15+ Free Museums in Stockholm
Stockholm offers a range of museums, making it the perfect destination for art and culture lovers on a budget. From the world’s most visited museum in Scandinavia, Vasa Museum, to smaller galleries and artist studios, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
You can visit free museums in Stockholm most of the week. There are free museums for children, free museums for families, and free galleries to explore! If you’re looking for free things to do with the kids or the family during your stay in Stockholm, this list will help you out.
Best time to visit the free museums in Stockholm to avoid the crowds
Consider visiting some of Stockholm’s free museums to avoid the crowds at Stockholm’s popular museums. While these museums may not be as well known as other tourist destinations, they offer a great opportunity to explore Stockholm’s culture and history without having to fight through large crowds.
Some popular museums:
- Nobel Prize Museum
- Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet)
- Skansen
- Drottningholm Palace
- Vasa Museum (Vasa Museet)
The best time to visit these museums is during the weekdays when they are less busy than on weekends. So if you’re looking for a less crowded alternative to some of Stockholm’s more popular tourist destinations, check out one of the free museums in Stockholm.
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Accelerator
If you want to experience art, join conversations about contemporary issues, and have fika (coffee & bread), then you should visit Accelerator!
Accelerator is a contemporary art exhibition space run by Stockholm University located at Frescativägen 26A. You will find exhibitions that present international and Swedish contemporary art.
You can find Accelerator Café where they serve light meals and coffee all day.
The museum is free of charge and is open at noon every day except Sundays. To find more information, you can visit Accelerator’s website.
ArkDes
ArkDes is Sweden’s national center for architecture and design located on Skeppsholmen island in the center of Stockholm (Exercisplan 4). It was previously named Arkitekturmuseet (the museum of architecture), and in 2013, the Swedish government adopted a new name for the museum, the Swedish center for architecture and design or ArkDes.
ArkDes is one of the first free museums in Stockholm that I have visited including the Moderna Museet.
You can visit Moderna Museet (Modern Museum) and Östasiatiska Museet (Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities) which are a few minutes walk from ArkDes.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 10 AM every day except Mondays. To find more information, you can visit ArkDes’ website.
Armémuseum (Army Museum)
Located in the middle of Östermalm in Stockholm City at Riddargatan 13, The Army Museum (Armémuseum) is a military history museum with exhibits from the 16th century to the present day. It is also one of Sweden’s best historical museums.
The Army Museum also has one of the world’s most extensive trophy collections.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM every day except Mondays. The Army Museum also has exhibitions that have entrance fees which only cost 50 SEK. To find more information, you can visit Army Museum’s website.
Ekonomiskamuseet (Economy Museum)
The Ekonomiskamuseet or “Economy Museum – Royal Coin Cabinet” is a museum in Stockholm, Sweden that is located in the same building as The Swedish History Museum.
The museum has been closed since 2017, but they are operating now. You will find exhibitions, lectures, and other activities that will be about personal finance, consumption and savings, entrepreneurship and economic history, or current socio-economic issues.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM every day except Mondays. Admission fees can be charged for concerts, lectures, certain guided tours, and other types of events. To find more information, you can visit the Economy Museum’s website.
Etnografiska museet (The Museum of Ethnography)
Etnografiska museet or the museum of ethnography opened in 1900. But, it has collections from the 17th century. The museum also has collections from the 18th century and 19th century from the round-the-world sailing trips.
It also has some collections that missionaries, diplomats, and private individuals have donated to it. If you go to the museum you can see these in their permanent exhibitions where there are over 6,000 different objects.
The museum is located at Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen 34 but, if you want a glimpse of the museum, you can visit Etnografiska Museet digitally.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM except on Mondays. To find more information, you can visit the Museum of Ethnography’s website.
Hallwylska museet (The Hallwylska Museum)
The Hallwylska museum previously belonged to the Count and Countess von Hallwyl but donated to the Swedish government in 1920. It became a museum since then.
The current exhibition is “Fags. Meeting-places in an Age of Forbiddance” which will be available until March 31, 2022. This shows the time when love between people of the same sex was against the law in Sweden, making it hard to meet up and share a home.
Located in Hamngatan 4, the Hallwylska museum is free of charge and is open at noon except for Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission to temporary exhibitions costs 90 SEK. To find more information, you can visit the Hallwylska museum’s website.
Medelhavsmuseet (Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities)
The Medelhavsmuseet or the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities is one of the free museums in Stockholm located at Fredsgatan 2.
It houses the most important collections of ancient and historical relics from the Mediterranean countries. The museum has many well-balanced artifacts, and it is one of the very few museums in the world that will give you a good overview in a reasonable time of the history of the Mediterranean countries.
If you want a glimpse of the museum, you can visit Medelhavsmuseet digitally.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM every day except Mondays. Admission fees can be charged for concerts, lectures, certain guided tours, and other types of events. To find more information, you can visit the Economy Museum’s website.
Livrustkammaren (The Royal Armoury)
The Royal Armoury, or Livrustkammaren in Swedish, is a museum located on the grounds of Stockholm Palace, Slottsbacken 3. The exhibition will take you on an informative journey through the history of Sweden, starting with King Gustav Vasa and his reign. You’ll learn about key moments in Swedish culture that have shaped our modern-day society today!
The Royal Armoury is one of the free museums in Stockholm that you should visit since it is also one of Sweden’s oldest museums.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM except on Mondays. To find more information, you can visit The Royal Armoury’s website.
Medeltidmuseet (Medieval Museum)
Located in Helgeandsholmen island at Strömparterren 3, Norrbro, The Medieval Museum or Medeltidmuseet is a museum that showcases the culture and history of medieval Stockholm. Their main exhibition describes how people lived and made a livelihood. It is built around the findings from a major archaeological investigation during the 1970s.
The Medieval Museum was opened in 1986 and was renovated and reopened in 2010.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM every day except Mondays. To find more information, you can visit the Medieval Museum’s website.
Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art)
Moderna Museet is one of the leading museums in Europe for modern and contemporary art. It collects, preserves, shares, and exhibits artwork from the early 20th century and photography from 1840 to now.
The museum opened in 1958 when it moved from Nationalmuseum into a former navy drill hall on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. The current building was completed in 1998 that joined the old museum premises, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo.
Moderna Museet also opened in Malmö in 2009.
Moderna Museet is one of the first free museums in Stockholm that I have visited including the ArkDes.
You can visit ArkDes and Östasiatiska Museet (Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities) which are a few minutes walk from Moderna Museet (Modern Museum).
Moderna Museet collection is free of charge and is open at 10 AM every day except Mondays. Admission to Annika Elisabeth von Hausswolff and In Lady Barclay’s salon exhibitions cost 150 SEK each (129 SEK for students/pensioners). To find more information, you can visit the Moderna Museum’s website.
Möbeldesignmuseum (The Museum of Furniture Studies)
The Museum of Furniture Studies opened recently in 2018 and is based on the private collection of Kersti Sandin and Lars Bülow. They aim to inspire an interest in the study of furniture.
If you are studying design, architecture, and crafts, or interested in design in general, then you should visit this museum. It’s also one of the free museums in Stockholm & the items displayed on shelving in the warehouse are in chronological order.
The museum is located at Magasin 6 – Frihamnsgatan 50.
Admission to the museum is free of charge and they are open Saturdays & Sundays from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. To find more information, you can visit the Museum of Furniture’s website.
Nationalmuseum (Swedish National Museum)
Nationalmuseum is the Swedish museum of art and design. They are also a government authority that has the responsibility to preserve cultural heritage and promote art to help people learn about it. The collections contain paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints from 1500 to 1900, and applied arts, designs, and portraits from the early Middle Ages to the present day.
Nationalmuseum is located in central Stockholm, Södra Blasieholmshamnen, across from the Royal Palace.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM from Tuesday to Friday and at 10 AM on weekends. Admission fees to temporary exhibitions range from 85-170 SEK. To find more information, you can visit the Nationalmuseum’s website.
Östasiatiska museet (Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities)
Encounter Asia on Skeppsholmen. This museum is located on the island of Skeppsholmen in the heart of Stockholm. It overlooks the Stockholm harbor and the Royal Palace.
This museum is close to two other museums: Moderna Museet and ArkDes, which are also popular destinations for Stockholmers and tourists alike.
If you want a glimpse of the museum, you can visit Östasiatiska Museet digitally.
The museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM except on Mondays. To find more information, you can visit the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities’s website.
Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum)
The Stockholm City Museum starts in the 16th century and the present. Their goal is to preserve the city’s cultural heritage, bring it to life, and show how Stockholm has grown from being a small trading town into today’s modern city.
You can see also how people lived back then by looking at their sister museum, the Museum of Medieval Stockholm, which is also one of the free museums in Stockholm.
Located in Ryssgården, Södermalm, the museum is free of charge and is open at 11 AM except for Mondays. Admission to lectures, discussion panels, and debates starts from 100 SEK. To find more information, you can visit the Stockholm City museum’s website.
Sjöhistorika (The National Maritime Museum)
The Maritime Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of shipping and shipbuilding through its collection, conservation process as well educational activities for all visitors. They also aim at disseminating knowledge about this heritage by exhibiting priceless items that date back centuries ago or showing how things were done in earlier times like engineering skills with old machines!
Their sister museums are:
- The Naval Museum
- The Vasa Museum
- Vrak – Museum of Wrecks
- The Railway Museum
Located at Sjöhistoriska Museet, the museum is free of charge and is open at 10 AM except for Mondays. To find more information, you can visit the National Maritime museum’s website.
Skoklosters slott (Skokloster Castle)
Skokloster Castle was built in the baroque style and is one of the major monuments from when Sweden was one of the most powerful countries in Europe.
The museum is free admission and fees may apply for tours and special exhibitions. The museum is only open during the winter season for booked group tours. To find more information, you can visit Skoklosters Slott’s website.
The Swedish History Museum
The Swedish History Museum is one of the free museums in Stockholm where you can learn more about Sweden. The exhibition starts in the 11th century long before Sweden became Sweden.
It has collections with 10 million objects spanning 10,000 years.
The Swedish History Museum is located at Narvavägen in Stockholm. Admission is free of charge and is open at 11 AM except for Mondays. Admission fees can be charged for concerts, lectures, certain guided tours, and other types of events. To find more information, you can visit The Swedish History Museum’s website.
Naturhistorika riksmuseet (The Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Naturhistorika riksmuseet or the Swedish Museum of Natural History is Sweden’s largest museum located in Stockholm. The museum makes it possible for everyone to see all kinds of animals from around the world without having to travel far.
You will find around 10 million items in the museum as they discover new species and fossils of their predecessors in evolution.
Admission is free of charge and is open on Tuesday – Friday at 11 AM and on weekends at 10 AM. For Cosmonova and some activities, you need to buy a ticket. To find more information, you can visit The Swedish Museum of Natural History’s website.
If you’re looking for free things to do, these free museums in Stockholm are a great place to start! In addition to free entrance fees, most of these institutions also have guided tours or other events that may carry small additional costs with them. Which of the free museums in Stockholm will you visit first?
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