Gothenburg and Sweden's west coast

Stockholm is Sweden's capital, and it knows it. Gothenburg, on the west coast, has the easier manner of a port that has always looked outwards, and for a remarkable century it looked as far as China.

A Dutch city for a Swedish king

Gothenburg was founded in 1621 by King Gustav II Adolf, after several earlier attempts to establish a town on the site had failed. He wanted a port on the west coast, and the site he chose was low and marshy. To build on it, he brought in the people who knew best how to build on marshes: Dutch engineers and planners. They drained the ground and dug canals through it, as they would have at home, and the central city still has the shape they gave it. Walk along the old canals and you could, for a moment, believe yourself in a small Dutch town.

The city's great age came in the eighteenth century. In 1731 the Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, to trade with China and the Far East, and its ships sailed from here for the rest of the century and beyond; the last ship came home in 1806, and the company closed in 1813. Its headquarters, the East India House, still stands and now holds the Museum of Gothenburg.

Fish, and fun

Gothenburg is still a working port, and its port is the largest in the Nordic countries, but the city wears its industry lightly. Two of its best-loved institutions say a lot about it. One is the Feskekôrka, the Fish Church, a fish market opened on 1 November 1874 in a hall so like a church in shape that the name was inevitable. Inside, the congregation is mainly seafood. The hall reopened in 2024 after a long renovation.

The other is Liseberg, an amusement park opened in 1923, in the middle of the city, to mark Gothenburg's three hundredth anniversary. It is described as the largest amusement park in Northern Europe, and on a summer evening it fills with families and teenagers in a way that makes the whole city seem younger.

The archipelago and the coast

Gothenburg's greatest asset may be what lies offshore. The southern archipelago is a scatter of rocky islands, reached by ferry from Saltholmen, on the edge of the city. The southernmost inhabited island, Vrångö, is about half an hour away by boat. Out here, traffic gives way to sea breezes, granite paths and small harbours full of boats, and the city seems a long way off.

North of Gothenburg, the coast of Bohuslän runs up towards Norway, splintering into thousands of rocky islands and skerries. It is a much-loved coast, and its fishing villages draw crowds in summer. On the island of Marstrand stands Carlsten Fortress, begun after the Treaty of Roskilde of 1658 gave Bohuslän to Sweden. The site was chosen for its position and for its harbour, which stays free of ice, and the fortress was built of granite and brick. Its military record is not quite what its builders hoped: it was attacked twice, and both times it fell. It stopped being a permanent defence in 1882, though the armed forces kept using it until the early 1990s. Today it is the best reason to go to Marstrand, and its walls look out over the islands and the sea. Further north is Smögen, still a working fishing town, where boats unload their catch for the auction on weekdays.

Cruises that call at Gothenburg

Two cruises in the catalogue call at Gothenburg, both in April.

Fred. Olsen's seven-night Capitals & Cultures of Scandinavia sails from Rosyth in April, calling at Oslo, Copenhagen and Gothenburg.

Ambassador Cruise Line's seven-night Nordic Neighbours: A Journey Through Sweden & Denmark sails from London Tilbury in April, with Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg on its itinerary.

With a day in port, walk the canals of the old city first and look at the East India House. Then go to the Fish Church for lunch, or out to the islands if the day is fine. Gothenburg rewards the curious, and it does not mind if you take your time.