Göta Canal - Cruise

The four-day trip in one of the old passenger boats on the Göta Canal from Göteborg to Stockholm (or vice versa) is one of the most memorable tourist experiences Sweden can offer. The total distance by water is 560km/350miles, of which 87km/55mi are in canals. To overcome a difference in height of 91.5m/300ft there are 65 locks on the route. The service operates from mid-May to the beginning of September.

The four boats which ply on the Göta Canal are old, but have been brought up to modern standards. They do not carry cars, but the shipping company can arrange for the transport of passengers' cars by land. History

The construction of a waterway between Stockholm and Göteborg to link the Kattegat with the Baltic was contemplated by Gustavus Vasa, but the first steps towards realizing the project were not taken until the time of Charles XII (1716). Two engineers, Swedenborg and Polhem, sought to bypass the Trollhättan falls by the construction of locks, but the protective embankment was destroyed by drifting logs in 1755, and thereafter the project hung fire until 1793. In 1810 work began on the section of the canal between Lakes Vänern and Vättern, in Västergötland (61.5km/38mi long, with 21 locks). The Ästergötland section, between Motala and the Baltic, is 92.5km/57miles long, with 37 locks. The construction of the canal is particularly associated with the names of Baron Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen and Daniel Thunberg. By 1832 the whole length of the canal from Göteborg to Mem on the Baltic (385km/239mi) was open for traffic. In those days the canal was an important industrial transport route: nowadays it is used almost exclusively by tourist traffic.