Gothenburg's Top Attraction Tours
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If an old guidebook or a search result sends you looking for the Volvo Museum, stop: it closed for good in December 2023. What replaced it is worth the detour anyway.
World of Volvo, not the old museum
World of Volvo opened April 14, 2024 at Lyckholms Torg, next to Liseberg, inside a 22,000 square meter circular timber building designed by Henning Larsen Architects. Interactive exhibits trace the brand’s design history, the 1959 invention of the three-point seatbelt, and its move into electric propulsion, alongside driving simulators and classic models like the P1800 and Amazon. Weekday guided tours also run to the working Volvo Cars Torslanda factory by dedicated coach directly from the building, watching robotic assembly lines in operation; book ahead, since seats are limited and tickets start from around 175 SEK. Book World of Volvo exhibition entry on GetYourGuide before you go.
Maritiman’s floating fleet
At Packhuskajen, Maritiman is billed as the world’s largest floating maritime museum: 15 historic vessels linked by gangways, led by the destroyer HMS Småland, the largest preserved warship in the Nordic region, plus the submarine HMS Nordkaparen and the lightship Fladen. Guided and audio-guided tours take you through decks, engine rooms, and torpedo bays. It runs April through October only, so check the calendar before planning a visit outside that window.
A Viking ship you will not find anywhere else in Sweden
The Museum of Gothenburg, housed in the 1750s former headquarters of the Swedish East India Company on Norra Hamngatan, holds the country’s only original Viking ship on display: the Äskekärr Ship, dated to roughly 930 AD and carved with authentic runic inscriptions. Guided tours build the wider city history around it.
Art and an 18th-century country estate
At Götaplatsen, the Gothenburg Museum of Art runs guided tours through its Fürstenberg Gallery of Nordic National Romanticism, with work by Munch, Zorn, Larsson, and Krøyer, and the adjoining Hasselblad Center adds rotating photography exhibitions. Further out in Mölndal, reachable by bus 753, Gunnebo House and Gardens offers guided tours through one of Northern Europe’s best-preserved 18th-century neoclassical estates, its restored 1790s interiors, and its certified organic kitchen gardens.
Before you go
Sweden runs close to cashless; carry a card rather than relying on cash at any of these sites. Book the Torslanda factory tour and any seasonal Maritiman slot ahead of time rather than assuming walk-up availability. If you would rather see several of these by bus than on foot, our bus tours guide to Gothenburg covers the routes that pass most of them.
Browse Maritiman tour options , and confirm current hours directly at worldofvolvo.com or goteborg.com before building a day around any single attraction.