Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city with a lively city center and lots of nature around. We visited Gothenburg in May and were lucky to have lots of warm and sunny days.
What to do with sunny days in Gothenburg? Read our top 5 tips below!
Explore the City & Eat Out
Walk around the city center to explore the city – we found it small enough to explore by foot. Public transport is also great and even includes ferries (use the Västtrafik app). In between, stop by the many nice restaurants and cafés to take a break and enjoy the sun sitting outside.
Here are our favorite restaurants and cafés with outdoor seating:
- Café Hängmattan: Event venue and vegetarian lunch buffet on weekdays.
- Kooperativet: Food market with different lunch options close to the university.
- Bar Kino: Trendy bar and dinner place co-located with a movie theater and atmospheric outdoor seating.
- da Matteo: Our favorite café in Gothenburg with nice, large outdoor seating. Try the kanelbulle (cinnamon buns).
- Café Husaren: Popular café in the middle of the nice Haga district. They sell huge cinnamon buns (called Hagabulle). It’s better to buy a full big one and share it with friends rather than buying individual pieces – the big one is more fun and also fresher.
- Våffelcafé Soldattorpet: Small wooden café specialized on waffles on top of a small hill next to the city. Unfortunately, they did not sell waffles anymore when we arrived as they were closing down early that day.
- Gelaterian Göteborg: Popular ice cream café with long queues on sunny days.
Botanical Garden & Nature Reserve
We loved Gothenburg’s Botanical Garden and the neighboring nature reserve at least as much as the city center.
The Botanical Garden is very large and diverse, it features parks, small waterfalls, forests and great viewpoints. From one of the viewpoints, you can overlook the city and watch the sunset. There is a voluntary entry fee that you can pay at the shop, but you can also visit for free. To us, it is the most beautiful botanical garden that we know.
Right next to the botanical garden is an even larger nature reserve, Änggårdsbergen, with (small) mountains, forest, and lakes. It is perfect for hiking, running, cycling, or even horseback riding. When you are there, make sure to hike to the top of the mountains/hills to enjoy the view and to picnic at lake Trindemossen.
Both the botanical garden and the nature reserve are well connected by tram (station “Botaniska”). Walking to/from the tram station, also do check out the charming Swedish wooden houses located between the tram station and the Änggårdsbergens Promenad.
Slottskogen Park
The Slottskogen Park is also right next to Gothenburg city center and is another large nature area. Besides a nice forest and lakes, it features a free, outdoor animal park that even has penguins.
There is a minigolf course and several cafés. Our favorite café in the park was this one, which offers outdoor seating overlooking one of the lakes.
Swimming Lakes
While there are beautiful, small lakes both in the nature reserve and the Slottskogen Park in Gothenburg, they are not suitable for swimming. There are swimming lakes just outside of Gothenburg and you can easily reach them by bus (line X4).
Norra Långevattnet is a small/medium sized swimming lake with clear water, surrounded by forest and stones. It is great for swimming, picnic, and hiking. Bus X4 stops at nearby bus stop Delsjömotet.
Another, much larger swimming lake is Rådasjön, which is not far from Norra Långevattnet. Bus X4 also stops nearby at bus stop Mölnlycke Råda Portar. There is a nice restaurant, Råda Säteri, by the lake and also a creperie/café. From there, it’s not far to one of the public swimming spots at the lake.
Skerries and Islands
A bit further outside Gothenburg but still very much worth a visit during a sunny day are the skerries and island in the Baltic Sea close to Gothenburg. In fact, they are so close that you can also reach them conveniently via public transport. You can take the tram to Saltholmen and from there a boat to one of the small islands – they are also included in the ticket!
We visited Brännö, one of the larger islands. On the island, you can find typical Swedish houses, hiking trails, sheep, beaches, and everything else that you would hope for on a Swedish island. Check out the viewpoint, walk around and explore the island. If you are hungry or thirsty, do stop by Kärran, which offers street food, drinks, ice cream with (only) outdoor seating in a private garden.
I hope you will be as lucky as us to enjoy some sunny days in Gothenburg and the surrounding nature. Hopefully, these 5 tips were useful. Feel free to check out our other travel tips, too 🙂