Bike Tour Reviews: Sweden’s West Coast Helsingborg To Gothenburg
Self guided from EUR € 930
Self-guided:
Daily: May 1 - Sep 30, 2024
Description:
The Kattegattleden (pronounced kat-i-gat-led-in) – Sweden’s first national bicycle route – runs along the west coast between Helsingborg to Gothenburg. You’ll ride through fantastic coastal nature, overlooking wonderful sandy beaches and gorgeous…
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★★★★★ Gretchen Jones 1 month agoAmazing trip up the west coast of Sweden
This is a must see part of the world!! This was my fifth bicycle trip in Europe and one of the best. The west coast of Sweden was absolutely stunning - beautiful beaches, cute villages, wonderful countryside. The people were tremendous. Language was not an issue. The bicycle trail is well traveled and easy to follow. It was a wonderful experience.
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Valerie Leifer 2 months ago
Wonderful!
Everything was great - from the planning (thank you for addressing every question and concern) to the execution. The bikes were terrific (though in one bike storage room someone must have knocked into my bike and messed with the front derailleur). Scenery and lodging great. Thank you!
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Bruce Mitchell 2 months ago
Beautiful Tour of the west coast.
A wonderful way to explore the Swedish west coast. The bike trail is easy to follow, relatively flat, and was almost exclusively on a paved trail. The trail winds its way along the coastline, with distances between towns very manageable. We stayed in excellent accommodation with lots of time each day to explore. All in all a fantastic family bike trip.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Julie Smith 3 months ago
Sweden experience
Hotels were good. The route and options were great. The people of Sweden were wonderful.
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★★★★★ Rebekah Ross 3 months ago
Beautiful scenery mostly on bike paths
We have done many bike trips and this one was tops. The route is nearly all on dedicated bike paths, and when not it was on safe roads with little traffic. The maps and GPS and trail markings were easy to follow. Nice variety of country and ocean landscapes. Bikes and hotels (all with sumptuous breakfasts) were good.
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★★★★★ Karyl Brewster-Geisz 3 months ago
Fabulous introduction to Sweden
This was our third self guided bike tour and our first in Sweden. The trail was very well marked throughout, with the exception of within Gothenburg (and I think that was because of construction). The scenic views were spectacular. The hotels were similar to the ones on other tours. We opted for e-bikes and I’m glad we did as there was a lot of wind and hills throughout the trip, especially on the longest day. If you have the energy, I highly recommend taking advantage of some of the extras listed in the trip agenda such as the UFO monument or the Car and Plane Museum.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Jann Slayton 4 months ago
Beautiful scenery - great biking
The Katgat bike path is a wonderful way to see Sweden. The off road, paved path (about 90% of the 225 miles) is well marked. At times the GPS was off but trusting the signage we stayed on route. We used e-bikes. You have to remove the battery and recharge in hotel room at night. The hotels that were booked were all very nice - each had wonderful breakfast buffets. The location of the hotels to the Katgat trail was good. The hotels were all in convenient neighborhoods with easy walking distance to restaurants and shops.
Suggestion - if you plan to take the train Bastad to Halmstad as we did, download the app Skare when you have wifi. Trains were convenient and easy to transport bikes. Hotel Halland in Kungsbacka did not have a place outside hotel to park bike. We could either lock at train station (across the street) or carry bikes to basement (which we did). Having a room on the street side of this hotel was very noisy with car and train traffic.
We were fortunate - last 2 weeks of May - to have ideal weather. The flowers are profuse, the coastal scenery beautiful, and being self guided we could stop for photos or a break whenever we wished. The people at Biketours.com were very responsive and helpful during our planning and with during the trip. I highly recommend this trip!- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Julie Lee 4 months ago
More than I expected!
To my surprise we rode along this gorgeous path along the Baltic Sea with full sun and blue skies in May 2024 for an epic Swedish adventure. The hotels were comfortable and centrally located with sumptuous breakfast butfets. Luggage transfer was smoothe. The GPS app was very helpful to keep us on the right path. The recommended stops for fika and sightseeing were excellent. All communications from Biketours was clear and detailed.
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★★★★★ Rob Luken June 29, 2023
Our first cycling vacation
This was our first cycling vacation and the beautiful Sweden's West Coast from Helsingborg to Gothenburg trip over six days was fantastic. This is a very well organized trip, with lovely hotels along the way and good instructions with options on how to best enjoy this. The bicycles worked well, as well as the transfer of our luggage to the next hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and even added an additional day at both ends of the trip to fully explore the cities and what it has to offer, which we can recommend.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 13 to June 20
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1, including this one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Christopher Mauriello September 5, 2022
Great paced trip
This trip meets all expectations.
The trip features a good mix of Swedish shoreline, farms and great towns.
The Kathegattleden trail is well marked and mostly paved but made much easier to navigate with the GPS app.
Very little road riding but where it exists is very little traffic. Totally recommend a night or two on Copenhagen at the end of the trip which is also a great place to bike.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Kevin Rudd August 24, 2022
Could have been better
The ride was generally good. The route was relatively remote with few points to stop and places along the route to interact with the citizen of the areas visited. Poor preparation of the e-bikes two of the 6 bikes were not at the pick up location and not properly charged. The first day was difficult riding heavy bikes without power. Very disappointing start to our trip.
Hotel accommodations were fair. The opening property was excellent, while the balance were two and three star quality properties. That said, all the people at the hotels and the bike rental location were friendly and helpful. I would have welcomed better hotel locations and would be willing to pay more. Self-guided does not need to be budget.
In general, of the other guided and self-guided rides in Europe this ride was 4th of 4.
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4, 2 guided and 2 self-guided
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
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★★★★★ Charles Russo August 5, 2022
Going Home to the Motherland :)
The tour was an excellent way to meet people and see the country. We thoroughly enjoyed it!
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was my first.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Emily Eich August 4, 2022
Kattlegattleden
Kattlegattleden was such a safe, beautiful, biker friendly trail. Our two favorite towns were Varberg and Falkenberg. If we could we would have stayed in Varberg a second night. Each destination was easy to locate and most days our luggage was waiting for us upon arrival! Everyone we met was kind and patient with us as Americans. Just be warned: don’t try to short cut by taking bikes on the train on a beautiful beach weekend! The one day we wanted to do 40 miles, instead of 60 we waited for 2 trains in Bastad and finally gave up; the train conductors told us there was no way we were getting bikes on!
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ David Roberts August 4, 2022
Great Bike Trip
Great route - well marked, easy to follow, mostly paths and safe (little "on-road" riding with very light traffic). Easy terrane with very manageable riding distances for most cyclist. Accommodations were clean, comfortable, friendly and above average, although not luxurious. Bikes were good quality and well maintained. Beautiful country and friendly people. I've done more than 20 European cycling tours and I'd rate this as very good value given the modest price point
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 20
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Daniel Harrison August 4, 2022
Beautiful Bicycling
I used BikeTours.com to book a memorable six-day, self-guided bicycling vacation in Sweden, where four members of my family travelled in late July 2022. The tour, named “Sweden’s West Coast: Helsingborg to Gothenburg,” provides a nice introduction to Sweden’s rural areas, towns, and the city of Gothenburg. Throughout our 242-mile journey, I was reminded of a popular nursery rhyme that begins “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,” thanks to the excellent pre-trip support provided by our bikeTours.com trip consultant, Kirsten.
Kirsten used her nimble planning skills to help us avoid unexpected logistical challenges with our tour. Multi-day concerts in Gothenburg meant most hotel rooms were booked well in advance, and Kirsten worked with us to devise alternative travel dates that made this trip feasible and affordable, with roofs over our heads. We spent each night in a different hotel, and check-in was always easy.
She was quick to respond to my inquiries on a variety of issues, including preferred types of bicycles, location of our hotels, desire for non-smoking rooms, and access to map routes.
The nursery rhyme ends with these words: “Jack jump over the candlestick.” On our bicycling vacation, we jumped numerous steams and other bodies of water on the well-maintained bridges on the national bike trail, the Kattegattleden. Mostly flat, the route is typically separate from roads, and traverses farmland and charming seaside towns along a pristine coast, ending each day’s journey at a centrally-located hotel.
The final word in the rhyme is “candlesticks.” The design of many restaurants and hotels included lit candles, and contributed to the Scandinavian “hygge” lifestyle. The staff at places where we stayed and dined were welcoming and efficient, though none could hold a candle to the excellent service provided by Kirsten. (DH)
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Keith Raymond August 4, 2022
A Swedish Delight
We really enjoyed this late June trip on the west coast of Sweden. It was well organized, very scenic, lovely towns and hotels. Excellent restaurants and beer to be found along the way. Cycling is not difficult. Would recommend.
