If you’re looking for a Scandinavian city break that blends culture, calm, and character, Gothenburg might just be the answer. Sweden’s second city has long lived in the shadow of Stockholm, but that’s part of its charm — it doesn’t need to shout. Instead, it wins you over with quiet confidence, excellent food, and a sense of space that gives you room to breathe.
I spent 72 hours exploring Gothenburg, staying at the modern Gothia Towers
hotel, with a front-row view of the Liseberg amusement park and a relaxed itinerary. From contemporary museums to peaceful parks and standout dining, here’s how the city unfolded for me.
Art and architecture
The Gothenburg Museum of Art (Göteborgs Konstmuseum) was my first stop, after a bite to eat at John Scott’s pub. You’ll find the museum perched at the top of the Avenyn, Gothenburg’s version of the Champs-Élysées, in a commanding neo-classical building.
Inside, the collection is far more impressive than you might expect from a city of this size. Alongside truly spectacular Nordic art from the 19th century to the early 20th, including works by Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn, you’ll also find Degas, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Renoir originals.
But that’s just the start. There are also modern and contemporary works, an excellent sculpture collection, and a gallery dedicated to photography, including images by Victor Hasselblad, the man behind Sweden’s legendary camera brand. It’s a museum that rewards casual browsing and deeper exploration, but if you really want to go all in, private guided tours are available.
I made my way to one of Gothenburg’s most striking buildings — Palmhuset. This 19th-century glasshouse in the city’s Garden Society Park (Trädgårdsföreningen) is a peaceful retreat in the heart of the city, just a 15-minute stroll along Avenyn. It’s like stepping into a forgotten world of tropical plants, ferns, and stillness. Slightly deeper into the park is the adjacent Rosarium, where even in early spring, the promise of blooming colour hung in the air. I didn’t stop, but sitting outside Rosenkaféet, the garden’s café, with all the roses in full bloom, would be a spectacularly relaxing way to while away a few hours.
I wandered into Stora Saluhallen, Gothenburg’s grand old food hall. Housed in a beautiful building dating back to the 1880s, this is a paradise for anyone into their food. Inside, stalls overflow with local cheeses, cured meats, fresh seafood, and baked goods. You can sit for a light bite or pick up edible souvenirs to take home. Either way, it’s easy to lose track of time here — a recurring theme in Gothenburg.
Gothenburg’s historical heart, its old city, is compact but full of character — cobbled streets, canals, old warehouses, and a strong Dutch influence from the city’s 17th-century origins. It’s one of those cities where walking feels natural; it’s flat, calm, and refreshingly uncrowded, but there are also excellent public transport facilities, including frequent trams to keep you moving.
Gothenburg Museum of Art: 70 SEK (£5.60)
Trädgårdsföreningen, Palmhuset and Rosarium: Free
Stora Saluhallen: Free
Cars and cuisine
But no visit to Sweden would be complete without a proper fika — that essential Swedish coffee break, but so much more — and I found time to indulge the city’s best at Da Matteo, tucked away in an art-covered courtyard off Magasinsgatan. This place takes its coffee seriously, roasting all its beans on-site every week and serving it with that quiet Scandinavian precision. The buns were just as memorable: cinnamon, cardamom, and, according to the café, baked with lots of Swedish butter and lots of love. Whether or not you believe in baking with emotion, they definitely deliver on flavour.
Refreshed from a morning walk in the sun by coffee and cake, I set about acknowledging the city’s automotive soul. Enter World of Volvo, a new immersive museum-meets-experience centre that pays homage to the brand’s legacy while looking firmly to the future.
As an automotive guy — you’ll find me writing about cars, vans and pickups in all sorts of magazines, newspapers and websites — the history of Volvo is fascinating. There are displays covering its entire existence, from the first ball bearings made by the company — Volvo translates from Latin to ‘I roll’ — through its first cars and trucks, right up to the latest models and futuristic concepts. It’s also found space for its marine and construction products, enveloping you entirely in the brand.
However, this isn’t just a shrine to Swedish cars. Its 22,000 sqm (roughly three times the size of Wembley’s football pitch) is housed under a wooden frame that evokes thoughts of a forest, with three distinct ‘trunks’ supporting the structure of Scandinavia’s largest wooden building. It’s a thoughtful, visually impressive space that explores themes like sustainability, innovation, and design and has enough interactive exhibits to keep everyone entertained — there are adult and kid-sized diggers to play on, wind tunnel simulators, interactive cinema screens and 360-degree virtual boat rides.
After exploring the exhibits, I headed to Ceno Brasserie, Volvo’s on-site restaurant. It’s on the second floor of the open-plan building and blends the clean, modern lines of the venue with a warm, relaxed dining space. Award-winning signature chef Stefan Karlsson brings his global inspiration shaped by Nordic techniques to the fore with a superb range of food. I arrived in time for the weekday buffet lunch, which offered a tempting spread of fish, meat, and vegetarian dishes, devouring the selection on the outdoor terrace, bathed in blazing sunshine.
Whether or not you’re a petrolhead, it’s worth a visit.
Da Matteo: Coffee and cake around 100SEK (£8)
World of Volvo: From 200SEK (£16)
Buffet lunch at Ceno: 149SEK (£12)
Dinner with a difference
My culinary journey in Gothenburg started rather unadventurously with a burger and chips at John Scott’s, a sprawling pub on the Avenyn with outdoor seating bathed in spring sunshine. From then on, I went local.
Dinner on the first night was a highlight in every sense. Heaven 23, on the 23rd floor of the Gothia Towers hotel, combines sky-high views with equally elevated food. The panoramic sweep over Liseberg is impressive, especially when lit up at night, and the restaurant’s dishes were spectacular.
Starting with an All Hands on Deck, a mezcal-based pre-dinner cocktail, I soon selected Heaven 23’s ‘green’ menu. Each of the vegan menu items detailed how much CO2 equivalent has been created per dish, doubling down on the green theme, although with no comparison to other real-world examples, it was ultimately rather redundant.
What wasn’t redundant was the food itself. The starter, fried rosti with comte cheese, truffles and white onion, was spectacularly good, with an almost cheesecake texture filled with flavour. The main course was a colourful feast of asparagus, wild garlic, turnip, carrots, broccoli and more, all in a bold roasted tomato stock. As someone who generally looks towards the steak section of a menu, this was incredibly tasty and impressively filling – I genuinely couldn’t manage it all.
At least not if I was to leave room for the rhubarb sorbet and white chocolate meringue. Despite being presented beautifully, the flavours fell a little flat for me. That said, a friend from Volvo who arrived in time to pilfer some of my dessert said it was superb.
The next night, dinner couldn’t have been more different. Mei Rose is located on the roof of the Grand Curiosa Hotel, which is part of the Liseberg theme park. The lobby is filled with children and families, all clearly having a fabulous time. There are artworks and fanciful curiosities from travels during the 18th century, including huge hanging bird cages, hippo sculptures, piles of travellers’ leather luggage trunks, and enormous, delicately painted vases. A two-storey spiral slide descends into the atrium, topped with an eight-storey tall sculpture that includes mythical birds, beasts, and a giant octopus. If that wasn’t enough, there’s even a 1923 carousel. Loosely themed around an 18th-century, Asian-inspired aesthetic, it’s chaotic but wonderful.
Taking the lift to the restaurant, I sat down as the sun was setting. Mei Rose is an upscale Asian restaurant with a sleek and warm design, mood lighting, and carefully considered details. The food is what really does the talking, offering a fusion of flavours and textures across a comprehensive menu.
Getting the menu right has been something of an experiment. It only opened in April last year, so it took some time to get things right. Little things like the pre-dinner nibbles — peanuts roasted and marinated in soy and garlic — apparently “tasted like shit.” I was assured that the kitchen had got the hang of things now, so I took the Chef’s Choice set menu, at 675 SEK (£49) before drinks.
The dishes started arriving: There was fried aubergine with spicy chilli, sesame and coriander sauce, dim sum pork, spectacularly good deep-fried pork with garlic, tomato, five spice, and ginger, and a subtle Hong Kong-style chicken with black pepper.
And that was just the starters. It was joined by a buttery salad, tofu with Sichuan pepper, more chicken, this time with an excellent bang-bang dressing and cucumber, and cabbage with honey, lemon, peanuts, and Chinkiang black vinegar.
With some sticky rice, all told, I had 11 bowls on my table. This was less a dinner and more a feast. My local Chinese restaurant will serve me a handful of dishes for about £40, but they’re not a patch on what arrived in Mei Rose. Was it good value? I wouldn’t have blinked if two of us dined for £100 and shared what I was served.
Mei Rose might only have been open for 12 months, but on this experience, it’s going to be around for a very long time.
Heaven 23: Set menu and wine pairing from 1,075SEK (£85)
Mei Rose: Chef’s Choice menu 675SEK (£54)
Why Gothenburg?
There’s a Scandinavian ease to Gothenburg. It’s stylish but unpretentious, green without shouting about it, and somehow manages to feel both modern and historic at the same time. Public transport is excellent, everyone speaks flawless English, and there’s a real pride in the city that comes across in quiet, confident ways, whether it’s in the careful curation of a museum or the presentation of a simple cinnamon bun.
It’s also surprisingly compact, meaning you can squeeze a lot into a few days without needing another holiday to recover. Whether you’re into art, food, architecture, or just want to experience a different kind of European city break, Gothenburg punches well above its weight.
Before heading to the airport, I took one last look at Liseberg, the amusement park just across from the hotel. I didn’t have time for a visit this trip, but seeing it from my room at the Gothia Towers — especially lit up at night — gave a sense of the joy and playfulness that seemingly runs through the city. Next time, the rollercoasters are calling.
He is the founder of Huff Media, publisher of Professional Pickup, Professional Van, Average Janes, Average Joes, and CALIBRE. His work focuses primarily on light commercial vehicles, pickups, and real-world vehicle use, with much of his time spent on manufacturer launches, industry events, and long-term vehicle testing.