Sweden Guide
Around Gothenburg
Marstrand
The island town of MARSTRAND buzzes with summer activity, as holidaymakers flock in to sail, bathe and take tours around the impressive castle. With ornate wooden buildings lining the bustling harbour, Marstrand is a delightful place and is easily visited on a day-trip from Gothenburg.
Founded under Norwegian rule in the thirteenth century, the town achieved remarkable prosperity through herring fishing in the following century; highs and lows followed, and eventually the herring disappeared. By the 1820s, the old herring salting houses had been converted into bath houses, and Marstrand had been reborn as a fashionable bathing resort.
The island's youth hostel, Båtellet ( 
0303/600 10, 
marstrandsvarmbadhus@telia.com; Price: Kr500-700), has dorm beds from 195kr, and is situated in an atmospheric old bath house overlooking the sea, and has a sauna, washing facilities, a swimming pool and a restaurant (see below). Of the several very pleasant hotels on the island, the finest is the 1892-built Grand at Rådhusgatan ( 0303/603 22, 
www.grandmarstrand.se ; Price: Kr1500 and above). Nautic, Långgatan 6 ( 0303/610 30, www.hotelnautic.com ; Price: Kr900-1200), is rather simpler in style, but perfectly adequate.
Eating out is a major sport on Marstrand, but it comes at a price. About the most interesting place to eat on the island is the American Bar, opened in 1919, overlooking the harbour, which serves good but pricey meat and fish meals with mains costing 150–250kr. Alternatively, you could try the glamorous, if more formal, Oscar's, next door. Another very popular choice is Lasse Maja's Krog, in a jolly, yellow-painted house on the harbourfront, whose wide-ranging meat and fish menu has mains at 140–250kr, as well as pizzas at around 120kr. Decent meals are also served in Drott, the rather fine restaurant attached to the youth hostel: pasta dishes cost around 50kr; meat and seafood 100–200kr. Or try the gourmet restaurant in the classic old Societetshuset ( 0303/606 00). At night, the American Bar and Oscar's (which doubles as a nightclub) are good drinking haunts.