This blog post is part of the running all bridges of Stockholm-project.
Stora Essingen and Lilla Essingen are the westernmost islands of Stockholm located between Kungsholmen and Gröndal in the mainland. Both are nowadays mostly residential and for a runner they mostly serve as islands to hop from place A to B, e.g. from southern Stockholm to Bromma or Alvik.
For a runner there are two bridges to enter the island of Lilla Essingen, the quite narrow but long Mariebergsbron (crossed 25.1.2020) arriving from Marieberg in Kungsholmen and Essingebron (crossed 25.1.2020) that is part of the gigantic Essingeleden highway system taking you to Stora Essingen. Mariebergsbron is OK to run, the traffic is quite low, most of it being on the highway. Essingebron in turn is not that nice. The pedestrian lane is narrow and the traffic is booming on the parallel highway bridge.


Stora Essingen can be reached from Lilla Essingen and from mainland Gröndal and mainland Alvik. For the previous one you’d take Gröndalsbron (crossed 25.1.2020) which is a very massive highway bridge. The views are good, but you can feel the traffic and pollution there. To reach south mainland from Kungsholmen I’d rather take Södermalm-Liljeholmen route than this one.

Alviksbron (crossed 26.3.2020) taking you mainland Alvik is a great running experience. There’s a wonderful view to the southwest and it’s quiet on the bridge (just trains). It’s not that popular either compared to the more centric bridges of Stockholm.

A route
This one is a very nice route taking you from Kungsholmen over Tranebergsbron to Alvik, from there over the Alviksbron to Stora Essingen, and returning to Kungsholmen via Lilla Essingen passing by Essingebron and Mariebergsbron.
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