Sitting around 20km away from the city it serves, Gothenburg’s Landvetter airport is the 2nd busiest in Sweden, having served over 5.3 million passengers in 2025. I had arrived at the airport on a Ryanair flight from Stansted (read about that here) and was keen to head into the city and see what it had to offer, although the start to my exploring was slightly delayed as I had seemingly just missed a bus to the city. Despite its status as the country’s second busiest airport, and the busiest on the western side of the country, the only public transport connections between the airport and the city are several different express coach operators, although the construction of a rail line has finally been agreed with a scheduled opening of 2035.
As the most regular and prominent coach operator, I had chosen to travel with Flygbussarna whose return tickets cost 239SEK or around £20, with journeys to the city centre taking around 30 minutes. Unfortunately, this meant, when coupled with the delays through passport control and my 20-minute wait for a bus, I wasn’t in the city centre until almost 90 minutes after landing. There are a few intermediate stops enroute, but all buses terminate at the Nils Ericson Terminal bus station which is adjacent to the Central railway station. Having been dropped off, I enjoyed a nice walk through The Garden Society of Gothenburg gardens, which are just a couple of minutes away from the station and run alongside one of the city’s canals. The gardens are completely free to enter and an oasis of calm in what is a lively city, so I’d certainly recommend a visit even if, like mine, it is a walk through from one end to the other.
Whilst the Central railway station is at one end of the gardens, the Grand Theatre is at the other and it was outside here I bought tickets for a tour on the Ocean Bus. This amphibious tour bus takes you on a tour of the city by both road and water, and had me mentally shouting DUCK MARINE for the remainder of the day (if you know, you know!). As it was, I had an hour or so until the next tour departed and so headed to the nearby Market Hall for a wander around to see its wares. The Stora Saluhallen market hall has been in this central location since the 19th century and the traditional food market continues to this day, although with some more upmarket traders than when it first opened. Either way, the smells as you walk around are amazing, and there’s a good number of food traders, allowing you to grab a meal here if you wish to.
After a wander around the Stora Saluhallen, I had time to visit Tourist Information to grab some souvenirs before heading back to the Grand Theatre to jump onboard the Ocean Bus. Setting off south from the Grand Theatre, the tour first heads around the University district, with our guide, Erika, telling us about the university itself, the city’s riots in 2001 during/because of a visit of George W. Bush and the statue of Poseidon at the top of ‘The Avenue’. Looping back round, we were told more about The Garden Society gardens, which contain a 3* rose garden (I think 3* is the highest rating in this instance) and is supposedly the best place in Gothenburg to play Pokémon Go! The route then took us out passed the Fish Hall and harbour, where lots of construction work was taking place, before splashing into the water close to the Älvsborgsbron brige.
The waterborne part of the tour included what is now the north side of the city centre, located on Sweden’s 5th largest island and was where Gothenburg was first developed as a settlement until Sweden’s traditional enemy, the Danes, burnt it down. We also learnt about the sinking of the East India company ship, Gothenburg, in 1745, along with the city’s former castle (now a sugar refinery) which Sweden kept (four time in all) losing to Denmark during various wars. The castle, along with the city’s wall (of which a small part remain), made Gothenburg one of the most protected cities in Europe, although this seemingly didn’t help Sweden’s record against Denmark in various wars. From here we covered some of Gothenburg’s more recent history, seeing the bridge up close, along with the Gothenburg Giraffes, the dock’s former harbour cranes. After our tour of the water, it was back onto dry land and then via the city centre back to our starting point of the Grand Theatre.
By the time the tour was finished it was about 1400 and I was ready for some lunch, so took a self-guided tour around the city centre taking in the canals, Gustaf Adolf’s square, the German Church and Gothenburg Cathedral whilst on my way to the harbour front to find some lunch. I had found a restaurant on a boat online, however when I arrive it seemed to be permanently closed, so I jumped on a voi bike to my back up plan further along the harbour front close to the Barken Viking tall ship. Here I headed to Provianten Lilla Bommen where I had a very nice prawn open sandwich, made with rye bread and a LOT of prawns.
After lunch I took a bus and a tram (frustratingly changing close to where the closed boat restaurant was located) to the Sjöfartsmuseet Akvariet (Maritime Museum & Aquarium) which was a bargain at just 75SEK (around £6). Its also got the bonus of being open until 2030 each evening, so you can visit later in the day and still get your money’s worth. In the basement is the aquarium which is small but very well laid out with lots of small tanks along with one really large one which has a great seating area to allow you to sit and watch the marine life. Upstairs on the 1st and 2nd floors is the Maritime museum which was very interesting, with a whole exhibit dedicated to the stories of seafarers, along with another about the development of Gothenburg as a port city. There was also a free ship simulator which I had a go on, but clearly wasn’t using right!
Realistically I could have spent a full day looking around the maritime museum in detail, however with my time in Gothenburg running out, I jumped on a tram back into the city centre to get some food at Bastard Burgers. I have no idea what it is about independent burger restaurants in Europe using English swear words as their names, but after Fat F*ck burgers in Prague, this was becoming a worrying trend! I ended up going for the Double Västerbroten Cheese along with some Västerbroten fries and Västerbroten bites which was all very tasty and VERY cheesy. Having eaten a mountain of cheese, it was time to make the short walk (or roll) back to the station to get a coach back to the airport, bringing my time in Gothenburg to an end.
Ultimately my time in Gothenburg was short and I barely scratched the surface, but it is certainly a city I’d like to revisit in future. There is plenty of history to explore, from the wars with Denmark to the development of the port city, along with lots of good food and drink. Whilst some cities I feel you can see a lot during an Extreme Day Trip, I don’t think I did Gothenburg justice as my time there was just too short, so if you do visit, I think at the very least it needs to be for a long weekend. However, its certainly on my list to re-visit, so hopefully I’ll be back in the near future!
Flights & Times 