A Swedish Roadtrip Through Västra Götaland
Note: this article was originall published on my travel website, Wherever.
I’ve had a highly romantisced vision of Sweden for over a decade, soaking in as much content as possible of Swedish homes, landscapes and lifestyles. The West Sweden coastline and countryside in particular has always appealed to me, promising beautiful landscapes, picturesque towns and plenty of opportunities for refreshing dips. I dreamed of Falu red wooden cottages, gardens filled with dahlias, vast lakes to swim in, and luscious green forests. During my ten days exploring the region last August, I completely fell in love with the Swedish way of life and had actual tears welling up when it was time to leave. I’ll now wax lyrical to anyone who will listen about how I fell in love with West Sweden. Here are my personal recommendations of where to go and what to see in Västra Götaland.
Vrångö
Vrångö is the southernmost inhabited island of Gothenburg’s southern archipelago, and was the first place I visited outside of the city. From the second I stepped off the ferry I was hooked on the Swedish countryside, surrounded by colourful Swedish houses, sprawling gardens and a rocky coastline. Just a note that I used the Västtrafik app to get around Gothenburg and found it incredibly easy to use. A single ticket cost around £2.80 and was valid for 90 minutes once purchased - meaning that I could take a bus, tram and ferry from my hotel to the island and have change from £3. The app shows the best routes to your destination at the time of travelling, and even has a map to help you find your stop and check the progress of the transport you are waiting for. This made getting out of the city to explore the islands incredibly easy.
The islands are ideal for swimming during the summer months, and my reason for choosing Vrångö was that I’d heard there were particularly good swimming spots. There were bikes for hire near the ferry port, but the island is small and easy to walk around - plus that meant more opportunity for ogling the houses and gardens that I passed. With a blueberry ice cream in hand from the cafe by the ferry, I strolled through the quiet streets towards my first swim spot. As I grew used to, the infastructure for wild swimming is incredible in Sweden. Here, I found numerous ladders into the sea, platforms to climb down from and even a diving board for the daring. The water was surprisingly warm and wonderfully clear, but a word of warning - if you visit in August you will be sharing the water with a myriad of jellyfish. Luckily, they were easy to spot in the clear water, so I could still enjoy my swim (with my boyfriend on dry land on jellyfish-spotting duty).
Following my first swim, it was time for lunch. There aren’t many places to eat on the island, but I recommend Hamnkrogen Lotsen for its location by the harbour and fresh seafood. The menu changes dependent on what’s in season, but if you don’t like seafood, this isn’t the place for you. I then walked through the nature reserve, following the path around the coastline of the north of the island before stumbling upon a small beach. Again, the water was teaming with jellyfish, but I still managed a refreshing dip while soaking up the scenery of the craggy coastline. It was then time to catch a ferry home, admiring the views of the other isles we stopped at along the way.
Slottsskogskolonien
I enjoyed exploring the streets, parks, restaurants and bars of Gothenburg, but by far my favourite spot in the city was this incredible allotment I discovered on the edge of Slottskogen park. Slottsskogskolonien is the city’s second-oldest allotment gardens, but these aren’t the same kind of allotments you’ll find in British towns and cities. These are basically tiny, wood-clad homes where people actually live during the summer months, boasting some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. There are 154 cottages and gardens, with pathways weaving between them. Some are larger than others, but they all had luscious gardens brimming full of flowers, vegetables and fruit trees. Apple trees were abundant in fruit, leaning over with the weight of the season’s bounty. Dahlias, hollyhocks, Japanese anemones, cosmos and roses filled flower beds and crept up the sides of the cottages. Gardens were filled with neat rows of kale, chard, courgettes and tall, gangly beanpoles. If you’re as obsessed with gardens and Swedish houses as I am, you’ll understand why this place literally brought a tear to my eye.
Want a peak inside these wonderful cottages? A little Google digging led me to these wonderful features of three of them - a red wooden cottage, a cosy renovated cottage and a small farmhouse-style cottage. I’m now daydreaming of what my cottage and plot would look like …
Tjörn
I just spent one night on the island of Tjörn, as the first stop on my road trip through Västra Götaland. I didn’t get to see much of the island, but just soaked in the relaxing atmosphere of the fields that surrounded our Airbnb. Obviously, I couldn’t stay on an island and not enjoy a swim. There were multiple spots to choose from, but I chose this sheltered bay and it was thankfully jellyfish free. Again, there was a platform with a ladder and lifebuoy clearly marking the best place to get into the water, which was bizarrely so warm I felt like I was in the Mediterranean. I swam out to a pontoon and just enjoyed lounging in the late afternoon sun for a while, before drying off. Later in the evening, I strolled around the area where I was staying, down country lanes that were glowing in the golden hour sunlight. I didn’t have a destination in mind, just enjoyed my walk while admiring the scenery and watching birds dive over the fields.
Fiskebäckskil
The next day was the only gloomy weather of my trip, so rather than seeking out somewhere to swim or a wild landscape to explore, I instead chose to visit one of the many small fishing towns that dot the coastline between Gothenburg and Strömstad. I chose Fiskebäckskil on the island of Skaftö, purely for the reason that we needed to stop somewhere we could charge our electric car. This was a common theme of my trip, and choosing places to spend the day based on the location of charging points led us to some of my favourite spots. Fiskebäckskil is an absolute delight to wander around in the drizzle, and was much quieter than some of the other more touristy towns in the area. The houses here are beautiful, painted in a variety of vibrant colours (including the traditional Falu red). I loved how the planting of flowering bushes and hollyhocks seemed to have been carefully planned for the contrast of the colours of the flowers and the buildings. Down by the harbour, I admired the traditional fishing huts that are still in use, before sheltering from the rain and enjoyed an indulgent lunch at Brygghuset restaurant.
The Weather Islands
For our last night on the coast, I wanted to visit either the Weather Islands or the Koster Islands. We chose the Weather Islands as I also wanted to visit Fjällbacka, where the boat to the islands departs from. The Väderö fjord separates the islands from the mainland, scattered with hundreds of rocks and small islands that are home to a large seal colony. I’d read that there was a regular ferry from the mainland to the main island, but be warned - this is predominantly for the use of the guests at the hotel on the island, and was fully booked for the day when we arrived at the harbour. Luckily, we managed to book onto a boat trip that took us around the smaller isles to watch seals before giving us an hour to explore the main island. I loved this trip, but an hour wasn’t really enough, so I would recommend booking the hotel’s ferry if you’re planning a trip.
With a couple of hours to kill, we had time to wander around Fjällbacka. We climbed up to Vetteberget - the rocks that tower above the harbour - through a well-marked trail through woodland. I’d really recommend this walk to take in the views of the harbour and surrounding islets. We took a picnic lunch with us and stopped for a while at the top, soaking up the views and the sunshine. Following a very fun and bumpy boat ride where we spotted plenty of seals, we disembarked on the largest island where I immediately fell in love. The rocky landscape and dramatic scenery were reminiscent of somewhere much further north and felt incredibly Nordic. I swam in the crystal clear waters of the harbour, dodging yet more jellyfish while feeling utterly blissful with my surroundings. We then had a quick peak at the hotel. If you don’t mind splashing out (it costs approximately £270 per person per night but this does include full use of the facilities and three meals) this looks like an incredible place to stay. There is a choice of private cottages or rooms in the hotel, and the facilities include a wood-fired sauna and wood-fired salt water barrels overlooking the water. Floating in the sea beneath a star-lit sky would be idyllic. I wish we’d had longer, but we managed a short walk, following the markers as we wove down paths over the water, clambered up rocks and admired the view of the harbour from above.
The Lakes
The final three days of my trip were spent inland, among the lakes that fill this area of West Sweden. There was a part of me that regretted leaving the coast, but as soon as we arrived in our first destination I was completely besotted. These three days were perhaps my favourites of the entire trip, and I could easily see myself living in this area - hiking in the woods, joining the creative communities we discovered and enjoying a lake dip every day. Our first stop was 24 hours on a floating cabin that was absolute bliss but a real treat: read about our stay at Naturbyn here. We then spent two nights staying in a wonderfully cosy cabin in the garden of a house in a small village named Froskog. I loved the quiet pace of life here. Despite being a tiny town, there was a lot to see right on our doorstep. The local church was particularly interesting, as it was a traditional Baroque building with a separate bell tower. The inside was closed, but I admired the outside, before spending some time fawning over a beautiful allotment filled with dahlias right next door. The village sits at the top of a large lake, which was perfect for evening swims as golden hour illuminated the woodlands on the opposite shore.
Just a five minute drive away was Not Quite, an incredible art centre located in an old paper mill and it’s surrounding buildings. There was so much to see and do here, with various artists, metalworkers, potters and woodworkers studios, some of which were open for the public to view. Inside the main building, you can wander around and see the remnants of the old mill, then discover experimental art exhibitions further inside the labyrinth of the mill. There was a cafe serving delicious vegetarian food, an exquisite bakers, sculpture gardens and walking trails, and a boutique selling the wares of the various artists who work there. Not at all what you would expect to find in the middle of the countryside, but the campus of Gothenburg’s art college is just a 20 minute drive away, in a wonderful little town named Dals Långed. We visited here twice to swim in the lake, one evening and then the final morning of our trip. I loved it here. There was a jetty to swim off, a large lawn for sunbathing, a sauna that you could rent by the hour, a large firepit for cooking meals and even a little pontoon to swim out to.
There is so much to see and do in this region that we simply didn’t have time to see it all, preferring to enjoy a slower pace and soak up the moments in the places we visited. My other recommendations for what I enjoyed in this area include visiting Dals Rostock to browse Kerstin Ljungqvists Ateljé & Butik, making sure you pop into her greenhouse to admire the tomatoes and geraniums, as well as visiting the herb garden. Visit the shore of Lake Vanern to marvel at the incredible scale of Europe’s largest lake outside of Russia. I didn’t find a great spot to swim, but spent some time wallowing in the shallows at this beach. Go off into the woods for a long stroll, keeping your eyes peeled for blueberries and chanterelle mushrooms. And make sure you hit the brakes whenever you see a sign for Loppis - these are Swedish brocantes that pop up everywhere from the side of the road to someone’s barn. This area of Västra Götaland is ideal for a slow getaway, so rather than worrying about what you’d like to see and do, just enjoy a drive around the region, taking in the beautiful scenery and seeking out the best places to enjoy a long swim in a tranquil, secluded lake.
If you have any questions about visiting West Sweden, please feel free to get in touch!
