With 2,000 miles of coastline, 270,000 islands and seemingly countless bays and inlets, Sweden is truly a sailor’s paradise. One of the top sailing destinations here is the archipelago just outside the country’s second largest city Gothenburg (locally known as Göteborg), on the west coast, near where the North Sea meets the Baltic.
Even though it’s second in both notoriety and size to Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, Gothenburg’s port is the largest harbor in Scandinavia due to its strategic location on the eastern shore of the Kattegat, the shallow strait located between Sweden and Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula. This maritime heritage is symbolized by the Sjömanstornet—a 230ft memorial tower for sailors standing near the center of downtown on the banks of the Göta River and crowned by 60ft sculpture of a woman gazing out to sea. At the foot of Sjömanstornet are inscribed the names of 690 Swedish sailors who lost their lives during the First World War and the names of the ships they perished on. Not far from Sjömanstornet, is another seafaring treasure, Maritiman—a fascinating waterfront museum with a large selection of historic Swedish military and commercial vessels.
For those sailors looking to unwind a bit—either at the end of a passage or before casting offlines for their charter the way we did—Gothenburg is fun and easy to
