Ideas for a tour of Stockholm’s artistic metro stations

Stockholm’s metro, in Swedish Tunnelbana or T-Bana, is a huge art gallery underground. Almost all of its stations have been decorated by numerous artists, and many of them deserve at least a quick glance while in Stockholm. It’s not hard to include a tour of the metro in your visit to the city: you only need a ticket, a map and some time to spare.

Public transportation in Stockholm is managed by SL and includes buses, trams and the metro. A single ticket costs 45 SEK – around 4.50 €– and is valid for 75 minutes. For 20 SEK, you can also buy a card called SL-Access, which can be topped up with money and grants a discount on tickets. Children, teenagers, students and seniors can have the right to additional discounts. If you plan on using public transportation a lot, travel cards valid for 24 hours, 72 hours, and 7 days are also available. Usually, tickets and cards can be bought at underground stations, SL centres, kiosks or on the SL official app.

If you only have 75 minutes

Even if you have little time and money to spend, you can still manage to see some of Stockholm’s most impressive metro stations. Note that the metro has different lines designated by colours, and directions are indicated by the name of the last stop. The numerous signs will make it easy to hop on the right train. Take a few minutes to enjoy each station, but don’t linger too long, or your ticket might expire before you can complete your tour!

You can start from the station of Kungsträdgården, located not far from the Royal Palace and decorated with colourful geometric patterns. From there, hop on the blue line going towards Hjulsta or Akalla and stop at T-Centralen, which has elegant blue flowers painted on its walls.

The next destination is Solna Centrum, an impressive station decorated with apocalyptic flames. From T-Centralen you can reach it only with the blue line going towards Akalla. Then, take the blue line that goes back to T-Centralen, but stop at Fridhemsplan instead, which is where the blue and the green lines intersect. While you wait for the next train – belonging to the green line going towards Alvik, Äkeshov or Hässelby Strand – you can take a walk around this green-and-grey station featuring a small vessel and modern bas-reliefs. Then, hop on the train and stop at Thorildsplan, an outdoor station decorated with popular videogame icons.

After that, take the green line going in the opposite direction and stop at T-Centralen once again. From there, look for the red line train going towards Mörby Centrum and get down at Stadion, which is decorated with a beautiful rainbow. This is a good way of ending your tour, after which you can just go back to T-Centralen and keep exploring Stockholm on foot.

If you have 2 hours and a half or more

There are many more stations worth visiting in the T-Bana, and you can easily integrate them into the previous tour to make it last longer. For example, on the way from T-Centralen to Solna Centrum, you can stop at Rådhuset, a station with walls resembling those of a cave.

Generally speaking, the blue line is the one with more art to see. It features Children’s drawings at Hallonbergen (located after Solna Centrum), cave graffiti at Tensta and cubic sculptures at Solna Strand (both on the way to Hjulsta).

Then, between Fridhemsplan and T-Centralen, you can get off at Odenplan station, which has fluorescent lights on the ceiling of its western entrance hallway. It is also close to the Stockholm Public Library, a beautiful building worth visiting if you don’t mind leaving the metro for a few minutes. In addition or as an alternative to Odenplan, the green line also passes through Hötorget, which also has fluorescent lights, but is also covered in light blue tiles.

Finally, by continuing your journey from Stadion instead of immediately going back, the red line towards Mörby Centrum has some more interesting stations to see: the modern Tekniska Högskolan and Universitetet, as well as the colourful Mörby Centrum itself.

Perhaps it could be hard to see all of these stations in two and a half hours, but it would certainly be fun to try. Otherwise, you can always make a selection in advance or choose to extend your tour. Either way, all the incredible art will amaze you and make you want to see more.