G%C3%B6teborg

Göteborg, also known as Gothenburg in English, is the second largest city of Sweden with a half a million inhabitants.

The city is situated on the west coast by the mouth of the Göta Älv, the river divides the city into two halves. The harbor of Göteborg is the largest of the Nordic countries and it's a strong characteristic of the city. Outside of the city, in the Kattegatt, lies the archipelago with a large amount of beautiful islands.

Emergency Information

Hospitals, rape crisis units, police, embassies and consulates and hostels

Göteborg in CouchSurfing

The Göteborg Group

The group currently consists of around 500 members, from the city of Göteborg and its surroundings. Join to meet the people of Göteborg and take part in the events and activities arranged there.

City Ambassador

At the moment there is one city ambassador for the city of Göteborg:

Tota & Fhein

Ideally there should be 1 City Amb to 250 CS Members and 1 Country Amb to 7 City Ambs.

Göteborg with 1488 members has currently a ratio of 1488 members per city ambassador. 4 more ambassadors would bring the ratio to 297 per ambassador

CS Member's What To Do In Göteborg

Daily itineraries, top-lists...

CS Göteborg Meetings

The Göteborg CS flag created by Klara from The Karlsson Family	July 2007 CS Göteborg meeting	July 2007 CS Göteborg meeting	November 2007 CS Göteborg meeting
November 2007 CS Göteborg meeting	February 2008 CS Göteborg meeting	February 2008 CS Göteborg meeting	March 2008 CS Göteborg goes World Culture
March 2008 CS Göteborg goes World Culture	March 2008 CS Göteborg goes World Culture	March 2008 CS Göteborg goes World Culture	March 2008 CS Göteborg goes World Culture

Göteborg Treasure Hunt

We had our first treasure hunt in July 2008.
The prices were a two-day Göteborg Pass each, sponsored by Göteborg & Co

The teams were: The Missing Fingers, The Pirates of Couches and Götebörsen.
The Pirates won the treasure with 62 points and The Missing Fingers came second with 61 points. We also had a contest in making the best entrance-ticket to the price-ceremony which Emelie won!

At Gustav Adolfs Square before the race	The Pirates of Couches	At the starting line	Gustav Adolf looking down on the teams trying to guide them in the right direction
Götebörsen and The Missing Fingers	Pssst* The clue is right behind you	Götebörsen were the first team to find the lunch spot	Lunch at "Restaurang Tabla" in the Museum of World Culture
While the teams run around town some of us try to organize the evening	At Lilla Bommen	Boatride in the habour - 'The lipstick' in the background

Sights & Attractions

Skansen Kronan

Apart from being a beautiful city with lots of green spaces and a pleasant architecture there are some major attractions that are worth coming to Göteborg to see.

Liseberg - Largest Amusement Park in the Nordic Countries, home to one of the world's most famous wooden rollercoaster, Balder. Balder was voted the best ride of 2003 and 2005 and aquired second place in 2006 by USHSO.

Universeum - Göteborgs Science Center

Hotel Viking Barker Experience - The boat Viking Barker was built in 1906 and is permanently trapped in Göta Älv after the construction of the new Älvs bridge (because the mast of the ship is higher than the height of the bridge). They have a restaurant and an affordable place to stay, between a hostel and a hotel - from SEK350pp. Very central, Lilla Bommen.

The Ship Gotheborg - An East Indian mans project to reconstruct a ship that sunk in 1745 after a 2 year voyage to China. The ship is traveling along the West Coast of Sweden in the month of July 2007, you can find the schedule here. If you are visiting in August 2007, you might want to visit this beauty!

Skansen Kronan Together with Skansen Lejonet it was one of the military facilities built to defend the city of Göteborg. It was built in the late 17th century. However, the canons were never used and the building was disarmed around 1806, later it was used as a jail. In 1904 it was made into a military museum which in 2004 was closed. Today it can be hired for weddings, conferences and other events. Walking up the stairs of skansberget (the hill where Skansen Kronan is situated) is definitely worth it on a sunny day, from there one can get a splendid view of the city. If you have time it might be nice to have a pick-nick on the grass surrounding it.

Nature and Gardens

Slöttskogen - Big patch of park with a free zoo. You can play golf-frisbee, barbecue, picnic or simply lie on the grass. Very child-friendly.

Trädgårds Föreningen - A botanical garden in the middle of the city near Kungsportsplatsen, in front of Stora Teatern. It has a greenhouse (with exotic plants) and a beautiful rose garden.

Botaniska Trädgården - Gothenburg botanical garden. A place worth visiting to get to know the plants.

Museums

Göteborg City Museum - Art pieces predominantly from Nordic countries of the 19th century.

Hasselblad Center - One of the most important photography forums in Sweden, emphasis on contemporary photography. Adjacent to Göteborg City Museum.

Museum of World Culture - Not the typical entological museum, it will change the way you see the world.

Röhsska Museum - Design and Decorative art museum

Natural History Museum - If you are biologically inclined science junkie, you might want to visit a huge collection of stuffed animal, bones, insects, etc. Visit the world's only complete stuffed Blue whale and a lot of evolution related materials.

Maritime Museum - Floating museum, you walk on 'planks' to reach the next battleship! According to their website, they have 19 vessels (ship, boat and barges) of which my favorite is the magnificent destroyer named Småland. It is located near Lilla Bommen and Nordstan.

Sports

Two Gothenburg teams playing in premier division Allsvenskan

IFK Göteborg

GAIS

Watch the games at Ullevi

Main ishockey team

Frölunda Indians

Watch the games at Scandinavium

Events

January/Februari

Göteborg Film Festival - The biggest film festival in Scandinavia, non-mainstream films.

April

Göteborg Horse Show Annual Horse Show. Voted best indoor horse show in the world by International Jumping riders in 2006.

May 17th

Göteborgsvarvet Gothenburg Marathon

May/June

Hammarkullekarnevalen Gothenburgs carneval May 30th - June 1st

Mid July

Gothia Cup - The world's biggest youth cup. Youth soccer teams from 124 different countries meet every summer in Gothenburg for the Gothia Cup. A multicultural party and soccer to bring the world together.

Mid August

Göteborg Culture Festival - Concerts, dancing, food, beer and a ton of other activities within the city center.

Useful Links

Official Guide to Göteborg - This is a great site to find out tons of different things about what is going on in Göteborg, all from the beautiful parks to the night life events.

YellowPages-in Swedish - For some weird reasons, you might need a hostel (vandrarhem), local dentist (tandläkare), doctor (läkare), a visit to the emergency room (akuten), flowers (blommor) etc. In Vad type in the keyword and Var type Göteborg or other name of place. But if you are really have an emergency, call the Emergency number, 112 on your mobilephone.

What happens in Gothenburg (in Swedish) concerts, lectures, exhibitions and sports

Transport

Airports & Airport transportation

Göteborg City Airport (Old Säve Airport) - Growing International Airport within the city boundaries

Landvetter Airport - Largest and closest international airport

Flygbussarna/Airport buses - You can find airport bus connection and schedule here

Train

Svenska Järnvägar/Swedish Railway

Norwegian Railway Company - faster and cheaper than SJ to get from Göteborg to Oslo

Long distance buses

Säfflebussen Express Bus - Cheap buses out of Göteborg, good connection to Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen

Swebus Express - Buses out of Göteborg, to major cities for as low as SEK49, limited seats of course

Låvprisexpress-in Norwegian - Very cheap ticket (As low as NOK49) between Göteborg-Oslo, Oslo-Bergen, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Copenhagen

Local Transportation

Västtrafik - Local public transport network page. You can find bus, ferry, tram and local train here

Others

Greenstreet-in Swedish - No better way to see the city, than with greentransportation, bicycle! You need a Swedish mobile phone to be able to borrow a bicycle for under SEK100 for 24 hours.

StenaLine-in Swedish - If you have too much time and in acute need of cheaper alcohol beverages, take a ferry to Fredrikshavn, Denmark from Göteborg.