Drottningholm: the palace and the gardens
The royal island, the baroque parterre, the Chinese pavilion, and a working 18th-century theatre. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Stadshuskajen (the Drottningholm boat)
Take the *Strömma* boat from the City Hall quay rather than the bus; the hour on *Mälaren* is the best part of the day. T-bana to Brommaplan and a short bus does the same job faster if the boat isn't running.

2. Drottningholm slott (the palace)
The garden facade is the photograph — yellow stone, green roof, the *slott* (palace) the royal family still lives in one wing of. You don't have to go inside, but the staterooms are worth the ticket if the queue is short.

3. The baroque garden (Barockträdgården)
Walk straight out from the palace into the parterre — clipped box hedges, gravel paths, bronze fountains, all laid out in the 17th century. Keep going and it loosens into the English park beyond.

4. Kina slott (the Chinese Pavilion)
At the far end of the gardens, a rococo fantasy of chinoiserie built for Queen Lovisa Ulrika between 1753 and 1769. Go even if you're tired of palaces; this one is a different mood entirely.

5. Drottningholms slottsteater (the Court Theatre)
One of the few 18th-century theatres in Europe still working with its original stage machinery — wooden winches, painted flats, wave drums. The summer opera season uses it for real. Look for the guided tour if there's no performance.

6. Drottningholm jetty (the boat back)
End where you started, at the *brygga* (jetty). The boat back gives you the island from the water, the way the court would have arrived. The bus to Brommaplan is the quicker land route if the light's going.

Drottningholm: the palace and the gardens