Stockholm is suffused in pure Nordic light and it is especially lovely on the waterfront. Image: ST/ Lee Siew Hua
Stockholm sparkles in such pure Nordic light that it is a joy to be jetlagged and irreversibly awake at 5am. From the picture window of my room at the waterfront Hotel Diplomat, the city is dipped in gentle gold light.
The city is so saturated with art that even subway stations look like little museums. I am relaxed and captivated as I navigate colourful tunnels.
The Swedish take time daily for a fika (above), a reflective coffee-break moment. Image: ST/ Lee Siew Hua
And the Swedes love their fika moments, when they sit down for coffee and cake, and this delicious pause in the day is also perfect for the traveller.
Just because Stockholm has an expensive reputation - not untrue - there is no need to skip the Swedish capital and not relish these pleasures of sun, art and lingering.
I decide to travel frugally or freely in Stockholm, without behaving like a skinflint or denying myself a chance to splurge on occasion.
Singaporeans should be no strangers to the pursuit of value amid rising costs.
We know how to delight in living high and low. Serve us filet mignon or serve us bak kut teh - either we rejoice in the rich experience or the reasonable price.
For tourists, Stockholm is the third priciest city ranked by TripAdvisor last year.
The travel site's TripIndex Cities compares the costs for two people staying overnight at a four-star hotel, plus cocktails, two-course dinner with wine, and return cab fare for a 3.2km ride. The annual index covers key tourist cities in 49 countries that receive the most international arrivals according to the United Nations.
Last year, Singapore ranked 15th at US$400.96 (S$508). Oslo (US$581.08) topped the Europe-dominated list, followed by Zurich (US$523.41) and Stockholm (US$521.68).
Then last Wednesday, a fresh TripAdvisor survey revealed that Stockholm is the world's fifth priciest city for room service. Stockholm's bill for a basket of items such as mini-bar peanuts and drycleaning is $87.07. Singapore, in ninth place, is a whisker behind at $78.46.
I should be daunted. But I am armed with stacks of value propositions for Stockholm. Plans for my four-day visit are sealed after I e-mail the young founders of Free Tour Stockholm, Stockholm Visitors Board and Stockholm Metro.
I have read that the 110km Stockholm Metro is "the world's longest art exhibition". Out of 100 stations, 94 are emblazoned with paintings, mosaics and installations.
For the price of a subway ticket (44 Swedish krona or about S$8.60), tourists can take a free hour-long tour of four to five stations from June to August.
Since I am visiting the city ahead of the summer months, SL (Stockholm Public Transport, www.sl.se) arranges a complimentary tour.
The Kungstradgarden subway station has the most art among Stockholm Metro’s art-filled stations, with a segment pictured above resembling archaeological digs. Image: ST/ Lee Siew Hua
Most eye-catching of all is the Kungstradgarden (King's Garden) station in the city centre. The ceiling has a design of harlequin diamonds in a burst of colours at the Arsenalsgatan exit. In the same station is a little walled archaeological dig artfully strewn with statues, gas lamps and marble columns. Children have peepholes in the wall to peer at the artefacts.
I must say Swedish public transport providers are unafraid of a little whimsy and activism. Peepholes at the base of the wall are created for even littler ones - mice.
And in another corner, an artist has fashioned a replica of a tree trunk to remember greenies who chained themselves to trees on the subway site before the Kungstradgarden station was built in 1971.
The mighty elms live on. My guide, Ms Marie Andersson, remarks: "The artist says you can change political decisions if there are enough people."
Other stations I whiz through include T-Centralen, where contemporary frescoes of blue vines soothe commuters at the busiest stop of the subway. The rainbow colours of the Olympic Rings at Stadion seem to bring the sky underground.
In summer, guided English-language tours start at 3pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from the SL Centre at the Sergels Torg exit of the T-Centralen station.
Art beautifies the subway, certainly, and helps to orientate commuters, children included. Art gives each station its own identity too and makes the subway feel safer, according to SL, which has supported subway art by 150 artists since the 1950s.
Beyond an artsy subterranean, Stockholm is set in a landscape of great beauty. A metropolis of blues and greens, about a third of the city is water and another third is parkland.
A lovely way to spend a few hours, or a day, is to book a cruise on the Stockholm archipelago of 30,000 islands, islets and rocks.
It is all serenity and beauty on my three- hour cruise in radiant Nordic light amid the city islands.
We pass tiny islands with a solitary lighthouse, or with a couple of red residences painted in Falu, a deep-red Swedish hue.
I like little Monday Island, which has a quaintly pragmatic story. Farmers would row their cattle to graze on it, then rotate to other islands named after each day of the week till Saturday, so there was no overgrazing. They rested on Sunday, as I learn from the English commentary on the ferry.
On bigger islands such as Vaxholm, where overnight stays are recommended, cafes and art studios abound.
As I cruise on the SS Stockholm, I have a whiff of the Swedish love for rusticity as much as elegance.
A Japanese spa of black stone sits atop cliffs. A gas-stove factory is repurposed as a luxury condominium. Apartments cost about three million krona apiece and some have glass floors for residents to peer underwater.
My cruise, an affordable 240 krona (S$46.80), is booked from a Stromma Kanalbolaget (www.stromma.se) booth on the pier at Stromgatan.
Outdoor sculptures sit on lush medows in many of Stockholm's islands. Image: ST/ Lee Siew Hua
Stockholm itself sits on 14 large islands linked by many bridges. For hours, I walk all over Skeppsholmen and Djugarden, two islands studded with museums and meadows.
I imagine I have an inner Swede, as I observe how much Stockholmers love the outdoors, walking and cycling everywhere and even fishing for salmon outside the Royal Palace. All free of course.
Sometimes, Stockholmers have "walking meetings" instead of sitting down with a colleague or associate in a room.
I spend a long afternoon in Skeppsholmen, where I pass outdoor sculptures on lush slopes before sitting at an outdoor table at Hotel Skeppsholmen (www.hotelskeppsholmen.se), a boutique hotel converted from a 300-year-old military building.
It is fika time, a reflective coffee-break moment. In the crisp air - the hotel gives me a blanket - I sample a couple of modern Swedish dishes including porcini dumplings in a foam of mature cheese, and a creamy, caramel ale.
The bill is 410 krona (S$80.40), not cheap, but fair value for a quality Swedish experience I am willing to pay for.
Another day, on pretty Djugarden island, I have a wallet-friendlier but still luscious fika in the orchard of the hidden Rosendal Garden cafe. My Swiss roll with a filling of honey and apple, plus a coffee, costs 65 krona (S$12.75).
I roam Djugarden, which is loaded with museums, from a new one celebrating Swedish pop sensation Abba (www.abbathemuseum.com; admission 195 krona or S$38.20) to the popular Vasa Museum (www.vasamuseet.se; admission 130 krona or S$25.50, free for those under 18 years of age), which houses a 17th-century warship.
Noteworthy too is the world's first open-air museum, Skansen (www.skansen.se; seasonal admission from 100 to 170 krona or S$19.60 to S$33.30). Admission is free with the Stockholm Card (www.visitstockholm.com), which covers 80-plus museums.
I wander through five centuries of history in Skansen as I step into historical dwellings where tanners and other craftsmen in period dress appear.
Skansen is also a zoo with Scandinavian animals such as the European bison and wolverine.
I have a very soft spot for Junibacken, a children's museum, where I sit in a red train that "flies" over tiny, fabulous tableaux from stories penned by beloved Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.
The wee train transports me to the meadows and hamlets of her mischievous characters such as Emil, who hoisted his little sister Ida up a flagpole.
I see the red-eyed dragon birthed by a pig and hear Ronia's irrepressible yell of joy when spring arrives.
Elsewhere in the museum, playful Pippi Longstocking, another Lindgren character, has her house.
Tickets for Junibacken (www.junibacken.se) cost 145 krona (S$28.40) for adults and 125 krona (S$24.50) for children aged two to 15.
Sweden is famously family-friendly and I love the scenes of young fathers pushing strollers and dining alone with their children on weekdays, possibly because they are taking their share of the 480 days of paid parental leave a child.
In the Kulturhuset cultural centre (Sergels Torg, 111 57 Stockholm), families on holiday can join Swede families for an urban respite to make crafts, read and enjoy exhibits. Admission is free.
Over four days, I also join two free, quality tours in the city centre and Gamla Stan, the mediaeval town.
These tours speedily orientate me and I return to highlights such as the Nobel Museum on my own later, with a good map.
I am also curious about enclaves with character, which, of course, are free to explore.
Sweden is known for design and the shops in hip SoFo will appeal to fashion and design lovers.
With a bit of imagination, Stockholm can be explored fully, without splurging or skimping too much.
This article was first run in The Straits Times newspaper on March 30, 2014. For similar stories, go to sph.straitstimes.com/premium/singapore. You will not be able to access the Premium section of The Straits Times website unless you are already a subscriber.