Travels and Vegan Eats in Stockholm, Sweden

Hallå! This post is a bit overdue, but I am forging ahead confidently! One of my favorite resources when I'm planning a trip is to search out blog posts from other vegan travelers. Of course travel sites are useful, but the actual experiences of a fellow vegan are extra meaningful. Plus, I also really love reading about other people's travels and adventures. So, all of that is to say, even though our time in Stockholm was a few months ago, I really want to share it, in case you also love reading about vegan travels, or maybe you are planning a trip yourself!

We spent one week in Stockholm, after spending a week in Estonia, and then a week in Denmark. The first two weeks of our trip, we traveled with my parents, and it was Mr. VE&T's idea to add on a little time at the end just for the two of us. We loved our time with my parents, and it was also super fun to have a little time with just us chickens.

I love how they say "hey hey!" for a casual "hello" in Sweden.

It's just so darned cute! 

Haymarket by Scandic

(Haymarket website)

Hotorget 13-15, Stockholm

We stayed at a pretty fancy hotel (by our standards!) called the Haymarket by Scandic. Our accommodations in Estonia were inexpensive and split 4-ways, and in Denmark, we stayed with friends. So, we gave ourselves permission to splurge in Stockholm! The Haymarket was pretty great for us -- it's located right on a square that has a big produce and flower market every day, and directly across from the hall where the Nobel Prizes are awarded.

The Haymarket has an excellently chic bar downstairs with very good live music and packed full with urban fancy-pants people. Ha ha. It was fun to see their Euro selves being so ooh-la-la. 

The thing that really made us select this hotel over other choices though was the Scandic breakfast buffet. Scandic is a large chain of hotels and  proudly mention on their website that they provide vegan and gluten free options. You guys. I LOVED IT. Many different kinds of vegan yogurts (soy-based, oat-based, almond based), different vegan milks (oat, almond, soy, plain, sweetened), Oatly cream cheese, vegan cheese slices, vegan butter...) and it was all arranged in a special section so other people wouldn't eat it by accident. I just loved it so much. Every morning was a big thrill extravaganza for me -- bread, fruit, granola, cereal, yogurt, cream cheese, coffee... and on and on. I just feel like hotel breakfast is always a giant array of glorious things I can't eat. It was such a treat to be able to indulge and have a sense of choices and bounty! 

Of special note: Oatly Cream Cheese is so incredibly fantastic and special and I loved it!!! 

Like I said, the hotel isn't cheap, but it definitely saves a little money to get a big huge breakfast included... then you can skimp on lunch in Stockholm, which is a pricey city in general. 

There are lots of Scandic hotels in Stockholm by the way, so if you'd rather stay in a different part of the city, you could still have a great vegan breakfast. In fact, the most vegan friendly part of Stockholm is definitely Sodermalm... so we usually had a little walk or a subway ride to get to the vegan spots on my list. 

Falloumi

(@falloumi on Instagram)

Ringvägen 127, 116 61

Oh my goodness, this place was fun and delicious and open late -- perfectly meeting our needs for our first night in Stockholm. It's a falafel place, but so much more than that. Excellent sauces made in house, very cute interior, lovely service, and totally delicious culinary creations... including several vegan options. We both loved this spot! 

Femtopia

(Femtopia Facebook page // @gallerifemtopia on Instagram)

117 34, Hornsgatan 149, 117 34 Stockholm

One of the first places I found online when researching #veganstockholm on Instagram was Femtopia... a queer-friendly, feminist, vegan cafe/gallery/performance space. ZOMG. On our very first day in town, we were out for a long walk and just came upon it! I was so excited!! The gal working there was just absolutely awesome and I felt so at home in their space. I loved the art, we each had a delicious cappuccino, and I had a chocolate ice cream too. I also bought some totally rad feminist post cards to send home, and I bought my friend Hannae a cotton shopping bag that said (in Swedish) "Patriarchy is harmful to you and those around you." SO RAD. 

I 100% recommend this sweet spot, especially if you enjoy coziness, queer-friendly spaces, feminist spaces, rad handmade aesthetics, and good food & coffee. 

Femtopia totally embodies the intersectional roots of veganism at it's finest.

Such a great spot.

Goodstore

(Goodstore website) 

a few locations

Directly across the street from Femtopia is an excellent all-vegan super market, called Goodstore. It's not a huge store, but it is packed full with so much vegan glory that I became completely overwhelmed. It was especially tortuous to see the huge section of refrigerated things like seitans, vegan meats, vegan cheeses, vegan yogurts, and on and on and on -- but not have a good kitchen or enough time to try them all. Ack! However, I did my best, and got a bunch of goodies: two ice creams (which we enjoyed immediately!), treats for myself and to bring home from friends, gummy candies, and some violife cheese to enjoy with my breakfast buffet. Seriously though, I practice great restraint. Now that I am back home and all my treats are but a distant memory, I'm really wishing I could jump through the internet and go for another shopping spree! 

Naturbageriet Sattva

(Sattva's Facebook Page) 

Stora Nygatan 6, Gamla Stan, Stockholm

OMG! This cute tiny little cafe offers 100% vegan pastries, and many gluten free options too.  Pluse excellent coffee and a small selection of vegan items for sale too. I didn't discover this place soon enough, so I only got here twice, which is a crying shame. Sweden has a very special afternoon phenomena called "fika" -- this involves a cozy afternoon date with a cup of hot coffee, a treat, and hopefully the company of someone you like.  How rad is that?? We had two excellent fika-dates here at Sattva Naturbageriet... both on chilly, rainy spring afternoons when we were cold and travel-weary and in need of respite. A little restful downtime in this sweet spot, with a great hot coffee, and super delicious pastries ... just what the doctor ordered! 

Herman's Vegetarian Restaurant and Garden Cafe

(Herman's website)

FJÄLLGATAN 23B 116 28, Stockholm

OMG. This place is just incredible. It's a huge all-you-can-eat vegan buffet spot. You pay once and then you can go back over and over if you want to. Coffee and tea are included with the price of the buffet. Desserts and special drinks are available for extra charge. Over the years of traveling together, I have dragged Mr. VE&T to many vegan buffet spots, most of which haven't exactly been homeruns. ha ha. So often, the food is mediocre and bland and positively-non-memorable. So, we put off going to Herman's because I thought it might be another buffet dud. I'm so glad we gave it a go! 

As you can see, I went completely nuts and piled 100,000 different items onto my plate. I did pretty well, but I didn't actually finish all of it. ha ha. I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The desserts we got were also amazing - one was a strawberry rhubarb tart, and one was a chocolate cake. All the food was just so delicious. The buffet is full of wholesome but appealing choices, hearty and light, raw and cooked, veggies, carbies, salads, breads, and on and on. I wish I was eating there right this minute. 

Plus, we just happened to eat at Herman's right around sunset on a truly beautiful day. Wow. Herman's is located up high on a rocky cliff with a totally spectacular view of Stockholm. There are many different tiers and areas of outdoor seating, so there is actually quite a bit of outdoor seating but each little space feels intimate. There are also trees and plants and greenery all around, so it feels very gardeny. 

Lakrits Roten

(Lakrits Roten website)

- several locations, see website -

One thing Scandinavians are super serious about is: LICORICE. I am also a big fan of licorice... or at least I thought I was. No one can compete with the Scandinavians! One of my besties at home had requested some good quality licorice and I kept wondering where I would find what I was looking for... and then one day on our wanderings we came across this gem: Lakrits Roten. It is an entire store of nothing but licorice! Sweet licorice, salt licorice, sweet + salty licorice, licorice powders & granules, and on and on... licorice from all over the world. I had SO much fun shopping in here. The gal working there was super helpful and gave me endless consultation on which treats to select. I really, really wish I could find a shop like this in the US! Such an incredible array of flavors, textures, and experiences, and yet all super licorice-y. 

We ate SO much licorice. Ha ha. 

Just last week, before Halloween, Mr VE&T found this shocking article warning about the real dangers of eating too much black licorice. It says not to eat more than 3 pieces a day. Uh... all I can say is OOPS. Apparently it blocks potassium absorption. And actually, thinking back to our trip, we remembered that one night in Stockholm, Mr. VE&T woke up in the middle of the night howling in agony because his leg muscles were charlie-horsing and cramping worse than ever before. This happens sometimes if he is really dehydrated, but he *wasn't* dehydrated that night and we were so confused. Until now. Looks like our genius plan to eat bags of licorice while lounging in our hotel room was not so genius after all. Ha ha. Consider yourselves warned! 

Legumes Mat

(Legumes Mat website)

Hornsgatan 80, Stockholm 

Soon after my licorice shopping spree, we came across Legumes vegetarian buffet bar. Some food at Legumes is vegetarian, but they always have a lot of vegan choices. For a fixed price (95 kr.), you can select 5 different dishes -- and they have a pretty wide selection to choose from. Honestly, we weren't totally wowed by this place. There are more spectacular places in Stockholm for sure. And yet, the food was healthy, full of veggies, protein options, and not too expensive. The meal also came with coffee and/or tea. This wasn't a particularly memorable meal, but as you can see, it was bountiful and it got the job done. Worth knowing about, if nothing else! 

Oatly brand

(Oatly website)

Maybe you already know about Oatly brand... but I didn't. Discovering the glory of this brand was a real joy of this trip. Oatly makes so many products, and as far as I could tell, they are all absolutely wonderful: ice cream, oat milk, cream cheese, oat-based coffee creamer, yogurts, and so much more. Oatly is the default non-dairy options in most cafes, and you won't be disappointed. It's so good. At our hotel, I got to try their yogurts and their cream cheese (which I mentioned above). I loved that cream cheese a lot... maybe I need an Oatly cream cheese tattoo! ha ha. 

We were in Stockholm right before the summer solstice and the days were sooooo long. It was such a special time to be there. Still on the chilly side, and we had a lot of rain during our trip (in all 3 countries that we visited!)... but we also enjoyed endless hours of daylight, which is just totally rad when you are a tourist. One night, when we were out wandering around a particularly hip area of Sodermalm, I think it was about 11:30 at night, and we came across a chic eatery that also had an excellent specialty grocery store. Of course I had to carefully inspect their offerings because I can never resist an international grocery store! That's where I snapped this picture on the right, and also where I succumbed to this lovely little carton of B. We got two spoons, and shared our ice cream as we continued our stroll around Sodermalm. What a fun night. 

Organico

(Organico Yelp site)

19 Timmermansgatan, Stockholm 118 55, Sweden

We almost didn't go to this sweet little spot, because the reviews just made it sound like it might not be up our alley. 

But I'm so glad we did go! First of all, it is just so pretty and peaceful inside. 

The owner was there and didn't speak very much English, but he was so sweet and very helpful and we figured it out! 

We absolutely loved our food -- the servings were generous and the food was perfectly delicious and healthy.

They also had great coffee, and lots of tea selections, and several interesting vegan goodies for sale in the shop. 

What a lovely spot, it felt so good to eat here! 

Fika Forever! 

Max Burgers

(Max Burgers website)

lots of locations!

A hot tip from one of my Instagram pals let me know that Max Burger, a big ol burger chain in Stockholm, even has a vegan BBQ Burger made with Jackfruit... and that there is a branch at the airport. So, instead of suffering away without great vegan options, I dove in and loved it! So fun to eat something like this from a mainstream joint and get to join in the fun. And also nice to have a vegan choice at the airport before jetting off back home.

A few of our favorite sights in Stockholm

We had a really great time in Stockholm. The weather was absolutely all over the place -- sunny and hot one minute and cold and mega-rainy the next moment. So nutty!! But all the rainy moments just gave us more opportunities to jump into a cafe, have a hot coffee and a treat, enjoy our fika together, and rest our weary legs. We did SO much walking, took a few boat rides, rode the subway, and had an easy time getting around. 

A few of our favorite tourist stops:

* Millesgarden -- this place is so beautiful and special: Millesgarden is the former home of the sculptor Carl Milles and his painter wife Olga Milles. Their house and his sculpture studio are lovingly restored and today they host a gallery, an open air sculpture garden, a restaurant (we didn't eat there), the historic houses, and just a stunning place. The sculptures in the garden are so particularly beautiful and the space itself is particularly lovely, and has majestic views across the water. I wished we had packed a picnic and could have spent several hours here. I loved it so much. It's well outside the center of town and we had an excellent adventure walking there, with a quick jaunt on the metro. 

* Monteliusvagen -- this is a very lovely path along the northern side of Sodermalm, with beautiful views of Gamla Stan and beyond. It's full of young Swedes enjoying the view and hanging out. It's such a fun spot. 

* Stockholm City Hall - We weren't in the mood for too many touristy things when we were in Stockholm, but we did decide to cough up the money for a tour of the Stockholm City Hall after reading many good reviews for it online. It is still the actual city hall, where the government is running, so you can only visit as part of a tour. I'm not generally a tour fan, but this was such a special place to see! This is where they have the grand dinner and gala after the Nobel Prizes are awarded. It is so beautiful inside, and actually the grounds are very pretty as well. 

* Gamla Stan and Sodermalm - Stockholm is essentially a huge network of islands and it's just amazing! We bought metro cards that let us use busses and the subway and the commuter boats. It was so fun to walk around and explore. So many amazing parks, great streets full of action and activity, very old buildings and lively hip areas too. What a fun city to explore!

And, that's a wrap! 

Until next time, Stockholm!