This blog post is part of the running all bridges of Stockholm-project.
Djurgården is the island all the tourists know since it hosts tons of activities and sights such as Gröna Lund, Skansen, Vasamuseet and Junibacken.
For a runner living in Östermalm, Gärdet or why not further away too runner, Djurgården is a very good place to run. Djurgården is so big that even on sunny summer days it’s not gonna be crowded there. The terrain is mostly flat and there are both trails and tarmac. For hilly runs, you need to head elsewhere. Expect, you could actually run in Skansen, which is very hilly. I wanted to do that, but never managed to. I don’t think many do. The scenery is world class exceptional, when running in Djurgården it’s worth thinking how priviledges you are to be able to run in such a place.
The island is basically a dead end – when you cross a bridge and enter it, you only can cross another bridge back not too far away.
So, about the bridges. I started the collecting of bridges from Djurgården, so there’s some nostalgy when writing about those.
Djurgårdsbron (crossed 26.8.2019) is the bridge connecting the mainland, Östermalm distrct, to Djurgården. It’s 100+ years old and as old bridges tend to be, it’s pretty nice looking. Maybe one of the prettiest bridges in the city. The bridge is typically packed with tourists and locals entering and exiting the island slowing down the running pace temporarily.
Lilla Sjötullsbron (crossed 26.8.2019) is a pedestrian bridge, quite narrow and nice looking with flowers and all during summer. The word picturesque is not exaggeration.
Djurgårdsbrunnsbron (crossed 26.8.2019) together with Lilla Sjötullsbron serve the same purpose, to connect Djurgården to the mainland over the small canal between those two. This bridge is for cars also, but there’s not much traffic.
During the bridge collection project one new bridge was completed, a pedestrian Folke Bernadottes bro (crossed 25.4.2020). So, the collect all the bridges of Djurgården I had to make one more run. Good excuse!
I don’t really understand what purpose the new bridges serves, since it’s just a few hundred meters from Djurgårdsbrunnsbron and connects exactly the same places, but based on what I’ve read the idea is to give citizens of Stockholm another access point to Djurgården. Why not. So, thank you leaders of Stockholm, very nice to have this one too. The bridge itself is quite simplistic and fits nicely to the scenery.
There’s one bridge in Djurgården that doesn’t connect to the mainland, Beckholmsbron (crossed 4.4.2020). It connects to Beckholmen. Beckholmen is a very small island, most likely unknown to almost everybody. But for a runner, the island is worth visiting (even if not collecting bridges…) since there’s a hill and from the top of the hill there’s a nice view over the city. Remember, the coastline of Djurgården itself is flat, so this hill gives some boost for otherwise monotonic running. The bridge itself has a wooden surface, which I guess is pretty rare.
A route
Here’s a route starting near my (back then) company’s office, and going around (almost whole) Djurgården crossing three bridges.
Mynksteri's site 