Borås

Borås is a city of roughly 66,000 inhabitants in Västergötland, Sweden.

Understand

Borås used to be the centre of the Swedish textile industry, and is still well known for having many shops that sell high-quality textiles at low prices.

Tourist office

• Borås Tourist Center, Sven Eriksonsplatsen 3, ☏ +46-33357090, tourist@boras.se. M-F 10:00-18:00, Sa 10:00-14:00. (updated Mar 2018)

Get in

By plane

There's no airport in Borås; the nearest international airport is Gothenburg's Landvetter. It is about 60 km away and has daily flight from most European air hubs.

By train

Commuter trains from Gothenburg run about once every hour, however due to old tracks they are slower than the bus. The Kust-till-Kust (Coast-to-Coast) trains between Gothenburg and Kalmar also make a stop-over there. Then there are regional trains from Varberg and from Uddevalla via Herrljunga. From time to time there have been direct X2000 fast trains from Stockholm, but a change of trains in Herrljunga is now required.

By bus

Bus #100 is a highway express from Gothenburg with departures every half hour. Several long-distance buses also makes stop-overs here.

• Flixbus (FlixBus), ☏ +46 850 513 750. By far the largest domestic coach operator and operates services to Borås from different cities of Sweden. Advance ticketing is usually required and recommended practice in any case. (updated Sep 2020)
• Nettbuss, ☏ +46 771-67 67 67. Services to Borås from some cities in Sweden. 
• Västervikexpress. Service from Gothenburg 

By car

Rout 40 leads west to Gothenburg, route 41 south to Varberg, route 27 to Växjö and Karlskrona and route 42 north to Trollhättan.

Get around

Buses are operated by Västtrafik and cover the whole city and its suburbs. However, the centre city is small enough to walk around.

• TaxiKurir Borås, ☏ + 46 31-27 27 27. Smart phone app offers address based routing and calculates price according to them. (updated Aug 2020)
• Taxi Borås, Svenljungagatan 39, ☏ +46 33-12 70 70. (updated Mar 2018)

See

• Walking to Borås. Large statue of Pinocchio in the south end of Allégatan. 
• 1 Textile Museum of Borås. (updated Mar 2018)
• 2 Borås Museum. An open-air museum for Swedish folk culture.  

Do

• 1 Borås Djurpark (It's about 2 km from the centre). Sweden's second largest zoo  
• Go for a walk in the city park, stadsparken, located in the city center.
• Go for a swim in Stadsparksbadet - an indoor water park situated in stadsparken. They have a 10 m (33 ft) climbing wall and a wave pool.
• Alidebergsbadet is a summer open outdoors pool by the zoo.
• Watch football: IF Elfsborg play soccer in Allsvenskan, Sweden's top league tier. They often do well and qualify for European tournaments. Their home ground Borås Arena (capacity 16,000) is 2 km north of town centre. They share the ground with Norrby IF in Superettan the second tier.

Buy

• 1 Knalleland. A big shopping center 2 km from the city center, close to the zoo. 

Eat

• 1 Babbel, Västerbrogatan 15, ☏ +46 33-133132, info@babbelrestaurang.com. Serving up Spanish beer and tapas with great atmosphere. Expect to wait for a table. 
• Café Orion, Österlånggatan 51, ☏ +46 33-41 31 86. A combination of cafe and lunch restaurant, offering both hot and cold dishes. It's one of the cheapest lunch restaurants in town. They also offer good vegetarian options. (updated Mar 2018)
• 2 Viskan Café & Vinbar, Södra Strandgatan 6, ☏ +46 33-102580, info@cafeviskan.se. All-day upscale café and adjacent wine-bar with a nice summer terrace overlooking the river Viskan. 

Drink

Although Borås might not be the best city in Sweden for drinking, it has a few places worth visiting.

• Scandic Hotel Plaza Lounge. This hotel bar offers a relaxing atmosphere for starting the night. However not really worth making it an evening here.
• Rådhuset Bar and club in the old town hall by the north side of the large square.
• Bishop Arms The best place in town to drink beer. Has quite a large selection of European beer.

Sleep

Budget

• 1 Vila Vandrarhem, Lilla Brotagan 11, ☏ +46 33-226969. Nice and clean hostel, reasonably low prices, friendly staff, free Wifi. They also have hotel across the street. 

Mid-range

• 2 Best Western Borås, Sandgärdsgatan 25, ☏ +46 33-799 01 00, info@hotellboras.se. (updated Mar 2018)
• 3 First Hotel Grand, Hallbergsplatsen 2, ☏ +46 33 799 00 00. Luxurious and centrally located. 
• 4 Hotel Sköna Nätter, Vendelsbergsgatan 42, ☏ +46 33-100 110, info@hotellskonanatter.se. (updated Mar 2018)
• 5 Scandic Hotel Plaza, Allégatan 3, ☏ +46 33 785 82. A nice hotel with decent prices. 

Camping

• Borås Camping, Campinggatan 25 (2 km (1.2 mi) from the city centre), ☏ +46 33-35 32 80, info@borascamping.com. The largest city camping in Sweden, open around the year. In addition to camping lots they also offer cabins and hostel rooms. (updated Mar 2018)

Stay safe

• Police office, Sandgärdsgatan 15., polismyndigheten.vastragotaland@polisen.se. +46 33-739 20 00 (updated Mar 2018)
• Södra Älvsborgs sjukhus (Hospital), Brämhultsvägen 53, ☏ +46 33-616 10 00, sas@vgregion.se. (updated Mar 2018)

Go next

• Gothenburg — Sweden's second city, with a lot to see and experience, 70 km west
• Jönköping — scenically set at the shore of lake Vättern, little less than 100 km east
• Varberg — with a fortress and a world heritage listed radio station, 80 km southwest