A home in Stockholm

I had a really enjoyable day today, visiting some areas that we could potentially live in in the future. I already had a couple of ideas of suitable places but I've now seen some more. It's easier now that I know where I'll be working, but at least in Stockholm every train runs through T-Centralen, so it's not really difficult to make any journey on the tunnelbana.

Aside from that I already know I'd be happy to live in Södermalm - it's so central and there's so much going on there, it really would be an ideal location to get pretty much anywhere. I've been to Hjorthagen and Ropsten quite a lot, and this is also a nice area, although it's also very quiet and maybe not my first choice. I'm not necessarily expecting the perfect house immediately, and as I've discovered how difficult housing can be here I want to keep quite an open mind. 

As I'll be working in Östermalm I'm concentrating on the red line. My first stop was Gärdet, and I fell in love! There is a huge, beautiful park in Gärdet, and the area was really peaceful and green. It seemed very safe and quite quiet, but is only a few minutes on the train to T-Centralen, and even walking would be an option. The next train station, Karlaplan, is only at the other end of the park.
The blocks of flats were quite beautiful, and I noticed a couple of restaurants etc in the area. Transport would be really convenient, and also I met some people today in Gärdet, so may already know people in the area, which is a bonus. I've just looked on Blocket, and happily, flats are affordable here. I don't want to limit our options, but Gärdet would really be ideal.

My next stop was Aspudden, but I was less impressed here. The area seemed ok, there was a large flea market/boot sale going on, which was nice but the area was extremely busy, you could barely get down the street. I don't know how regularly this happens, or if the number of people was just because of the market, but I think it could get a bit frustrating if it was regularly that full of people. The market was interesting, there was a busker near the station, and there seemed to be a variety of other shops and restaurants. The location is also very convenient, so if it's not usually this packed with people I could definitely consider Aspudden.

Next I went to Midsommarkransen and walked to Telefonplan station from here, so I managed to get a good view of the area. In Midsommarkransen there are some beautiful winding streets, and this really appealed to me. The buildings are very beautiful too, and there seemed to be more art related stuff around Telefonplan. Konstfack is also located here, and I'd really like to do my masters there in the future. Midsommarkransen is kind of strange, as it has some industrial buildings but at the same time is pretty and peaceful, it's another area I'm quite keen on. It would take longer to travel from than Gärdet, but I don't think it's unreasonable compared to London travel times. Rent here is also really affordable.


 The red train line goes overground between Slussen and Gamla Stan, the view is beautiful and I wouldn't mind seeing that every day!

Finally I went to Hägerstensåsen, but I was less impressed with the area around here. There didn't seem to be much to it apart from trees, I found it pretty but a bit dull and it's quite far to travel to T-Centralen. There wasn't anything really wrong with it, I'd live there if there was no alternative, but it's definitely not my first choice.


If anyone can suggest any other areas I should visit before I go to England on Saturday I'm very open to suggestions!