The Swedish royal family does not live in Stockholm's city palace; since 1981 its home has been Drottningholm, a baroque palace on the island of Lovön in Lake Mälaren, a short ride west of the capital. The name means the queen's islet, and the present palace was begun in the 1660s for the widowed Queen Hedvig Eleonora, designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and finished by his son. With its formal gardens, fountains and an English landscape park, it is often compared to Versailles, though it is far more intimate. Parts of the palace are open to visitors, and the whole royal domain is a World Heritage site.
The real treasure is the palace theatre, built in 1766, which still has its original stage machinery: wooden wave machines, cloud cars, trapdoors and painted backdrops that can be changed in seconds, all operated by hand. Operas from the eighteenth century are still performed there in summer, and it is one of the very few theatres of its time anywhere to survive in working order. In the park, the Chinese Pavilion, a rococo fantasy of the East built as a birthday surprise for Queen Lovisa Ulrika, is another delight.
The ride out from Stockholm along Drottningholmsvägen crosses bridges and islands, with water glittering on both sides, and once on Lovön and the larger island of Ekerö the roads become quiet country lanes through farmland, forest and small villages, with the lake always close by. Further on, a free road ferry crosses to Adelsö, where the royal estate of Hovgården, with its burial mounds and rune stone, faces Björkö and the Viking town of Birka, which can only be reached by boat. Swedish roads are excellent, but speed cameras are everywhere and fines are high, so keep an eye on the limits. Elk and deer can cross at dawn and dusk.
Bromma and Ekerö both have fuel, supermarkets and cafés, and Stockholm is close. There is a café at the palace, and summer kiosks along the lake sell coffee and the cinnamon buns that are practically a national institution, ideal for a fika, the Swedish coffee break. The best time to visit is from late spring to early autumn, when the gardens are in full bloom and the long northern evenings stay light until late.