Sweden’s second-largest city has spent the past decade joining a conversation that’s often dominated by the much more renowned Helsinki and Copenhagen: city of the future but make it chic. It has been the winner of the Global Destination Sustainability Index seven times (coming second only to Helsinki in the past two years) and, this year, was named the United Nations’ global hub for Sustainable Lifestyles. What that means in practicality: 96% of hotel rooms are eco-certified and 95% of public transport runs on renewable power. I noted this in the form of a tram that glided like a spaceship and breakfast that needed to be pre-ordered the night before so the kitchen didn’t make too many croissants.
It’s intentional living all around, and while I am not expecting that to stop anyone in their tracks when it comes to glamour, that’s essentially the point. While Stockholm does its Scandinavian elegance thing and Copenhagen remains beloved for design, Gothenburg offers a grungier, outlier energy. And given the world has been on fire and flooding recently, give me all the sustainability I can get.
The city built its identity on shipbuilding, then on Volvo and then, when both industries contracted, pivoted to culture. There’s an indie-music lineage that produced José González, Little Dragon and Jens Lekman, a design museum with 50,000 objects including one of Europe’s great fashion archives, and a car-free archipelago that most visitors never make it to because they spend their time shopping on the main boulevard instead (guilty). Having popped in for the fully sold-out Way Out West festival 2026 (which saw Zara Larsson return after her first show there ten years ago), these are the spots I’d return to, plus a few from locals.
Day One
Land, Drop Your Bags And Walk Straight Into Haga. Gothenburg’s oldest neighbourhood, all cobblestones and 19th-century wooden houses. It’s also where José González grew up. It is here one tries the Hagabullen, a dinner-plate-sized cinnamon bun that made Café Husaren famous. Avoid peak hours to skip the queue, or go instead to En Deli Haga, a vegetarian mezze counter a few doors down where you build your own plate from a spread of Lebanese-leaning dishes.
Walk To Lunch In Feskekôrka, Gothenburg’s 19th-century "fish church" – a stone market hall shaped like a Gothic chapel and stocked with oyster counters and plates of toast Skagen instead of pews. If the crowds put you off, Saluhallen – an indoor market hall – does essentially the same job with less theatre. Bar Bulot, tucked inside, was a pop-up that was so popular it became a permanent fixture. It serves a menu that changes weekly.
Spend The Afternoon At Röhsska Museum, on Vasagatan near the main boulevard. The collection runs to over 50,000 objects, spanning Nordic design from the 1850s to now, a floor dedicated to why the pedestrian-crossing button looks the way it does and an enormous amount of Paris couture in the fashion archive. For furniture enthusiasts, don’t miss the open storage that holds more than 300 years of chairs.
Book Dinner At Tavolo inside Gothenburg’s former artillery stables on Magasinsgatan. Though not one to seek out Italian food in a Swedish town, the 6,800kg horse sculpture – a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s long-lost equestrian concept known as the Cavallo di Forcione – does a great marketing job. The kitchen does Italian with a modern, New York leaning. Whipped ricotta, flavoursome pastas, thin-crust pizzas and a wine list with a perfect barolo.
Speaking Of Barolo, Close The Night At Wine Mechanics – a winery in the Slakthuset district that keeps its own wine flowing past midnight. Made on-site, the all-vegan wines are poured a few metres from where they’re fermented.
Day Two
Start In Majorna, the neighbourhood known for advancing Gothenburg’s food scene right now. Alkemisten, a specialty roastery on the Lindholmen waterfront, is where I’m told the locals go for coffee. If you booked ahead (and this Virgo says you should have), one-Michelin starred Hoze is here, too: a six-seat sushi counter with no fixed menu, serving whatever the fish market gods offered that morning. Not joking, this is genuinely one of the hardest reservations in the city, so please do book ahead.
Take Tram 11 To Saltholmen, Then A Ferry To The Southern Archipelago. This is very much a detour out of the city and into a sidequest that justifies giving Gothenburg more than a weekend. The islands (Styrsö, Donsö, Brännö, Vrångö) are car-free and reachable in 20 to 50 minutes depending how far you go. Vrångö, the southernmost inhabited island, has sandy coves and granite outcrops good for a proper swim; Brännö has a working harbour restaurant.
Back In The City, Eat At Blackbird, a vegan bistro in Majorna. Expect fried “chicken” with béarnaise, a house IPA and alternative art.
Head For A Nightcap At Sway, a modern cocktail bar that opened in the city centre in 2026. Known for great service, lovely lighting and smart glassware.
Day Three
Walk Slottsskogen Before The City Wakes Up. 137 hectares of English-style landscape (fitting given that it’s nearly the same size as Hyde Park) with a free zoo of Nordic wildlife and seals in a pond. Go in late May and witness the striking ‘azalea valley’.
Fuel Up With Coffee from the spot everyone asks if you’ve been to the moment you land in Gothenburg. Da Matteo has two locations, both very close to each other. One has more a cafe feel that, in the summer, means you can photosynthesise on folding chairs in the courtyard, and the other is like a tiny Italian deli with excellent sandwiches.
Expend New-Found Energy On Shopping – Some Vintage, Some Not. Aplace, on Magasinsgatan, curates luxury secondhand like it’s a design gallery. Juno Juno, a few doors down, mixes Gothenburg and Berlin stock. Ragtime does pieces for all genders. It wouldn’t be a visit to Sweden without visiting Acne Studios, which is a stone’s throw from Ragtime. The label itself is Stockholm-born, but the Gothenburg store was built in brick and steel specifically to nod to the city’s industrial architecture, which makes it worth the stop even if you’re not buying anything. And just behind the Da Matteo courtyard is Grandpa – a Scandinavian concept store running since 2003. It layers new and vintage fashion, homeware, books and plants into one considered, sustainability-minded browse. It’s so wide ranging that the team even curate their own city guides; worth a look if you are venturing to any other Swedish cities after this one.
For A Music Detour, Walk To MUG. Musik Utan Gränser has been Gothenburg’s music shop since 1973, dealing new and vintage guitars, basses, synths and drums. It’s a shop and also a bit of a hangout: the sort of place local musicians drift into on a Tuesday afternoon for no particular reason and leave hours later. Even if you can’t fit a drum kit into your carry-on, it’s worth checking for the vintage rack alone, which serves as a short history of what’s passed through Gothenburg’s studios. MUG’s origin story is memorable: the founder’s band had a show cancel in Germany and he convinced the other members to do it in Gothenburg instead. He never left, started the music store and now his daughter runs the business.
End At Heaven 23, on the 23rd floor of Gothia Towers. What better way to wrap up your time on Sweden’s west coast than with a shrimp sandwich and view of the entire city and the archipelago beyond it.
