Important: see the inner-city orientation page for everything else you need to know about this district (the practical stuff).
First working-class, then bohemian, now more and more people who earn the money first and then purchase the "cred". But still the "cool", "alternative" and "artsy" district. Like Soho of New York, Camden of London, Montmartre of Paris and Shibuya of Tokyo. You get the picture, I hope.
Teddybears sticker in Sofo.
The street life is simply young and non-normal. Sofo people, indie people, radical leftists, feminists and the cultural ladies roam the streets. (And all similar people I haven't yet put in one of the group pages.) See the highest concentration of them in the Götgatan hill. You may also see some hip hopers and football hooligans, and svennar people drinking "cheap" beer around Medborgarplatsen on weekend nights, but NEVER any brats.
So, Södermalm is "cool" and "radical", but if you thought something else, it's not something you notice in the infrastructure and general order... Everything works normal, no house occupations or anything like that. And very uncool masses arrive in ferries to the heights of Södermalm's north-eastern shore every day.
Photo by Carles Tomás Martí.
It may not say much, but Södermalm is also the most relaxed alternative Stockholm inner-city district (if it's warm)...
But there isn't much grafitti, or starving artists, at "Söder", which is the "nickname" that everybody use. Södermalm people who relocate to Berlin probably get surprised.
Söder is a launching point for the thoughts, words and pictures that are spread all over the nation. Progressively "good" slogans to radio and tv sets. Detective novels to the bookshelves at gasoline stations. The actors at the Östermalm-located and scandal-ridden high-culture scene Dramaten prefer to live in Södermalm. Not to mention the young rockstars.
When the fashion blogger The Sartorialist was in a panel discussion in New York in 2008 (only covered in swedish, here), he mentioned that Stockholm was the place in the world where he had experienced the most cultural antagonism. "The Soho people" (Södermalm people) wrote negative comments on the blog post with pictures of the "Upper East people" (Östermalm people), he said.
Södermalm in the sports field is Hammarby IF. It's a förening ("club") competing in many sports. Supporters of other clubs admits being jealous of Hammarby's strong ties to an area. The Hammarby fans seem to have more fun. On football game days, Södermalm is a big drunken playground with people dressed in green and white.
The teams in handball, bandy and women's football actually play at Södermalm. The male football team don't, but the stadium Söderstadion is located by the southern bridge, next to Globen. One sociological rival is the club Djurgårdens IF, the rich people's club with its inner-city heart at Östermalm.
But just don't think Södermalm is some kind of "sports district"... Most Södermalm residents don't give a shit about Hammarby or sport. The indoor Bruno hipster mall on the number 1 street Götgatan is sort of the ultimate epicentre of contemporary Södermalm (and the ultimate visual skyline spots can be found here):
Now back to the street. The biggest homeless shelter is by the Mariatorget square. The homeless magazine Situation Sthlm have its office at Krukmakargatan 34. You can see drunks sitting in the Björns trädgård "park" by the Medborgarplatsen square.
Across the street is Kvarnen, without doubt the most well-known watering hole at Södermalm. For people who have not yet fallen off the wagon. Their website has a Hammarby IF logo and the message "Welcome to a real beer hall". Further down the same street - Tjärhovsgatan - is the punk rock/syndicalist hangout Kafe 44, for teenagers, and the pub Carmen, with cheap beer for the indiepop crowd in their twenties.
Jerusalem Kebab at Götgatan, the street you must see to see Södermalm.
Getting to Södermalm and around: An approximately three-hour walk around Södermalm. Map. Go to the subway station Zinkensdamm and choose the only exit. When on the street, turn left and start walking straight in that direction on Hornsgatan. After a long straight walk you will get to the crossing with Götgatan, where you turn right and start walking uphill. When on the top of the hill you will see the rest of Götgatan, and you continue walking, past the Medborgarplatsen square and towards the Globe in the horizon. Turn left when you get to the crossing with Ringvägen and walk until you get to Renstiernas gata, where you turn left again. After walking a while on Renstiernas gata you can either stop at the sidestreets of Sofo (turn left) or walk straight towards the skyline view point Katarinavägen. (In this walk I didn't include the Hornstull neighbourhood. It's too isolated, which would mean sending you out to a boring dead stretch of Hornsgatan, and it's more of a "know-where-you-are-going" than a "wander-around" area. But the subway station is Hornstull and the action (some extremely nisched stores and "cool" clubs and coffeehouses) is on the western side of the Långholmsgatan street.
"The heights" of the northern tip of Södermalm.
