Using an eSIM in Gothenburg

What Gothenburg is like on a phone

Gothenburg is a port city that feels looser than the capital, at a size where you alternate walking and trams all day. The visitors are families for the amusement park, people in for a trade fair, and drivers heading north up the Bohuslän coast. The tram network reaches nearly every district and tickets are bought in an app, so the phone is in use all day even when you are not going far. In town the line covers everything; what changes it is the ferry out to the southern islands, where there are no cars at all.

When you land

Landvetter Airport (GOT) is about twenty kilometres out with no rail link, so most people take the airport coach into the central station in around half an hour. Others arrive by train from Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen into Göteborg Central, or on the ferries from Denmark and Germany that berth close to the centre. Switch the eSIM on before you leave the aircraft or the ship, because both coach and tram tickets can be bought in an app straight away.

Where coverage changes

The city works well on the street and on the trams, which run at road level rather than diving into deep tunnel. The road tunnels under the river to Hisingen go completely silent while you drive through. Take the ferry to the southern islands from Saltholmen and there is still service around each island's jetty, though it fades along the rocky footpaths. Drive north up the Bohuslän coast and the stretches through rock cuttings and deep inlets drop out at intervals.

What a day here costs in data

A normal day is roughly 600MB to 1.3GB: the tram app gets opened often but is light, while maps on foot and photographs along the canals and out on the islands cost more. An island day uses less data but more battery, thanks to sea wind and the hunt for service. Filming at the amusement park in the evening and uploading on the spot puts you nearer 2GB a day.

Districts travellers ask about

• Inom Vallgraven — The core inside the old moat, with the big shopping complex and the station close together; every tram line converges here and it is the steadiest part of town.
• Haga — Old timber houses turned café street; cobbles and low buildings mean it holds up better than the heavy-stone old quarters you find elsewhere.
• Linnéstaden and the Långgatorna — Where locals actually eat and drink; long straight streets make navigation simple, and it is a favourite for longer stays.
• Lindholmen on Hisingen — Offices and campuses across the river, reached by a short free ferry; the crossing keeps signal because it is still in the middle of the city.

Day trips out of the city

• The southern archipelago: Styrsö and Vrångö — Tram to the end of the line, then the boat from Saltholmen. These islands have no cars, and the rocky footpaths have stretches where the line fades. Save the return sailing before you step ashore, and since timetables are adjusted seasonally and from year to year, check them with the operator directly.
• Marstrand — A sailing town on a small island to the north, an hour's drive plus a short ferry; the coast road has dead spots between rock outcrops, though the island around the harbour is fine.
• The Bohuslän coast and Smögen — Two hours north on roads cut through rock and around deep inlets, with gaps along the way. Download offline maps before you set out, and understand that emergency calling does not behave like a data session — take your guidance from the country's official services.