Tag: Gothenburg

Hostels that I stayed in Stockholm and Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

I don’t basically choose hotels on my solo trips. Since I came to know using hostels when I was about to go to Ireland in 2015, fundamentally the accommodations during my trips are hostels. At that time, I happened to tell my Irish teacher in my university in Japan “I can’t move into the student accommodation right after arrival in Ireland, I think I need to book a hotel room for a few days” and he suggested to me “Why don’t you stay in a hostel? It’s cheaper”, which was the beginning. Since then, I have used hostels wherever I have travelled. (As a student, due to the flight schedules or airports’ locations, occasionally I had no choice but to stay in B&B.)

In the countryside there are more B&B accommodations, and it’s hard to find a hostel whilst in cities (almost) always there are hostels. Of course, there are hostels in Stockholm and Gothenburg. (Of course of “of course”.) In this article, I will talk about the hostels that I used on a trip to Sweden in March, 2022.

Table of Contents

1. Stockholm – Crafoord Place Hostel
     a. Super long on-hold booking
     b. Dusty?
     c. Overall review on Crafoord Place Hostel

2. Gothenburg – Backpackers Göteborg
     a. Location of the Backpackers Göteborg hostel
     b. Facilities in the Backpackers Göteborg hostel
     c. Overall review on the Backpackers Göteborg hostel

★Summary

1. Stockholm – Crafoord Place Hostel

Firstly, I’m going to discuss the hostel in Stockholm. In Stockholm I stayed in the hostel called Crafoord Place Hostel. This was my fourth visit to Stockholm. Depending on dates, times, and situations, the reasonable hostels vary, so this was my first time staying in Crafoord Place Hostel.

a. Super long on-hold booking

I booked Crafoord Place Hostel so as to go to a gig by Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, and yet the gig had been postponed owing to COVID, I had to change the booking dates in Crafoord Place Hostel as well. Initially I booked a bed via Hostelworld, but I directly communicated with Crafoord Place Hostel about putting off the booking.

When changing the booking details, I explained to them “I booked a bed because I planned to go to an event in Stockholm, but the event was postponed, and I don’t know the new date yet” and then they gave me a due date for rebooking for some months.

Before reaching the due date, I contacted Crafoord Place Hostel again, and they gave me another due date for rebooking as it was still in the middle of the pandemic.

After a while, I finally rebooked in 2022. Although it’s Crafoord Place Hostel’s business, they had been waiting for me very patiently. However, since the three-year waiting time made me forget the details of the booking, I thought I would stay in a mixed dormitory, but actually it was a female dormitory. (I was betrayed with my expectation in a good way.)

b. Dusty?

Crafoord Place Hostel was kind of dusty. Or maybe the room where I stayed rather than the entire Crafoord Place Hostel hostel? The room window was always open, and my bed was just under the window. At that time, in Stockholm due to its season, the city was so dusty, and I saw sandstorms several times. Hence, it was dusty in the hostel because of the city environment rather than the uncleanliness of the hostel.

In the hostel I shared a room with some other girls, so while I was out, they opened the window, the dust constantly came into the room. Ah….

c. Overall review on Crafoord Place Hostel

As an overall review to Crafoord Place Hostel, the hostel was okay in my opinion.

The biggest con is that there was no microwave in the kitchen. Also, there were few mags and cutleries either.

The bathroom was not problematic though. There was hot water, and it was clean. However, I needed to look for a hair dryer, but there was anyway.

It was neither good nor bad. However, if a location is crucial for you, maybe Crafoord Place Hostel isn’t for you because Crafoord Place Hostel is located in the centre of Stockholm, but not very close, and moreover, Crafoord Place Hostel is quite far from the old town (gamla stan).

2. Gothenburg – Backpackers Göteborg

In Gothenburg, Istayed in a hostel called Backpackers Göteborg, and yet I honestly don’t remember why I chose this hostel. However, overall the hostel was good, so it was not a bad decision.

a. Location of the Backpackers Göteborg hostel

The Backpackers Göteborg hostel’s location is pretty well. It’s in the centre of Gothenburg, and there are three supermarkets within walking distances. What is better, there was a pharmacy, electronic appliances shop for a rainy day (where I had to buy a cable for my iPhone as it suddenly broke), and tram and bus stops near the hostel.

The con is that it might be hard to find this hostel.

I saw a description like “The address is this, but the location is a bit different!” when I booked. Looking at the map, the Backpackers Göteborg hostel looks like being built together with the next building, but I believe both are the same. When you go to the actual address, you will see the sign board anyway, and you can ask the reception if the building is the Backpackers Göteborg hostel, so it shouldn’t be a big problem anyway.

b. Facilities in the Backpackers Göteborg hostel

The Backpackers Göteborg hostel’s facilities were pretty good too. In the kitchen, there were microwaves, ovens, cookers and lots of dinnerware. (And I accidentally broke one plate…) However, the dining area didn’t seem to welcome a solo traveller in my opinion. The furniture was placed as they had said: please share with other travellers in a friendly way or use it in a group.

The bathrooms in the Backpackers Göteborg hostel were sometimes good and sometimes not so good. In most of the times, it was okay though. The bathroom itself was spacious, which was a good point.

The room I stayed in the Backpackers Göteborg hostel was a female dormitory for 8 women, and each bed had a reading light, socket and curtain. In addition, under the lower beds, there were lockers with the numbers that correspond with each bed’s number. Although having a locker itself was convenient, it seemed like an older (type of) locker, so whenever I or someone opened or closed it, I heard the locker was with

with a creak…

It was very frustrating when I heard it during the sleep.

By the way, the point that a female traveller might be worried about, a hair dryer, was in the dormitory.

c. Overall review on the Backpackers Göteborg hostel

The Backpackers Göteborg hostel should score high in my personal opinion. Hostels can barely have perfect or very high scores, but if there are a couple of or some pros, your evaluation of the hostel would rise. Also, the cleanness of the bathroom is crucial. It affects our opinions and evaluations a lot, I believe.

Personally the biggest advantage was the Backpackers Göteborg hostel’s location, so perhaps those who wish to stay in hostels around the centre of Gothenburg could consider the Backpackers Göteborg hostel as an option.

★Summary

Whilst I don’t have any records or data about Crafoord Place Hostel anymore as the initial booking was too long ago, in the Backpackers Göteborg hostel, it cost around 25 EUR per night. (Yeah, it’s expensive…) Considering this price of a hostel room, hotels cost more, so for budget travellers as well as students hostels are better I guess.

This is kind of out of the topic, but occasionally there are people who think about their ages, and reckon “I’m too old to stay in a hostel”, but I’ve seen a bunch of Russian middle aged old men and women in a hostel in Dublin before, so age doesn’t matter. 👍

Aitäh! 🙂

Västtrafik – a Convenient App for Public Transports in Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When it comes to apps for public transports, some are very convenient, others are user-unfriendly and for which Google maps works better. In Japan, I liked Yahoo Japan’s public transport app, but because almost all of Yahoo-related services have been inaccessible in EEA and the UK since April, 2022, I have not been able to use that app or even its web service from Estonia. From 2022, when I want to visit Japan, it seems Google maps is the only option for me… (Maybe I can access the webpage if I am in Japan, but it’s still inconvenient anyways. Besides, I have changed my iOS app store from Japan to Estonia, so I can’t have the app either or it’s not even in the search results.)

In Tallinn, there is also a similar service and app called pilet.ee, and yet I don’t like it. Occasionally Google maps shows detours, and on such an occasion, I use this app (pilet.ee) to look for faster and easier options. Additionally, maybe this is not only about Tallinn’s transport app – pilet.ee, but I personally want a function to add the travel plan from such an app to the Google calendar app.

Anyway, in Sweden there are also similar services. This time I’m going to talk about only the service in Gothenburg. In Gothenburg, there is a public transport app called Västtrafik in sky blue.

In my opinion, Västtrafik is relatively more user-friendly.

You can buy tickets on the Västtrafik app, and of course on site too. (In trams you can purchase tickets unless the machine is broken. In terms of buses in Gothenburg, unfortunately I cannot say anything specific or make any comments as I didn’t use it.) However, in real life, I experienced both in-app purchase and on-site purchase (in a tram).

Table of Contents
★In-app purchase
★On-site purchase (Trams)

★In-app purchase

I personally recommend you to purchase a ticket in the Västtrafik app as it’s faster and easier. When you open the Västtrafik app, there is a page named “Travel Planning”. Tap there and enter an origin and a destination. In the Västtrafik app, of course you can check stops in the map. Air coaches like Flygbussarna stop in the city centre of Gothenburg, it might be better to check the nearest Västtrafik stop to Flygbussarna’s stop in Gothenburg beforehand.

Once you decide the origin and the destination, the Västtrafik app shows routes. You can also filter the departure or the arrival time, etc in the app. You may see multiple different routes in the screen, but the zone should be more or less the same, so tap one of them, and then you will see the ticket type at the bottom of the screen.

In Västtrafik, “Adult” means those who are 20 years and over, and “Youth” is for those who are 7 to 19 years old. This sort of age difference (like “Adult” or “Youth”) may differ depending on a country or a facility or service, so especially people in their 20’s should check every time. Sometimes, “Adult” is for those who are 26 years old and over, and “Youth” is for under 26, or something like that.

I recommend bearing in mind to use this Travel Planning page while travelling Gothenburg. This is because when I went tog Gothenburg in May, 2023, there were partial construction, and using Google map, I was so late to meet my friend. What was worse, I went somewhere unknown. Using the Västtrafik app, you can arrive at your destination without any problems as Västtrafik shows the real-time information even if the public transports get affected by traffic accidents or constructions.

Once you check the ticket type and set the number of tickets, go next. The Västtrafik app will show the payment method. You can purchase it with an app called Swish there, and yet Swish seems to need to be connected with a bank in Sweden, so most likely travellers cannot use this option.

Paying for the tickets, the purchased tickets become valid immediately. Hence, I would and did purchase one just before the transport came.

However, if you wish to do this, you should register your card in the app, and have a secret note of or remember your card’s security code (CVV, CVC, etc) in advance. In general, it’s quite dangerous to take out your card, and enter private information in public such as at a bus stop, I would say.

After purchasing the tickets, you will see a QR code in the Västtrafik app, but honestly, I don’t still know how to use that QR code. I assume it’s for inspection (only)? I tried scanning it at the machine in the tram, but it didn’t seem to be working. Therefore, I didn’t actually use the QR code.

★On-site purchase (Trams)

For sure you can purchase tickets in a transport unless the ticket machine is broken. (I saw it once in Gothenburg.)

I wanted to obtain a paper ticket, so I bought one in the tram, and found out that it costs 4 SEK (0.40 EUR) more expensive than buying the same ticket in the Västtrafik app. If you care about your travel budget, I would recommend in-app purchase.

In my case, I bought a ticket in the tram at 5 am, so there were few people and it felt relatively safe, but I think it’s a bit dangerous to purchase a ticket in the transport when it’s packed.

Moreover, the machine didn’t have a function to pay by touching a card, but was an old type where you needed to insert your card. After purchasing there, I was like






Jesus, my card doesn’t come out!!




This is the same pattern as ATMs in foreign countries that “absorb” travellers’ cards!!!

But I was wrong. 😂

I just needed to take the card out by hand by myself. 😂 (Thanks to this, I feel my life time got shortened.)

By the way, truth to be told, in Gothenburg, I tried a free ride. 😂 In the tram from Gothenburg Central station to the hostel, I thought “I don’t think anyone notices even if I don’t buy a ticket, don’t they?”, so I did. And it worked 😂

However, particularly in a foreign country, you never know when you will encounter a ticket inspection.

I would recommend not to try. 😉

Aitäh! 🙂

8 Restaurants and Cafes You May Want to Go to in Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Here I will talk about five restaurants and cafes that I went to in Gothenburg. My trip tends to be a budget trip, so those restaurants and cafes are not too expensive to go to. While I was writing this article, I kind of missed gelato in Gothenburg as in Estonia the temperature finally marked over 30 degrees and it was the end of June, 2022.

I wandered around Gothenburg only for two days, hence this article introduces only five restaurants and cafes. However, of course you can find more international or Swedish and/or fancy restaurants and cafes if you look in Gothenburg.

Table of Contents

     1. Gothenburg
          a. Bönor & Bagels
          b. Gelaterian Göteborg
          c. Ramen-Ya
          d. Manniny
          e. The Elephant
          f. Café Linné
          g. Café Husaren
          h. Botaniska Paviljongen
     1. Malmö
          a. Smörrebröd By Freda
     ★Summary

Gothenburg

a. Bönor & Bagels

Bönor & Bagels is apparently a bagel cafe. In Estonia, you can hardly get bagels, so quite often when I travel to some other countries, I eat bagels. When I visited Ireland in March 2019, I had a bagel there too. However, I still think the one in Riga was the most amazing ever.

b. Gelaterian Göteborg

When I travelled in Gothenburg, it was quite warm, and the weather was pretty nice, so I felt like having something sweet and cold, so I headed to a gelato shop called Gelaterian Göteborg by walking for 20 minutes (as an exercise).

This is extra information, but while walking there, I was simultaneously looking for an ATM, but there was nothing on the way. Then I found a 7-Eleven in front of the gelato shop, so silk or swim, I looked for an ATM there. I found one there, and withdrew 500 SEK, paying 40 SEK + around 2 EUR. (This means that there were two transaction fees.) I actually brough 80 SEK (approx. 8 EUR), but the bagel shop wasn’t able to accept a card payment, plus for some reason I couldn’t pay by touching a card at a supermarket near the hostel, I withdrew around 50 EUR.

At Gelaterian Göteborg, I couldn’t find what I wanted to try, so I chose alternatives, and yet the alternative options were tasty enough. I chose brynt (something like caramel or toffee), and strawberry with lime. Thank god, I could pay by card touch. It was the middle of the weekdays, but there was a queue in front of the gelato shop. I also found a small hill near the shop, so I would recommend you to go there to have gelato when the weather is nice. (I did this too.)

c. Ramen-Ya

Ramen-Ya is a Japanese noodle (ramen) restaurant, and it literally means “a ramen restaurant” in Japanese. I’m not a huge fan of ramen, but as I searched there online, I found that they had Tantanmen which I cannot eat in Estonia, and is probably quite extraordinary even in other bigger european countries. For this menu, I chose Ramen-Ya. I could get one seat as I was travelling by myself, but if you go there with a group of more than 2 people, it seems to be better to book a table in advance.

I selected Tantanmen as I had originally thought, and yet the spicy soup went to my trachea, so I had a physical agony for a while.

I don’t usually eat all the soup in ramen, but since this restaurant’s soup was not too salty, I could finish it all. If you wish, you can add garlic as they serve a bowl of garlic and a masher too, but I didn’t add any. (By the way, if you are a ramen lover, and always/often eat all the soup in ramen, this action may actually make your body unable to eat ramen itself eventually, so it’s not good. The source is in Japanese.)

d. Manniny

Since I realised I had not had coffee at all while staying in Sweden, and I got physically so tired due to walking too much, I went to a cafe called Manniny to sit and relax.

It’s a really small cafe, but there are around three seats outside. When I went there, all of them were taken, and thought maybe the noise of trams would bother me, so I took one seat inside.

When I went to Sweden this time, it was relatively warm although it was still March, I felt like having something refreshing like veggies. However, all the sandwiches available here were quite big, and I didn’t want that a lot. Hence, I decided to have a piece of a daily cake (which does not sound refreshing) and a cup of coffee called lungo. (Lungo is said to be espresso coffee but with double the amount of water.)

Also, although at that time I didn’t know the name, I found a small sweet that is often found in Gothenburg and Malmö. I wanted to have tried though. (Later I googled, and found the name was dammsugare which is a Swedish sweet. I didn’t know how it looked.)

I didn’t plan to go to this cafe, but it was pretty cosy, and a nice place.

e. The Elephant

For the last supper in Gothenburg, I went to an Indian restaurant called The Elephant. Later I found it seemed to be a local chain restaurant.

Initially I thought “Eastern African cuisine sounds tasty.” → “But it’s far from the hostel by walk, I don’t want to walk anymore.” → “I want to try Lebanon cuisine.” → “It feels awkward to enter there.” → “Oh, there is an Indian restaurant (The Elephant), I’m going there.”

This is how I decided to go there.

Of course you can have Indian cuisine in Tallinn, but since quite often it’s almost impossible or pretty expensive to eat lamb there, I enjoyed it in Gothenburg.

Estonia has lots of global businesses, and more immigrants have come, but in terms of international foods, it is unsatisfactory yet, and you can barely get anything amazing unless you go to some other big international cities in other countries in my opinon.

f. Café Linné

Café Linné is a cafe in Gothenburg, and they open at 8.30 am. I went to Café Linné to have some breakfast (I went there in 2023).

They have breakfast menus, but they also accept other general orders. Iin my opinion, a Swedish shrimp sandwich is a must-eat when going to the seaside in Sweden. I have eaten it once in Malmö in 2022, and it was as small as a palm so I expected the similar one in Café Linné, and yet they gave me a huge shrimp sandwich! 😂

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According to my friend in Sweden, that’s the normal size. 😂

They have the English menu somewhere so ask them if you need it. In my case, I could read the Swedish menu, but I couldn’t understand what the staff member was talking about to me in Swedish. So when she asked me if I needed the English menu, in English, I naturally responded in English. I’m not confident enough to speak Swedish yet.

As for the shrimp sandwich, there are lots of shrimps on the plate, so I recommend having it. The price might be normal in Sweden though it cost 170 SEK (14 EUR).

g. Café Husaren

Cinnamon buns are pretty famous in northern Europe including Sweden. If you go to Gothenburg, I recommend Café Husaren and trying their cinnamon buns!

This is because their cinnamon buns are giant!!!!!

The size is three or four times bigger than a regular-sized cinnamon bun.

I recommend having one cinnamon bun in Café Husaren with more than one person as you cannot eat it all by yourself unless you have a very sweet tooth. However, should you go there by yourself and not be able to eat all the cinnamon bun alone, no worries, you can get a bag for that if you ask a waiter there.

I tried to eat their cinnamon bun, dividing it into two times, but it was still too sweet to finish it all…. It tasted good though.

In Café Husaren, there are also some Swedish sweets such as dammsugare or princess cake, but they don’t look traditional. It’s fun to see them so that could be your purpose too.

Café Husaren is located in the Haga district which is just like a regular old town in Europe. (Well, at least for me who has lived in Tallinn…)

And here’s one tip when travelling in Sweden.

When ordering a normal black coffee at a cafe in Sweden, you may see the word “påtår”. It means another cup of coffee, and in the countryside, sometimes påtår is free. I guess they have this because of their coffee break culture called “fika”.

h. Botaniska Paviljongen

If you get physically tired of walking in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, let’s take a break. There’s a cafe called Botaniska Paviljongen.

Their menu is nothing special and they don’t have a lot of options, but in Botaniska Paviljongen in summer, you can have some iced coffee. What is better, if the weather is nice, you can relax, surrounded by plants and flowers. 

They accepted only card payments.

2. Malmö

a. Smörrebröd By Freda

Smörrebröd By Freda is a sandwich cafe/restaurant in Malmö. Their sandwiches are not like ones you can get at a supermarket or somewhere but open sandwiches. You can choose either take away or eat at Smörrebröd By Freda. If you choose to eat in, there are some seats (with charging sockets!) around Smörrebröd By Freda, so you can eat there.

Smörrebröd By Freda has several options of sandwiches, and everything costs the same except a shrimp sandwich which was 10 SEK more expensive than others. (But I believe shrimps are relatively expensive everywhere in general.) It seems in Malmö shrimp sandwiches are quite well-known, and when I googled Malmö foods online, I saw shrimp sandwiches multiple times in search results. Therefore, I could not help but to choose the shrimp sandwich. At Smörrebröd By Freda one sandwich cost 30 SEK, and the shrimp sandwich cost 40 SEK, but if I bought a set of three, it cost 89. However, I chose the shrimp sandwich, it (a set of three sandwiches) was 99 SEK (as of March 2022). When I looked up Smörrebröd By Freda’s website now, one sandwich is now 48 SEK, one shrimp sandwich costs 65 SEK. The prices have been drastically increasing everywhere….

In addition to the shrimp sandwich, I selected a sandwich with Prosciutto ham as I like it, and a sandwich with chicken curry which I usually don’t choose.  The one with chicken curry didn’t taste like curry that much. Although it cost around 10EUR for only three sandwiches, it was Malmö in Sweden where basically everything is expensive, and actually the sandwiches were pretty tasty, it’s all good.

I went to only Smörrebröd By Freda for eating as I went to Malmö for a day trip, so I have no idea about other restaurants or cafes, but I would recommend you to try Smörrebröd By Freda’s sandwiches when you go to Malmö.

★Summary

As described in the other article about the places to visit in Gothenburg, where I wandered in Gothenburg is merely a part of Gothenburg. Therefore, there are many more shops, restaurants and cafes.

When you go to Gothenburg, you may go to one of the places above, and/or you may look for something you like better.

But be careful with places with low rates and negative reviews!

Aitäh! 🙂

9 Places Where You Should Go in Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Last modified: 17 June 2023

Tere!

Gothenburg is called the second biggest city in Sweden. It is quite far from Stockholm and more like close to Denmark. Although it is called the second biggest city, if you compare like Tokyo vs. Osaka, or New York vs. Los Angeles, etc, you might get disappointed. However, there are still several places to visit for tourists. Here I introduce 7 places in Gothenburg that you might enjoy, where I went in March, 2022.

Table of Contents

     1. Botanical garden
     2. Skottsskogen
     3. Gothenburg Museum of Natural History
     4. Oskar Fredrik Church
     5. Skansen Kronan
     6. Haga district
     7. Inom Vallgraven
     8. Amusement park: Liseberg
     9. Bohus Fortress
     10. My personal opinions (as of 2022)
     ★Summary

1. Botanical garden

This botanical garden has been established based on donation. I went there at the end of March, and considering the month with the climate (in Japan), people might imagine there are lots of colourful flowers, but you know, here is a Scandinavian country, of course there was nothing.

However, the area is pretty vast. Some parts were under construction, but it seemed there was a Japanese garden if possible to access.

I reckon that I could enjoy various plants and flowers in summer, staying there for a longer time. By the way, I am writing this article in May, 2022, and I have been in Tallinn since 2017, but I have still not been to the botanic garden in Tallinn yet.

However, in May 2023, I could finally visited the Gothenburg Botanical Garden in a lively atmosphere!

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It was brilliant as every flower bloomed so beautifully! There is also a cafe in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, which I mention in this article.

I wanted to donate this time, but I couldn’t find a donation box or anything. It appeared that I had to ask a store clerk near the botanical garden’s entrance, but it was impossible for me to do so as I have a communication disorder…

The Gothenburg Botanical Garden leads to the woods, where is very few people if you go there. If it’s dark, it’s scary. Since there are lots of trees, as a traveller I felt insecure though it was still bright during the day time. I didn’t see any big animals like bears though. I only saw little birds. As there were some feeding boxes for birds, people go and walk there, it seemed.

2. Skottsskogen

Skottsskogen is located in the opposite of the botanical garden. It’s a super vast park.

There was a small bush maze too. (I enjoyed it, but I’m pretty sure, it was for kids.)

I saw something like a small waterfall in the map of Skottsskogen, and wanted to see it, but it appeared to be there only in summer as there was no green, no water.

I think it would be fun to have a picnic there since Skottsskogen is very large. Also you may get satisfied just by walking around there.

3. Gothenburg Museum of Natural History

Gothenburg Museum of Natural History is located in the area of Skottsskogen. No admission fee is required. The displays were too real and creepy at some point (because of my imaginativeness). There are a number of displays of animals in real sizes, and I thought “they seem to be about to move”’.

By the way, I like a series of movies called “Night at the Museum”.

Reference

4. Oskar Fredrik Church

I was walking around the hostel, and accidentally found some nice church, which is Oscar Fredrik Church. It looked great so I took a picture.

I realised, however, I prefer castles to churches.

5. Skansen Kronan

Skansen Kronan means “Crown Sconce” in English, and appears to have been built in the 17th century.

Skansen Kronan is located on the top of the hill next to Haga district. (It felt like a mountain since I have lived in Estonia for a while, where there is basically no mountain.) The incline was pretty steep, and since I have got used to the topography of Estonia, it was hard to reach there.

Some cannons are outside, and when Skansen Kronan was built, it is said that there were 23 cannons (according to Wikipedia).

The door of Skansen Kronan was open, so I wanted to sneak in, but I thought: if I got shut from the outside, I couldn’t go outside. Therefore, I didn’t go and see the inside. (How imaginative…)

There was a group of primary school kids with a couple of teachers for a fieldwork of a history class or something. Also the local people seemed to use that area for walking with their dogs.

Since Skansen Kronan is on the top of the hill, I was able to look out over the whole town. There are also bushes and trees around Skansen Kronan, so maybe in summer the view is covered, but I was happy to go there and see the view.

6. Haga district

I also went to Haga district. It was still 10 am when I went there, so there were lots of stores and shops which were not open yet. Stereotypical souvenir shops are in Haga district, where you could buy postcards and magnets with the designs of Gothenburg or Sweden.

I used to buy postcards (for myself) and magnets (for my family) wherever I travelled, but I thought perhaps I should stop this collecting habit, so I didn’t buy any this time. I would consider this decision as a new chapter of my travel history from 2020’s (although 2 years have already passed).

By the way, I always and also collected stamps of the places that I went to in the last pages of my passport which I could never reach even by spending 10 years. However, I stopped this as well. Within the Schengen area, you cannot get entry stamps, so I often get stamps at information centres, but I gave up looking for an information centre in Malmö, and I realised I couldn’t do it completely, so I stopped. On the other hand, I also think I could continue this tradition.

7. Inom Vallgraven

Inom Vallgraven area is located in the north of Haga district. Inom Vallgraven looked more modern, and seemed like a shopping area. There was a market though it wasn’t so large, but there were restaurants, cheese shops and butchers. In the tea shop there, I found lingonberry-flavoured chocolate of Malmö’s brand, which did not seem to be sold in Estonia. I think it cost 30 SEK per 100g. (Before this travel, I asked my boyfriend whether he had something he wanted from Sweden, and he was like “What are Swedish things that we can’t get in Estonia lol”, so I told myself “Alright, then I’m gonna find something Swedish that we can’t get in Estonia lol”. That is why I was looking for something Swedish while travelling.

In Inom Vallgraven, there were fashion brands that you don’t see in Estonia, or shops that sell only products with liquorice. (Once you enter this shop, you smell only liquorice. I found one branch (?) shop in Haga district too. I’m not a fan so I didn’t buy any, but I do believe my Dutch friends would love them.)

8. Amusement park: Liseberg

In order to learn Swedish, I had used an app called HelloTalk, where I met a Swedish-Syrian girl. We went to an amusemen park called Liseberg (/liseberi/)! Liseberg is not open every day, so if you want to go there, check their opening days beforehand.

She bought two tickets: for me an for her. It cost 395 SEK (around 34 EUR at that time). The price also varies, depending on the date and season.

Liseberg has lots of attractions from roller coasters to spinning attractions! However, half of the attractions in Liseberg are for kids, so there were both many adults and kids in Liseberg. There were some shooting games as well.

Plus, I had been used to queueing in Universal Studios Japan and Disney Resort Tokyo, so I felt very comfortable to wait in Liseberg as the waiting times were so short! On average I think it was 30 minutes. Though it was a Sunday and public holiday, and I thought there were a number of people in Liseberg when seeing the queues in front of the gates, perhaps because of many attractions, we didn’t spend a lot of time for queueing, and rode various attractions.

I recommend a ferris wheel in Liseberg as you can see the town of Gothenburg and take a break.

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Also we went three round there for some reason. 😂

I was a bit surprised how teh Swedes “queue”. Some Japanese people would feel a culture shock there, I guess because we queue more properly, not randomly.

Lastly, keep in mind that spinning attractions might affect your semicircular canals. (Although I din’t vomite, I needed a break time once in a while 😂)

9. Bohus Fortress

The Bohus Fortress is located a bit far from the centre of Gothenburg, and yet you can go there easily by taking Gothenburg buses.

I had not known about the Bohus Fortress before. When I asked chatGPT where to go in Gothenburg, and it suggeseted me the Bohus Fortress. 😂

A ticket for an adult cost 120 SEK (around 10 EUR at that time). It was a reasonable price, and it was worth it as the Bohus Fortress was quite big.

The opening hours vary depending on the season, so check their website in advance. You might also need a translation machine because the website is partially not translated to English.

If you have noticed my interest when travelling, you might guess something. Certainly the Bohus Fortress also had a chamber of torture or something. However, it was so dark though I went there at 11 am, and I was too chicken to go in the chamber, and there was no one around me, so I gave it up… I wanted to see the inside tho!!

The Bohus Fortress has some small attractions for kids, too.

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Whilst I was not able to complete the entire mission, I was satisfied enough with going there.

10. Personal opinions

This is an extra story, but while I am travelling by myself, I usually listen to music with my earphones. In both Gothenburg and Malmö, I had a pair of earphones while wandering around in towns, but I didn’t use them at all.

I listen to music for fun or preparation for a convert while travelling/being outside, but the biggest purpose/reason is to shut out the sounds from outside.

I have ASD, and I am hypersensitive to sounds and voices with difficulties in handling some types of sounds.

I get overwhelmed with the sounds of a hoover, traffic (especially on a rainy day), a coffee machine and so on.Therefore, when going outside, to “get rid of” the sounds of outsides I listen to music, and yet in Gothenburg and Malmö I didn’t need to do.

In the case of a hoover and a coffee machine (for example, in the office), sounds are inevitable, so I just bear with it. Besides, in such a situation, I cannot have a proper conversation because I cannot distinguish the sounds and people’s voices. (This means that I hear all the types of voices and sounds at the same level. For instance the sound level of a hoover is 5 out of 10 in a room, the voice of a person who is in the same room is 5 out of 10 as well.)

In Gothenburg, when walking along the tram lines, and it was running beside me, I felt uncomfortable with the sounds, particularly from the old model of a tram. However, as I didn’t walk on such streets that often, I was alright.

Of course there were cars on the roads, but I felt there were less cars than in Tallinn, and I felt fine in a huge street.

Even in Tallinn the earphones are a must-have item for me, so I got the impression that I could live more comfortably in Gothenburg than in Tallinn.

★Summary

In conclusion, those 7 places are where you could go in Gothenburg!

However, I believe I went to only the centre of Gothenburg, and I wished I could have been to the northern part beyond the river, or an amusement park called Liseberg with friends. In addition, I believe these 7 places can be recommended to especially those who have a budget-trip plan (although it doesn’t mean that those who have more budgets shouldn’t go.)

Aitäh! 🙂

From Gothenburg to Malmö (How to Book Tickets in Omio)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When visiting Malmö, I took a train, and since I booked tickets by using a platform called Omio, I will explain how to book tickets there. Omio is a transport booking platform where you can book tickets for coaches, trains as well as flights available in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. You may use either the web app or the mobile app. (I always have the iOS app on my phone.)

Table of Contents
1. Search
 2. Select a type of transport
 3. Choose time
 4. Select another time for the return ticket when needing round tickets
 5. Review the ticket/s
 6. Select a class and/or additional fare
 7. Enter passenger details
 8. Choose a payment method
 9. Confirm the ticket/s

1. Search

This is the first step. Search tickets by selecting a start, a destination, and date/s. By default it should show only one-way, so if you need a return ticket, you should set “Round-trip”/

2. Select a type of transport

You can see a list of available tickets. From Gothenburg to Malmö, only (?) trains and buses are available. I chose trains in fact as it was cheaper.

3. Choose time

After selecting the type of transport, you need to choose time (and a kind of train if you want). I chose SJ, so I show the similar one in the screenshot as well.

4. Select another time for the return ticket when needing round tickets

When it comes to a round-trip, you can choose the return ticket after selecting the start ticket. Some additionally cost, others don’t. Since I (still) have a habit of behaving as if I were a very poor student, I chose the one that did not cost. (Besides, even in terms of time, it was the best choice.)

5. Review the ticket/s

After selecting time, you can go next, and review your ticket/s.

6. Select a class and/or additional fare

You may change information about a class of the train or fare by tapping “Edit ticket”. (I obviously didn’t do it.)

7. Enter passenger details

Enter the passenger details, making sure the travel time.

8. Choose a payment method

Finally the payment. If everything is alright, tap “Pay”.

9. Confirm the ticket/s

Ticket/s will be sent to your email address shortly, but also you can check from the app. (I prefer this way as you don’t need to print out so it is ecological and you will have less stuff when travelling.)

The screenshot has tickets in the different tab (“Archived”) because those were used, but unused tickets are shown in “Upcoming”.

If you tap the travel plan, you can see the details, and check out the train number and so on.

You can also open a ticket in a PDF file by tapping “Download Ticket PDF” (which button may be called differently in the mobile app). (Be careful, two tickets are in one PDF file if you have tickets for a round trip.)

I guess such information can be easily found in Omio’s website, but I summarised anyway. I believe there is nothing difficult.

Aitäh! 🙂