Stockholm bills itself as the capital of Scandinavia. You may get some argument about that from other Scandinavian cities but there is no doubt that Sweden's capital city is blessed with an overabundance of museums, parks, and nightlife. This summer, Stockholm will be the undisputed gay capital of Europe when it hosts the Europride celebration.

Stockholm is made up of 14 islands and nearly 60 bridges. The city's birthplace, the island of Gamla Stan, is also known as Old Town. It is also one of Stockholm's most popular tourist attractions. If you wander away from Gamla Stan's souvenir shop-laden main streets, you can still get a glimpse of what it was like to live in a Northern European city hundreds of years ago.

The most visited tourist attraction in Stockholm was once its greatest embarrassment. The Vasa Museum contains a top-heavy warship that sank in 1628, just 20 minutes into its maiden voyage. The Vasa was raised in 1961 and it is the only 17th century warship in existence in the world.

The Vasa Museum is on the city's Djurgarden Island, which is home to the city's second most visited attraction, Skansen, an open-air museum and zoo. The museum has more than 150 historic buildings. The zoo has a mini train and its pony ride is a favorite with kids.

Stockholm will soon have a whole new attraction dedicated to its best-known export, the band ABBA. The ABBA museum is scheduled to open next year and will be located in downtown along the waterfront near the Patricia party boat, which hosts a popular gay night on Sundays.

Gay nightlife & Europride

About two million people, nearly a quarter of Sweden's population, live in Stockholm and its suburbs. That is more than enough to support a very lively gay scene. Organizers expect that the Europride parade, festival, and special events this summer will draw nearly 800,000 people to the city, including about 50,000 who will march in the parade.

Europride runs July 28-August 3. Stockholm last hosted Europride in 1998 and is the only city to have hosted it twice.

Stockholm's third most visited destination is Gamla Stan, the so-called Old Town Island. Gamla Stan is also home to a handful of gay venues. The Chokladkoppen cafe is in the square in the center of the island. Countless tourists have undoubtedly captured the caf�'s rainbow flag in their photographs of the square. Torget is a gay and lesbian bar and restaurant on the edge of Gamla Stan. Lino, also in Gamla Stan, is open only on Saturday nights and is the most popular gay disco in the city. It is gay/lesbian mixed.

Accommodations

There are no gay hotels in Stockholm but like other Scandinavian cities, gay-friendly hotels are the rule, not the exception.

I stayed in the Radisson SAS Strand Hotel in downtown across the water from the Vasa Museum. It has free wireless and use of its business center, including free Internet access on the hotel's computers. Rates start around $300 but can be considerably cheaper if you stay during the summer, Christmas, or at any time when few businesspeople are in town.

On the other side of the budget scale, and for a unique experience, you can stay on the Red Boat Hotel and Hostel in Stockholm. A single room at the hostel is only $75, or if you want to rough it, a dorm room is just $38. Red Boat is actually two boats just a short walk across a bridge from the Gamla Stan island. A hotel room at the Red Boat is $200.

A single room at the Archipelago Hostel on Gamla Stan is $80. A single room at the Hostel Bed and Breakfast, just around the corner from the RFSL center, Stockholm's LGBT center, is around $83, including breakfast. It's downtown but within walking distance or a short subway ride to Gamla Stan.

In the middle of the budgetary scale, the gay-friendly Rival hotel is around the corner from the Side Track gay bar. The Rival is owned by Benny Anderson of ABBA. The boutique hotel is a favorite of people who appreciate design. Rival rates start around $231. It's just a very short walk to Gamla Stan.

For a complete list of gay Stockholm links, visit Ed Walsh's multimedia blog at gaystockholm.blogspot.com.