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Winter trip to Sweden being Planned... advice welcomed!

2K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  sokrates 
#1 ·
So my daughter lives out in Gothenburg and I am currently considering driving out to visit at the end of January. I have a few concerns which folk may have thoughts and advice on.

The van is a totally standard 1.9tdi T5, in very good and well maintained mechanical order. I have recently fitted new 235/70/16 Michelin Latitude Ice winter tyres.

So... how reasonable is it to expect the T5 to cope with the drive up? I was going to head out on the Dover/Dunkirk Ferry and then drive up through Belgium/Germany/Denmark and into Sweden. I had also wondered if sleeping in the van on the journey up might be an option (I am staying with my daughter once in Sweden) or will it really just be too cold? I have no heating but am a seasoned tent backpacker with a good 4 season sleeping back, and can obviously pack hot water bottles (don't laugh haha) and plenty of additional bedding.

What additional kit might be useful to take? Do I need to take snow chains or any other accessories other than the usual continent driving gear?

Any help or advice anyone may be able to provide, even if it is to just forget it! I'd be grateful to hear.

Thanks,
Jamie
 
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#2 ·
Hi Jamie.
I shall watch this thread with interest. We have a fully converted T5 but no heater and next year may be turning left out of the tunnel instead of right. Our son is in Gottenburg at the mo and it is approx 6 deg cooler than here. If you do sleep in the van I suspect it will be very wet inside in the morn. Could you get hookups and use a fan heater?
 
#3 ·
Snow chains would definitely be needed at some point. I've kipped in the back of a van at minus 12 degrees. We had an old mattress and loads of blankets and a sleeping bag. Also, I only took my shoes off and had a woolly hat on. Ice on the inside of the windows in the morning:cool:. Also, a stove to get some hot drinks and food into you. Good luck if you decide to go for itT:
 
#4 ·
Snow chains are good to have, as the snow can be quite deep, but you also must have winter tyres between December and March.

To be honest, it’s a long way - over 1000miles each way. Unless you need the bus when you are over there, or to bring something back, I would fly.

If you plan to be walking around much once you get there, you will benefit from some lined boots. The Swedes I used to work with quite liked Shepherds (sp?) boots. Kind of suede slip on boots with sheepskin lining and heavy tread soles. Well worth having, as I still use mine over here every winter.
 
#5 ·
I know what you mean Poffer it's in the balance to be honest... the complication is that when I described my plans to my dad, who has only ever been abroad once on a package holiday to Portugal, he asked to come along... a bit of a big last roadtrip father and son type of thing taking in a few sights on the way, he'll probably not be up to it for much longer. He's not decrepit like, although he's 73 he is a big hill walker and backpacker still.
 
#6 ·
Now THAT is a good reason to do it. To be honest, one of the worst things about long European road trips is boredom. Chatting and goofing around with your dad, however, is a different matter. T:

Make sure the bus is 100% legal, or they wont let you in (no cracked lights etc. etc.) and the winter tyres are a legal requirement, not just a weather one.

Have fun!
 
#8 ·
Jamie, you know from our conversation in another thread that I'm a "bloody Swede" from birth :)

Your T5 should make the journey with ease. There's hardly any hills Between Dunkirk and Gothenburg. My old T4 from 2003 with aprox 350.000 kms on the clock still takes us between southern Spain and Sweden (almost 4.000 kms one way) every summer, which is a much longer drive that also contains a number of hills to be "climbed".

It's nice to hear that your daughter lives in my favorite town in Sweden. I've lived in Gothenburg for a few decades of my adult years, so it feels like my hometown, even if I'm born and grown up 100 kms inland. Since Gothenburg is located by the see the climate is mild, but occasionally it can get colder and there might be some snow.

It's a legal requirement to use winter tires on the vehicles between 1 of December and 31 of March during "winter conditions", and it's the Police that decide when that's the case. There're no need for snow-chains, but it could be good to have a small snow-spade in the car if there happen to be some snow, for getting rid of the snow the snowplow might have left next to the car when being parked. They normally put lots of salt on the main-roads in Sweden, especially in the south, so there're seldom any icy road surfaces, just dirty roads and rusty cars.

The shortest drive between Dunkirk and Gothenburg should be to catch the ferry between Grenå and Varberg (Stena Line) and it's probably one of the cheapest crossings too.

Whether it will be too cold or not to sleep in the car during the journey depends on what the outside temperature will be. If you got a 230v fan heater and a cabel with CEE-plug, then you have the alternative to stop at one of the stopovers for motor-homes, which are pretty common to find especially in Germany, where one normally can bye electricity.

I normally pre-plan our drives in advance, to have the rout on paper with ideas of different places to stop over night. It can also be useful to bring an ordinary map, in case the navigator stops working. When that happen it's extra useful to have the plan of the rout on paper.
 
#9 ·
As sokrates said there is no need for snow chains. We lived for 6 years in a Swiss Mountain and never used ours (winter tyres yes which you have got).
We did a big trip to Denmark in the summer. We took the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, was very comfortable and 1less night to camp. The drive was fine (even with our 6years olds), but loads of traffic around Hamburg. Decent campsite just outside Hamburg next to Ikea plus Hamburg is a nice city to explore. Another amazing campsite is Hillerød in Denmark.
Not sure how many campsites are still open in the off season mind. We did New Zealand in a T5 in the winter months, just used a small elec heater and didn't open the pop up. It was nice and toasty even in the cold mountains, so you should be fine.
Enjoy and send some pictures back. We are deciding if to go back next year and make it to Norway this time (on my list of places to visit).
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the info Sokrates and SwissJones, that's brilliant.

Have to be honest Sokrates, I've fallen a bit in love with Gothenburg myself too, an exciting city and amazing countryside all around it within easy reach.

I might post back on with our route planned out and see what you folks think.

tack så mycket!
 
#11 ·
Ingen orsak!

Now I have to concentrate so I won't start writing in Swedish :)

One of the reasons why I love Gothenburg is that I perceive people there as more curious and more open to the world then usually is the case in Sweden. I believe this is due to its history of shipping and shipbuilding. The present Gothenburg was founded almost 400 years ago (1619). It was founded by the river mouth of Göta Älv, which has its source at Vänern that is the biggest lake in Sweden and might appear like a domestic sea. Dutch, Scots and Germans, made up a big population of Gothenburg and brought knowledge and resources of shipping and shipbuilding, which was needed and wanted by the King since, Sweden was a poor and undeveloped country.

Gothenburg was built with inspiration from towns in Holland, e.g. with canals. The canals were used for shipping and trade. Some of the canals still exist, meanwhile others have been filled. The harbour, which is the biggest in Scandinavia, has over the years moved further out at the river mouth. There were many shipyards until the 70's, but the majority have closed down and these days there's just a few left for maintenance.

Gothenburg is big enough for not being a village, but small enough for things to be concentrated to one center. There's a big park fairly central, "Slottsskogen", where one can ice-skate during the winter if the ponds get frozen. I lived next to Slottskogen for some years and then it fulfilled the function as my garden and recreation area.

At the other side of the river is "Hisingen", which infact is a big island. It's at Hisingen where both the harbour and Volvo are located.

The southern archipelago is free from cars. When the weather was nice during the summer I rode my bicycle by the river to "Saltholmen", an went on one of the passenger boats to the one of the islands in the southern archipelago. During the journey, one could sit at the upper deck in open air for enjoying the scenery to it fullest. It's a bit special to walk around on the islands without any cars, the locals are just using wheel-barrels and transport-mopeds for transport of gods. There're good opportunities for sun-bathing on the islands too.

One can go by car to the northern archipelago by road ferries that are free of charge that depart from "Lilla Varholmen" at Hisingen.

The villages at the islands where originally fishing villages. It could be pretty hard and risky to make one's living out of the sea. Therefore, people on the islands still tend to be more religious, then people in Gothenburg.

It was great when DFDS operated those quite luxurious ferries between Gothenburg and England. For a time being they operated ferries to both Harwich and Newcastle. When I lived in Gothenburg during those years, I didn't have to drive much for going to the UK by motorbike. It's still possible to go by freight ferries from Immingham to Gothenburg (DFDS), but that is more or less just transport of lorries and drivers.
 
#12 ·
If you know of any good spots to stop of on the way to Gothenburg in SW Sweden I'd ove to hear them... my dad and I are both history buffs so anything like that would be great. My daughter lives in Hisingen btw. Have had a few great trips to Gothenburg flying in to Landvetter airport, and the ferry rides out to the archipelago in summer were just fantastic. You've given me lots to investigate there, thank you!
 
#16 ·
You're welcome.

I don't know if you know that there's a conguestion zone in Gothenburg Monday to Friday 06.00-18.30 (transportstyrelsen.se - Trangselskatt-i-goteborg/Tider-och-belopp-i-Goteborg). Even those just passing Gothenburg on the motorway between Malmö and Oslo has to pay the tax.

It's a bit difficult to recommend that many good spots to stop at in the SW part of Sweden when travelling during the winter. It's much easier if one is travelling during the summer season. There's been lots of wars between Sweden and Denmark in the past, so there're historical places from that time. Until the peace Treaty of Roskilde (Denmark) 1658 Skåne, Halland and Bohuslän was Danish, but has belonged to Sweden since then. Skåne reminds still a bit of Denmark. In Skåne one finds beautiful nature and lovely forests. The coastline of Halland has got some nice sandy beaches, like Tylösand near Halmstad. As further north one goes as rockier becomes the coastline. Bohuslän has got rocky coastlines and there're some fjords when one gets closer to Norway. Varberg is a nice little town in Halland just about an hour drive south of Gothenburg on the motorway. There's a big fortress in Varberg and there're some beutiful buildings nearby, like "Socitetshuset".

In Gothenburg one can find defense structures from the 17th century, e.g. "Skansen Kronan" that is located next to "Haga", which is an area with older wooden houses looking a bit like it did in the past.

If one wants to get a view of Gothenburg from the riverside, then one can get on the public transport passenger boat "Älvsnabben" that goes between "Älvsborgsbron" och "Götaälvbron" and stops at a few different places on both side of the river.

Since you'll have your car with you, and I assume you will stay with your daughter on Hisingen, then you could take your car to "Ramberget" where there're view-points were one can stop with the car.
 
#14 ·
Hiya!
When you get on the ferry make sure you book the premier lounge. It’s only £12 I think but your in a private lounge, free drinks, Danish pastries etc and not sitting with noisy kids and immigrants!

Trust me it’s wirth it!!

Good luck with your trip and let us know how you get on and pictures will be great!!

BJ
 
#18 ·
I just thought about fortifications near Gothenburg. "Bohus fästning" is located a bit north Gothenburg by the town Kungälv. The fortress is located at the point where river Göta älv is split in Göta älv och Nordre älv. Hisingen is at the other side of these two rivers and that makes Hisingen to an island. By the sea west of Kungälv is Marstrand located on an island. On the island is the fortress "Karstens fästning" located. Marstrand has been where the "jet set" has been socialising. Sailing competitions are usually taken place at Marstrand during the summer.

If one hasen't got enough of warfare, then there's an aeromuseum at Hisingen, located at the former military air-field at Säve. Where one can see the previous fighter planes used by the Swedish Air Force, e.g. "Tunnan", "Lansen", "Draken" and "Viggen".

In case you don't fancy to drive through Denmark and Sweden, then it's good to know that Stena Line operates a ferry from Kiel in northern Germany to Gothenburg.
 
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