Here we've gathered some good to know info on getting around in Gothenburg, places to check out and some stuff you might want to know if you're going to Knutpunkt.
Cash is king, and the king is dead
Sweden is, for better or worse, almost a cashless society. Lots of places don't even accept cash. You can pay with cards (Visa, Mastercard, Electron etc) almost anywhere. No guarantees for Amex, so keep that in mind. Swedes do a lot of transactions, even paying in stores, with something called Swish. Danes, Norwegians, Finns and Swedes can use this system (or a bridge between their respective apps), but non-citizens won't be able to.
Eriksberg
North of the river is Hisingen Island, and this is where Knutpunkt is held - in an area called Eriksberg. It's the kind of place that has lots of offices and is very alive during the days, but rather quiet at night. This means less public transport, not many open shops etc after dark - something to keep in mind.
Getting around
Gothenburg is eminently walkable, but if you're going any distance you'll want to utilize the glorious public transportation system. It comes in three flavours: trams, buses and ferries.
Tickets are available for various zones, but the one you most likely want is for Zone A which covers not only Gothenburg but surrounding municipalities as well. Depending on how long you're in Gothenburg, choose one of the following tickets:
- Single ticket (valid 90 minutes): 37 SEK
- 24 hour ticket: 120 SEK
- 72 hour ticket: 240 SEK
You pay for tickets either in the Västtrafik app (which accepts credit cards) or by touching your card to a ticket terminal onboard (only works for single tickets).
Faire dodging is expensive if you get caught (1500 SEK), and we wouldn't recommend it to the unexperienced as there are regular ticket inspections (also in plain clothes).
Couch-surfing
If you're coming to Gothenburg for AWIG and are looking for some friendly local larper to stay at, please get in touch and we'll see if we can help facilitate!
Alcohol
Unlike our freedom loving neighbours to the south, we can't buy alcohol in general stores here. The only place that sells alcohol (outside of bars and restaurants) is the state monopoly store called Systembolaget. There are many of those in Gothenburg, but most of them close at 19:00 on weekdays (15:00 on Saturdays, and they're all closed on Sundays) - something to keep in mind.
Bonus: Alcohol at Systembolaget is usually somewhere between five to eight times cheaper than in bars. Drinking in public is technically forbidden in most places, but as long as you're not causing a fuss popo won't care much.
Map
We've gathered some good spots to check out on a google map: great coffee, bars, sights to see, shops etc. You'll find it here.