Gothenburg – Sweden’s 2nd city. Located on the west coast of the country Gothenburg has a rich maritime history, dating back to the city’s inception in 1621. Built by the Dutch, you can see the Dutch influence as you walk around the city with the presence of canals. More recently the city was an industrial hub famous for ship building and car manufacturing – the city is the home of Volvo. The city is now transforming itself to rival the country’s capital – Stockholm. With many museums, art galleries and stunning parks the city has a lot to attract visitors.
If you are visiting Gothenburg for the first time check out this guide for top tips to make your visit go smoothly.
Getting from the Airport
Gothenburg Landvetter Airport is located 13 miles/20km from the centre of Gothenburg itself. The easiest way to get from the airport to the city centre is either by taxi or airport bus. Now, because we like to travel on a budget, we chose the bus.
Flygbussarna operate a frequent service every 20-30 mins. Tickets can be bought from ticket machines at the airport, however it is easier and quicker to buy them in advance from their website. We found a large majority of people headed from our flight to the bus, so it is best if you can get yourself in the queue as quickly as possible rather than working out how to buy tickets.
Tickets bought via the Flygbussarna website are valid for three months from the date of purchase and you can use them on any day and any time bus.
Tickets are sold as one-way or return tickets, but if you are travelling in a group of 3 or 4 people it is more economical to purchase one-way tickets rather than a return. For example, a ‘Group ticket 3 persons’ is SEK 299 one-way, therefore SEK 598 there and back, however if you were to purchase a return ticket they don’t offer a group discount so 2 adults and a youth would cost SEK 697.
It is also important to be aware that any children under the age of 8 travel free on the bus and don’t require a ticket.
We were staying near Central Station, so the stop for this is Nils Ericson Terminalen, however there are many other stops in the city including Korsvagen if you are staying near Liseberg.
How to get around the city
The main methods of transport around the city are tram, bus and boat. When you buy a ticket you can use it on all three within 90mins. We were only in the city for three days so we only travelled by tram, we used this to go back for Slottsskogen and to get to and from the World of Volvo.
If you are travelling by public transport be aware that drivers cannot take payment, this is to make the service faster, and you must purchase a ticket in advance. The cheapest way to buy tickets is via the To Go app, however we struggled to use this and couldn’t get it to accept payment with our UK credit card. If you can buy tickets via the app an adult single is SEK 36 and this is valid for 90 minutes on all forms of transport.
You can purchase tickets onboard if you are only purchasing for yourself, using the tap payment. You simply tap your card on the card reader, this will purchase an adult ticket. However you can only purchase one ticket, so this was no good for us as we needed to purchase a youth ticket also.
In the end we bought our tickets from the Vasttrafik ticket office located in central station, or you can buy them from other outlets including 7-Eleven’s and other grocery stores. However tickets purchased this way will cost more, we paid SEK 43 for a 90 minute single.
Cash or card?
Cash is definitely outdated in Gothenburg and card payments rule! We found it very difficult to pay in cash, with many places only accepting card payments.
Therefore make sure that when you visit Gothenburg you have a way of paying by card, whether that is a credit card or a pre-loaded card.
We use the Halifax Clarity Card, as there are no charges for foreign currency transactions. Alternatively we also use a Post Office Travel Money Card, you pre-load the card with currency and if you have currency remaining you can transfer it to a different currency.
Eating on a budget
It is possible to eat good food whilst on a budget in Gothenburg, whilst avoiding those global fast food chains!
If you want to try out a restaurant, the cheapest time to do this is at lunch. Most restaurants in Gothenburg offer a lunch menu or ‘dagens lunch’, this will either be a set discount off their usual prices or a set menu for around SEK 130. The set menu will usually include unlimited salad buffet, main course, water, and tea & coffee, some places also include cake. This is excellent value to try out restaurant quality food.
Another option is to find the street food trucks located around the city. Although you will often find that these have ‘dagens lunch’ too! Our favourite was Crave, which offered delicious sliders with fries or nachos, in an amazing street food corner of Gothenburg.
One of our favourite ‘cheaper eats’ is Benne Pastabar, we visited the restaurant near Central Station. The pastabar offers seven different types of pasta with prices ranging from SEK 50 to SEK 105 plus wine and beer at SEK 30! We were only spending £30 to feed four people with drinks. It is more casual dining with tables inside and outside but the food is delicious.
Fika
Fika is an important part of Swedish culture. Ultimately it revolves around taking time out of your day to have coffee and cake with friends or family. There are many cafes and coffee shops across Gothenburg where you can enjoy Fika.
A great place to enjoy Fika whilst in Gothenburg is the Haga district. If you want to sample a local delicacy – Hagabullen – visit Cafe Husaren. The Hagabullen are HUGE so you can plan to share (they also cost around SEK 110, so pricey but when in Gothenburg….)
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