find, so I would definitely have wasted too much time looking for it!). I was going to run out of time on the 75 minute ticket, so decided to skip these.

I did, however, manage to visit six stations during my visit!

T-Centralen

I started off in T-Centralen, and was surprised to see very little art when I headed to the red line. The art is actually around the blue line platform, so it was only when I went back there to change lines that I found all the art!

This wasn’t the easiest station to photograph either and I probably actually got my worst photos of the day here – but it didn’t help that there was a lot of construction around so I was having to take some strategic photos! Luckily it wasn’t my favourite station anyway, but it’s pretty cool.

Stadion

My first stop was Stadion, which was at the top of my list, and indeed was one of my favourite stations of the whole trip.

Who can resist a rainbow?!

(If I hadn’t been on my own, I would absolutely have got a photo sitting at the bottom of the rainbow.)

This vibrant station is sooo pretty!

But beyond the pretty colours, there’s a story behind it. It was one of the metro system’s first “cave” stations, and there were fears that people may view them as sinister and even associate them with the netherworld. The bright colours and rainbow were brought in as a reminder that the sky isn’t far away.

Tekniska Högskolan

This station is for the Royal Institute of Technology, a technical and engineering university. So the station has a bit of a science theme going on, culminating in THIS right in the middle of the station!

It does feel like it’s part of a science fiction film set or something!

I had got off the train near the bottom of the platform, so I realised that some stations have more than just its signature mid-platform displays – this also had things like this at the end.

So it’s definitely worth a little wander at some of the stations, even on a time constraint – in fact, the next few stations are a true indication of that!

Radhuset

Radhuset has got to be one of my favourite stations on the entire network. It’s SO cool! Really feels like you are just in an underground cave.

While the first two stations had their main artworks in the middle of the platform, for Radhuset you need to walk down to the end for its piece de resistance around the escalators. HOW awesome is this?!

It actually feels more like an archaeological wonder than something set up as an art installation – like being in an Indiana Jones movie.

But again, there are a few things to look at elsewhere along the platform too.

Don’t forget to look up, either – there are a few fun things to find like shoes on the ceiling.

Solna Centrum

Solna Centrum is also a very cool station with brighter colours and a more above-ground nature theme. It’s worth taking some time to walk around the platform as there’s quite a lot to look at compared to the other stations I went to.

There are even display cabinets with things like this!

Kungstradgarden

Finally, I ended in Kungstradgarden, just along from T-Centralen. This was in my top 3 stations (along with Stadion and Radhuset). There is a lot going on here!

There are Roman statues, mosaic tiles, and some very funky patterns. In fact, there were so many things to take photos of that I’m really glad I left this one until last, as I could explore without worrying about how many more stations I still needed to get to. Once I left this station, that was the end of my underground adventure.

Also there isn’t much on the platform itself, so I had to go further into the station to find all the best things, which again worked out for the best as I had to go that way to leave anyway.

As an aside, the garden itself (above ground) is lovely, and I found myself pausing, wishing I had some time to sit and take it in rather than heading straight to my next stop.

Read more: Sleeping In A Jumbo Jet Engine – One Of The Coolest Places I’ve Stayed

Stockholm above ground

I didn’t do enough else in Stockholm to write about my time there, but I did manage to:

• Visit the temporary Avicii Experience museum
• Eat IKEA meatballs for lunch!
• Walk to the Old Town very briefly, where I at least got some photos of the famous square in Gamla Stan

The Avicii Experience

The Avicii Experience is a “temporary” exhibition set up as a museum to commemorate Tim Bergling after his death. I decided to add this on to my itinerary despite having very little time in Stockholm, as I wanted to pay tribute to Avicii, and because it’s temporary I didn’t know if I’d have another chance to go.

I say “temporary” because it keeps getting extended, but originally was meant to be open for a year or two. It’s now coming up to three years.

The Avicii Experience is brilliant; an insight into the life of the man behind the music, as well as his entire career from his roots in electronic music to expanding to implementing instruments and creating his own unique sound.

If you know anything about my music taste, you might be surprised that I even like Avicii! But it was this creative spark injected into what could have been generic EDM that set him apart for me. I’ve had both his albums on repeat at various points.

EDM isn’t something I know a lot about, and the museum offers an insight into the creative process behind it, with loads of interactive exhibits where you can make your own remixes, “play” piano, make videos, stand behind a mixing desk in an immersive concert, and more. The concert actually made me quite emotional, as you are surrounded by people singing along. It’s so, so good!

I’m undecided whether to write more about the Avicii Experience, so let me know if you’d like to hear more!

Lunch at IKEA in Stockholm

If there’s one thing I know about Swedish food, it’s IKEA meatballs.

It might sound sad, but when I learned that there’s an IKEA right in the centre of Stockholm, I decided that’s what I would do for lunch! Cheap, easy and iconic.

Gamla Stan

I didn’t think I’d have time, but I did want to check out the Old Town in Stockholm while I was there. Luckily I ended up being able to take a quick walk across the water and pop into a few shops around the lovely town square. So very pretty!

I think the Old Town of Stockholm is VERY underrated, as I hadn’t even heard much about it, and came away surprised by just how charming it is. On par with many other old towns around Europe, which isn’t what I expected at all! Saying that, I didn’t exactly have much time there, so I’m perhaps not the best judge.

I was also quite surprised by how close together everything was in Stockholm – the Avicii museum was only a 10 minute walk from Kungstradgarden station, so it made sense to add this on, and luckily IKEA was right round the corner.

With plenty of time to spare, the Old Town was then only a 15 minute walk away, so I figured I really ought to check it out – and I still headed back to the airport slightly earlier than planned!

One budget tip is to book the Flixbus airport bus rather than the standard express bus. It doesn’t take much longer, but you can book it for just £5 each way and it gives you 12 hours of flexibility, meaning I turned up half an hour early for my bus and just hopped on the next one.

P.S. I wasn’t a fan of Arlanda airport – it’s too spread out and took forever to get to the gates – but I did see something that excited me. A robot cat server in one of the restaurants!!! These are in Japan (of course) and I never got to see one – didn’t expect to find them in Sweden, of all places!

In all honesty, Stockholm is so much more than I gave it credit for. The main thing I want to do next time is the Vasa Museum (I definitely didn’t have time for that!) and I’m even interested in the ABBA Museum, as well as wandering more of the Old Town, as I could see what I was missing out on as I made a beeline for the main square.

It’s really a perfect city break with a mix of so many things – and that’s not what I expected!

So, Stockholm, this is most definitely a “goodbye for now” rather than a done-and-dusted trip.

Have you visited anywhere that you didn’t expect to love and have ended up planning – or planning to plan – additional trips there?

Read more about Scandinavia, the Baltics & beyond:
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