Contents
- Contents
- What is the Gothenburg Archipelago?
- How to get to Brännö Island
- The ferry ride to Brännö Island
- Things to do on Brännö Island
What is the Gothenburg Archipelago?
Gothenburg is a coastal city, right on the water’s edge in western Sweden. Off the coast are two sets of islands, known as the North and South Gothenburg Archipelago. Between them, there are around 30 large, visit-able islands, making them a perfect choice for a day trip.
They literally all looked amazing, so I did what any respecting tourist would do in the situation – ask a local. At dinner the previous night, I was sat next to a lovely Swedish couple who looked very outdoorsy (they all look outdoorsy in Sweden, mind you), and decided to take the plunge and ask for advice. They recommended Brännö island as their favourite due to its hiking routes. I also asked at my hotel’s reception staff which lead to a long debate about whether Brännö, Styrsö or Vrångö was better.
I decided on balance, I liked the look of Vrångö because it had the most beautiful beaches and the weather forecast was 25 degrees, or Brännö if I woke up in the morning and fancied a hike, given its home to a nature reserve and receives few visitors outside of the peak summer months. Both islands are car free so I figured I’d go with the flow and see how I felt.
Long story short, when I got to the ferry terminal, the ferry to Brännö was leaving in 10 minutes, the ferry to Vrångö would be another 2 hours as I’d just missed one. So that was that – Brännö and a hike for me!
How to get to Brännö Island
From Gothenburg, getting to Brännö was super easy. I managed it by myself no problem. I took Tram 11 from outside Gothenburg Central Station in the direction of Saltholmen, which took around 30 minutes.
From Saltholmen I then walked to the ferry terminal, called Saltholmens Brygga (literally a 2 minute walk from the tram stop across a car park), and asked when the next ferry left. You could also do this on line, but I’m old fashioned and like to check with a person. You can check all the ferry timetables leaving from Saltholmen HERE (it even shows you which port they leave from C1, C2 etc). My ferry left from C3, which was just through the ticket gate.
Talking of tickets. Public transport in Gothenburg Zone A is easy as pie – when riding the tram, you just have to swipe your debit card on the terminal on the card reader bit at the bottom (the unit is normally just past the driver as you walk in to the tram) so no need to buy an advance ticket. This ‘swipe’ costs around £3 and lasts for all travel for 90 minutes, and EVEN BETTER, the southern islands are also considered Zone A. So as long as you get a ferry within 90 minutes, you swipe again as you get on (the ferries all have the same units to swipe as the trams) and there’s no extra charge.
I had absolutely no need for advance tickets or anything like that. Maybe in summer it would be worth it, but certainly for me I had no problems at all with the entire journey costing me £6 there and back.
The ferry ride to Brännö Island
You will need to take Ferry 282 from Saltholmens Brygga to get to Brännö.
The ferry ride to Brännö takes around 45 minutes, and stops at numerous other islands on the way including Asperö, Köpstadsö, Styrsö and Vargö.
I did contemplate trying to get a couple of islands in, but the timetable just didn’t work. I arrived in Brännö at around 10.40am, and the next ferry departing it wasn’t until 3.30pm. I knew after a long day of hiking I probably wouldn’t want to try and rush round seeing islands in an evening after that, so decided just to visit Brännö but you could island hop, especially if you don’t want to hike.
Things to do on Brännö Island
Admire the beautiful village houses
Brännö is an absolutely beautiful village, full of pretty houses everywhere you turn. I loved seeing it in spring with flower window boxes blooming. It was also lovely to see some street stands selling everything from flowers to jam.
Visit the church and graveyard
The local church is a cute little building, worth a short detour from the shop to see. The graveyard sits at the top of the island and its most famous resident is Lasse Dahlqvist who was one of Sweden’s most famous song writers. I found the benches in the graveyard in the shade a lovely place to sit and take a breather – again, there was no one else around.
Take in the view across Brännö Rodsten
Also at the north of the island is the area with sweeping views out across to Rivo island, with a Swedish flag flying high from the vantage point. Lovely!
Brännö Lotsutkik
One of my favourite spots on the island was the bright red lookout hut, Brännö Ltsutkik. You can reach it via Faggeliden, and take the left hand turn up a track before it becomes Vassdalsvagen. Follow it up a hill and then some steps to come out to a stunning view of the hut and out across the island.
Hike Brännö Nature Reserve trails to Galtero Island
This was easily my favourite thing to do on the island, it was just SO beautiful. I entered the nature reserve from the road Galterovagen (opposite the shop), and followed it through a beautiful area of woodland until I could see the coast. I hiked across to Galtero Island and completed the signed loop there, before heading back across to Brännö and following the blue trail across the rocks to Lonndal to complete a big circle ending at the shop for an ice-cream.
As a top tip, there is a map of the island at the ferry port so I recommend taking a photo as the hiking trails are marked on there as a red dotted line. The route through the reserve is easy, but crossing Galtero and looping back over the rocks does require some scrambling and careful following of the route via way posts.
The walk was absolutely amazingly stunning. I had it completely to myself, seeing only 1 other person on the entire route. I cleared my head and honestly kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to have such a beautiful experience. In total the hike took me 2.5hrs.
Brännö Museum, Shop and Vardshus
Brännö has a little Museum, which was closed when I visited as it’s only open in the summer months (I went in May). The island’s one shop is open daily, though closes for lunch 12 – 2. There is also one restaurant on the island, Brännö Vardshus, which again was closed when I visited on a Monday outside of peak summer season so check the opening times before you go!
It meant I had no food or drink as there was literally nowhere to get lunch. Luckily for me, a lovely elderly couple saw me sitting outside the shop (clearly looking rough) and offered me water and a bowl of soup on their porch to keep me going. I am incredibly grateful as after a 2.5hr hike I was struggling with no water!
Enjoy Brännö’s beaches
Brännö is home to a number of lovely beaches to finish your visit off with some R&R. I didn’t get too much time here, maybe about an hour, before my ferry arrived but I enjoyed reading my book with a background noise of a few children splashing about with their parents.
I had an idyllic day on Brännö island. It was truly beautiful in the spring sunshine and I felt so lucky to have the place largely to myself. I think it would be incredibly isolated in winter, but in summer it’s a true paradise, and I’d love to return one day to explore more islands – I think they might be one of Sweden’s, and maybe even Europe’s, best kept secret!
]]>That’s pretty much all it takes with me, so off we went. My husband was sent to Gothenburg for a week with work, so we flew out on a Friday night, had the weekend together and then he stayed on to work. I couldn’t stay the whole week as I’d already committed to a work event in the UK on the Wednesday and a conference in The Netherlands on the Thursday so I stayed until Tuesday – the start of a busy week for me.
I’d no idea what Gothenburg offered, but I was so pleasantly surprised and found it to be a really beautiful city. Here’s how to make the most of your time there.
Contents
- Contents
- Important Information about visiting Gothenburg
- Itinerary Day 1 – Central Gothenburg
- Itinerary Day 2 – Further Afield
- Have a little longer?
Important Information about visiting Gothenburg
- The time difference is +1 hour to the UK
- Swedish is the official language, but English is really widely spoken so it’s super easy to navigate
- The transport system is really easy to use, with trams running everywhere and the ability to swipe your card on the terminals on board (just inside the tram, past the driver) for payment. It’s then unlimited riding for 90 minutes since the first swipe at around £3.
- The weather in Gothenburg is warmest in July and August at around 25 degrees, though I visited in May to a 27 degree heatwave. The city is coldest between November and March, hovering around 5 degrees.
- A lot of attractions are closed outside of peak summer season; even when I visited in May most museums were closed during the week.
- Gothenburg is a super live-able city, but visiting as a tourist in winter would mean very little is open and the weather was poor. I’d therefore recommend only visiting May – September.
- Hotels in the centre of Gothenburg come at a premium. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia which was lovely but not cheap. Much better value was our second hotel of the week, the Scandic Gothenburg Central, which was just as nice and half the price (in return for an extra 10 minute walk).
- Prices in Gothenburg were surprisingly affordable. We found them to be comparable, if not slightly cheaper, than the UK. Public transport is very good money.
Itinerary Day 1 – Central Gothenburg
Day 1 is all walkable around the central area of Gothenburg, where the majority of hotels and main sites are situated.
Trädgårdsföreningen Park & Palm House
The garden society park and palm house are a lovely way to start your time in Gothenburg, running alongside the water. We spent about 30 minutes meandering on through.
City Canals
Gothenburg is a city of rivers and canals, with pretty views where ever you look. We followed the river out of the park and round in to the central area, all providing nice views in the gorgeous clear light.
Gothenburg Cathedral
A calm oasis in the middle of a shopping district, Gothenburg Cathedral is a really peaceful spot. There’s live music on inside on most days, and even better there’s an ice-cream van right outside and some shady benches, perfect for a sunny day!
Gustav Adolfs Torg
One of the main squares in the city, Gustav Adolfs Torg is a lovely place for lunch. There are loads of food vans that pull up here from 11am onwards, or there are lots of restaurants around if you want something a bit more formal.
Gothenburg City Museum
Just down the road is the wonderful Gothenburg City Museum. Home to exhibits which tell the story of the city over the last 12,000 years it covers everything from Prehistoric times, to the Vikings and the modern age. We found the history really interesting around the formation of the city and its origins, and we found the museum itself to be really well done and laid out – easily spending 2 hours to read through things.
German Church
Just next door is the majestic German church, built for the many migrant Germans that settled here when the city was formed in the 1600s. Interestingly, German is still the language I heard most out and about – which made me feel quite at home!
Kronhuset
Kronhuset is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Gothenburg and is now converted in to a lovely little shop and restaurant area. I couldn’t resist the lemon meringue pie!
Lilla Bommen and Maritiman
Finshing up activities for the day, head down to the port where you can see all the amazing ships, especially Maritiman which is a living maritime museum home to multiple ships including submarines, destroyers and boat bars! We had a really fun 2 hours exploring and finishing up with a cocktail on board – even better!
Avenyn
After a long day exploring, head to Avenyn for dinner. It’s lined with lots of restaurants and I can recommend Thai Moon for some tasty Asian food with incredible cocktails, but there’s loads to choose from whatever you fancy.
Itinerary Day 2 – Further Afield
On Day 2, it’s time to leave the main city centre and either walk (around 45 mins each way) or take the tram a bit further out.
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
Full post: HERE
Oh how I fell in love with the Botanical Gardens, they are an absolute cut above other gardens I’ve been to in Europe and the Japanese Garden was beyond beautiful. I spent 3 hours and my entire morning there, though if gardens aren’t your thing or the weather is bad, you won’t need as long.
Haga
Haga is the old historic area of the city and a great spot for lunch. We wandered a few of the boutique shops and then sat in the sunshine with food and drink for a couple of hours. It’s a really nice place to just ‘get lost’.
Skansen Kronan
This old fortress sits perched on a hill and it’s quite a climb to get up – but worth it for the views. Unfortunately for us we got to the top (in 27 degree heat I may add) and it was closed for a wedding – gah! It should have provided lovely views out over the city.
Boat Trip
If you’re not exhausted, head back to Lilla Bommen for an afternoon/evening cruise. The local company, Stromma, do lovely afternoon cruises round the local islands, and sunset and dinner cruises too. Or if you want a cheaper option, their sister company Paddan, run cruises along the local canals in the city – a perfect way to finish off your visit to this wonderful city.
Have a little longer?
If you have a little longer in the city than just 2 days then I really do believe that the Gothenburg Islands are a true hidden gem of Europe and you should absolutely visit if you can. If you don’t have that much time, then there’s also a half day option (but it’s not a patch on the full day!).
Full Day: Gothenburg Islands
Full post: HERE
Then there’s only one option. Gothenburg is home to over 30 beautiful islands in a North and South archipelago. I chose to visit Branno Island in the South and it was one of the most beautiful days I’ve ever had on a trip.
Half Day: Nya Älvsborg Fortress
Full post: HERE
With half a day, an easier option is to take the Stromma ferry over to Nya Älvsborg, an old defensive fortress on an island. It’s fun to explore and a nice way to spend a sunny day away from the crowds of the city parks.
So, what did you think of Gothenburg? I really did enjoy it more than I expected to and loved the sunshine I was treated to on my visit. I don’t think it’s a city for winter, but it is a perfect spring/summer destination away from the main European tourist trail. Hope you enjoyed the trip – stay safe and happy travelling!
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