Museums · Gothenburg · Sweden
4 best museums in Gothenburg
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Albin Olsson, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
Start with Gothenburg Natural History Museum, Gothenburg City Museum and Röhsska Museum. Together the 4 picks below take roughly 5–7 hours across 3 areas; all charge for entry.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 4
- Free entry
- 0
- Time to see them all
- 5–7 hours
- Areas
- Slottsskogen, Inom Vallgraven and Vasastan
Museums in Gothenburg
Museum · Slottsskogen
1.Gothenburg Natural History Museum
The museum stands on a hill inside Slottsskogen and fills its galleries with traditional mounted animals from around the world.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Museum · Inom Vallgraven
2.Gothenburg City Museum
The city museum occupies the East India House, built in the 1750s for the Swedish East India Company on Norra Hamngatan, and tells the city's story from prehistory to the present.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Museum · Vasastan
3.Röhsska Museum
Sweden's museum of design and craft has collections of Swedish furniture, glass, fashion and East Asian applied art, housed in a red-brick building on Vasagatan from 1916.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Art
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Museum · Inom Vallgraven
4.Maritiman
Moored on the river beside the opera house, Maritiman is a floating museum of historic vessels, including the destroyer HMS Småland and the submarine Nordkaparen.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- History
- Active
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Slottsskogen | Gothenburg Natural History Museum | 1–1.5 hours |
| Inom Vallgraven | Gothenburg City Museum and Maritiman | 1.5 hours + 1.5–2 hours |
| Vasastan | Röhsska Museum | 1–1.5 hours |
Booking and timing
Of these 4, 3 low cost, 1 mid-priced. None needs booking far in advance. The longest visit is Maritiman; group the rest by area to save travel time.
How to fit them into 2 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (Slottsskogen and Inom Vallgraven): Gothenburg Natural History Museum → Gothenburg City Museum → Maritiman, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 2 (Vasastan): Röhsska Museum, at least 1 hour.
The quietest months for queues
- February: highs of 2°C (36°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Still wintry, with occasional snow; semlor fill the bakery windows around Shrove Tuesday.
- March: highs of 6°C (43°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Days lengthen quickly but it stays chilly and windy; the first café terraces appear on sunny days.
- October: highs of 11°C (52°F), about 14 rainy days, quiet crowds. Autumn colours in Slottsskogen and the Botanical Garden, with windier, wetter weather setting in.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Inom Vallgraven — The old city inside the 17th-century moat, with canals, shops and the main squares
- Vasastan — Grand stone apartment blocks, the university and Röhsska design museum
More of Gothenburg
All things to do in Gothenburg · Where to stay · When to go.
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Gothenburg?
Gothenburg Natural History Museum. The museum stands on a hill inside Slottsskogen and fills its galleries with traditional mounted animals from around the world.