Enjoy life right Next to Gothenburg

This itinerary starts close to Gothenburg and travels towards Alingsås, but it works just as well in the opposite direction.

Take your time - stay a few days at each stop.

Stop 1:

Start at Gunnebo House and Gardens

Begin at Gunnebo House and Gardens in Mölndal, a beautifully restored 18th-century house set among formal gardens, an English park, and a large cultural reserve.

Produce from Gunnebo’s organic kitchen garden informs the seasonal menu in the café, restaurant, and bakery, from lunch dishes to cakes and pastries.

Wander through the formal gardens and their different green rooms, then follow the paths through the English park to the viewpoint at Flora’s Hill. For a longer walk, head into the cultural reserve, with its deciduous woodland, lakes, and dramatic rocky outcrops.

Before leaving, browse the shop for heritage seeds, garden tools and accessories, pantry treats, and craftwork from small-scale producers.

Nearest stop: Gunnebo Park

 

 Stop for lunch at Poppels Öl & Mat  

If there is a beer enthusiast in the car, Jonsered is an obvious place to stop for lunch. Poppels Öl & Mat sits right beside the brewery, with a menu built around bringing beer and food together. Each dish is chosen to complement the beer – rather than leaving it to play its usual supporting role beside the plate.

More gardens and fika in Jonsered

Just over a kilometre away is Jonsered Gardens, a restored 19th-century manor garden where organic growing and biodiversity take centre stage.

Stroll through the formal garden, kitchen garden, English rose garden, show garden, and romantic folly. Afterwards, stop for fika or a light lunch at Jonsereds Trädgårdskafé, where the menu follows the seasons and has a strong focus on organic ingredients.

Nearest stop: Jonsereds Station

 

 Eleven gardens over 3.6 kilometres – welcome to Växtrum in Lerum

Still not gardened out? Continue to Växtrum in Lerum, where eleven imaginative garden rooms are dotted along a leafy 3.6-kilometre walk beside the River Säveån.

Created by well-known garden designers working with local volunteers, the gardens transform overlooked corners of central Lerum into small green worlds of their own.

Nearest stop: Lerum Station

 

Check in at Nääs Fabriker

After a day of exploring, checking in at Nääs Fabriker in Tollered will feel like a real treat. The former 19th-century cotton mill has been transformed into a hotel and destination in its own right while retaining much of its industrial character.

Enjoy the view across Lake Sävelången, take a dip from the jetty, and then warm up in the sauna or one of the outdoor hot tubs. There’s also a gym, for anyone who somehow still has energy to spare.

Leave time to visit the historic village and browse the shops around the old mill complex, where you’ll find fashion, home décor, jewellery, delicacies, and plenty of things you didn’t know you needed until you saw them.

Round off the day with dinner at Fabriksköket as the sun sets over Lake Sävelången.

Nearest stop: Nääs fabriker

Stop 2:

 Onwards to Nääs Castle

After breakfast at Nääs Fabriker, make the short journey to neighbouring Nääs, Sweden’s best-preserved late-19th-century estate.

The house remains much as it was during the final decades of the 1800s, with richly furnished rooms and an extensive collection of art and objects. Book a guided tour to uncover the stories behind the estate and the people who lived here.

Nääs is also home to its historic School of Crafts, which once attracted teachers and students from around the world. Today, you can visit the craft gallery and building conservation centre, browse the shop, or perhaps be tempted by one of the courses.

Nearest stop: Lilla Nääs

 

Fika and shop in Alingsås

Continue to Alingsås, where cafés and bakeries have been part of town life since the 18th century. That long tradition is still thriving today, earning Alingsås its reputation as Sweden’s capital of fika.

Choose from favourites such as Nolbygårds Ekobageri, Ekstedts Bageri & Café, and Nygrens Café, then browse the small shops and historic streets of the town centre. The real challenge is resisting the argument that visiting several cafés counts as cultural research, and there are new places to try every year.

Nolhaga Park is an easy walk from the centre, with old trees, gardens, ponds, bridges, and paths leading towards Lake Mjörn. Don’t miss Kongo, an alder swamp forest left largely to develop on its own. A boardwalk takes you through this periodically flooded woodland and into the Nolhagaviken nature reserve.

If you have time, make a detour to the park surrounding Gräfsnäs castle ruins, about a 25-minute drive from Alingsås. Here, you can picnic, swim, and stretch out beside Lake Anten. Visit in spring, when large parts of the park are carpeted with wood anemones.

Check in to Grand Hotel Alingsås

Then check in at Grand Hotel Alingsås. Built in 1911, the hotel has been carefully renovated while retaining many of its original details.

Alongside the history, you’ll find all the comforts required after a full day of fika and exploring, including a sauna, gym, yoga studio, and restaurant.

Nearest stop: Alingsås Station

Stop 3:

 On to Öijared Resort

If someone has a golf bag in the car boot, Öijared Resort is an essential stop. Set on a green peninsula between lakes Mjörn and Sävelången, it is Sweden’s largest golf facility, with three 18-hole courses and a nine-hole multisport course for golf, footgolf, and disc golf.

Each course has its own layout and character, so keen golfers could easily spend several days here without feeling that they are repeating themselves. The hotel has a spa and the area has plenty of beautiful walking trails for those not interested in swinging sticks all day.

The architecture is as distinctive as the golf. At the heart of the hotel is Gert Wingårdh’s award-winning building, partially buried in the hillside so that it almost disappears into the landscape. Inside, the dramatic yet cosy spaces rise from the reception and golf shop to the restaurant and lounges above.

After a day on the course, or exploring the surroundings, settle down for dinner in the restaurant, where Nordic flavours and local ingredients are at the heart of the menu.

Stop 4:

End the trip with a long, lazy breakfast

The perfect end to a road trip with this much packed into it? A long, lazy breakfast, of course.

Settle in over Öijared’s generous breakfast buffet and look back over the past few days. Which garden, café, hotel, or country estate are you already planning to return to?