Sometime around mid November, we decided we wanted to go to the Christmas markets somewhere in Europe for a quick weekend away. Unfortunately, most of the usual destinations were really expensive by that point so we decided to try Gothenburg as it apparently has the largest Christmas market in Scandinavia.
Friday
We rushed to Gatwick from work on the Friday night and caught a quick flight over to Gothenburg. Our AirBnb was really convenient to get to from the airport which was a relief that late at night. The buses from the airport to the city centre were very regular.
Saturday
For breakfast we went to Jos, which was recommended by our AirBnB host. It had a lot of fresh, healthy options, which is our favourite kind of breakfast place. At a lot of places in Gothenburg, they had a breakfast meal option with coffee, juice, and main meal which were really good value.
After breakfast we went down to the Tourist Information centre to pick up a Gothenburg City Card. They have these all over Scandinavia and there’s a really cheap way to get in to a lot of sites and use public transport. We had afternoon cinnamon buns, for which Sweden is famous.
We spent most of the rest of the day at the Gothenburg City Museum which covered everything from the founding and development of Gothenburg to the whole Viking history. After absorbing the local history, we heading for dinner to a place called Sjobaren, which was an incredible seafood restaurant. I’m mostly vegetarian but occasionally eat fish, so very much enjoyed the huge place of smoked salmon.
Sunday
Before breakfast, we went for a run from our AirBnb up to the tower observatory on the hilltop looking over the city, Slottsskogsobservatoriet. Running is such a nice way to see a new city as you can cover a decent amount of distance and get to know more of the local areas rather than just the main tourist area. Showered and changed, we headed to Milk and Honey for breakfast. It was more of an American diner, whereas we would have preferred a more local place, but it was difficult to find anything for breakfast on Google unfortunately.
We spent the morning walking around the city centre, before getting a canal boat to Liseberg at sunset. The route through the canals was really pretty with Christmas lights along the sides and very low bridges we had to duck under. Liseberg is a big amusement park and also contains the Christmas Markets. We went to see the Nutcracker performed on ice and wandered around the market stalls, sampling the local produce. There’re also a couple of big rides at Liseburg so we went on the biggest roller coaster and it was a lot of fun!
Monday
In the morning, we headed over to Haga which is a traditional part of Gothenburg with wooden building and cobbled streets. For breakfast, we stopped at Cafe Husaren for a cinnamon bun (these ones are huge!) before pottering around some of the quaint little shops. Next we headed over to Universeum which is kind of like a science museum and zoo all rolled in to one. We spent a lot of time watching the sloths and playing with the interactive exhibits.
After that, it was time to head back to the aiport for a quick flight back home to London.