Anyone "done" the Gotakanal?

[Desiderata]

Having recently retired, my wife and I are looking at lots of short trips away to see a bit of the world.
Latest idea is for a traverse of Sweden along the Gotakanal.
Possibly walking, cycling or boating or maybe a combination of all three.
We're thinking it should be about a week, summertime and staying in small hotels/B&Bs along the way. Easiest way for us to get there ( from southern Scotland) looks to be flying from Edinburgh to Copenhagen then train or hire car up to Gothenburg.
Anyone have any experience or advice?

[Traffic]

Should you be willing to use Ryan Air, they have flights to Gothenburg from Edinburgh so that would save some significant journey time, but the rain ride up from Denmark is also very pleasant and comfortable.

[Harpoon]

I've flown Manchester > Copenhagen > Gothenburg for work and that was fine.

However, last year we went to Copenhagen and I'd seriously consider flying there, then picking up the train. The airport has it's own station and you can get a direct train (hourly IIRC) direct to Gothenburg.

[Traffic]

Harpoon said:

I've flown Manchester > Copenhagen > Gothenburg for work and that was fine.

However, last year we went to Copenhagen and I'd seriously consider flying there, then picking up the train. The airport has it's own station and you can get a direct train (hourly IIRC) direct to Gothenburg.

Correct direct train up the west coast of Sweden is available from the station underneath Copenhagen airport, works very smoothly most of the time

[Time4another]

Have a yearly trip to a small town that's a 2hr train ride from Gothenburg. Train ride is lovely. Wouldn't hesitate to use the rail network. Last few years we have had to fly into Oslo due to dates with Ryanair not suiting.

[Swervin_Mervin]

We've travelled to Gothenburg from Manchester, but via Oslo (due to easyjet cancelling our flight at 2hrs notice!). We've come back via Copenhagen using their equivalent of the west coast main line. I'd say both rail journeys as good as each other, and despite only having a couple of hours in the morning in Oslo it was enough to want to revisit.

Both very easy to negotiate between airport and trains (as it is across Scandinavia), but Oslo edged it if you plan to spend a couple of hours there before travelling onwards.

ETA: Can highly recommend both Norwegian and SAS. It's more like flying used to be. Free coffee/tea on SAS, and we even had an in-flight meal on a recent Norwegian flight to Stockholm - probably the first time in 25 years that we've done that!

Edited by Swervin_Mervin on Monday 3rd February 10:17

[Desiderata]

Thanks all. From where we live and times we want to travel, I think our main options are :-
1. Fly to Heathrow or Frankfurt or drive to Manchester if we want to fly into Gothenburg .
2. Fly Edinburgh to Copenhagen then make our way to Gothenburg from there.
I think the second sounds better as the trip from Copenhagen to Gothenburg becomes part of the holiday rather than just an inconvenience that travelling within the UK would be.
Just got to decide on whether to hire/drive or take the train now.
The train sounds easy , but having a car would open up more options for the cross country trip.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I hired from Sixt at Gothenburg station. I don't know why but at the time it was insanely cheap (summer 2023). I think I paid about £260 for a V60 for just over a week.

[Desiderata]

Swervin_Mervin said:

I hired from Sixt at Gothenburg station. I don't know why but at the time it was insanely cheap (summer 2023). I think I paid about £260 for a V60 for just over a week.

Yes, I'm getting quotes of around £250 for a Passat or similar from Copenhagen airport, no problem to take it over the border into Sweden

[jfdi]

The Gotak what?

[BrabusMog]

I used to live in Lilla Edet which has quite an impressive lock as part of the Gota Alv which I saw several massive ships going through when I used to be out for a run - not sure if it's part of the route but can give you some tips for between Gothenburg and Trollhattan if you're going that far.

[Desiderata]

BrabusMog said:

I used to live in Lilla Edet which has quite an impressive lock as part of the Gota Alv which I saw several massive ships going through when I used to be out for a run - not sure if it's part of the route but can give you some tips for between Gothenburg and Trollhattan if you're going that far.

I haven't looked too much at the route yet, only that it goes from near Gothenburg in the west right over and into the Baltic.

"The Göta Canal Trail runs from Sjötorp by Lake Vänern, to Mem by the Baltic Sea. "

My wife is keen to make a "challenge " of it and do the whole thing from coast to coast. I want to look more into it and find out if there are any ugly or boring bits to miss in favour of exploring more of the country around.

[BrabusMog]

Oh, ok - that's going the other way - as you were