A day at liseberg

2016-08-07
 
Liseberg is an amusement park that I really loved as a child, and I still go every summer. The park has been open since 1923 and is located below and on top of a hill in Gothenburg, Sweden. The park's main attractions are rollercoasters (such as Helix, Balder and Kanonen) and entertainment (concerts and theater). The official mascot of the park is a green bunny called Lisebergskaninen ("The Liseberg Bunny") and now the park has many different bunny characters who live in a house in Kaninlandet ("The Bunny Land").

As I'm writing this, it has been raining for two weeks here in Gothenburg, and yesterday we decided to head to the park as it was supposed the be the only day without any rain. The joke was on us, however, because it rained on and off all day! Despite this we got to go on all the rides and we had a really good time. 


 
At the park entrance you can buy an all-in-one kit (admission and a pass) for 440kr. With the pass you can go on an unlimited amount of rides through out the day. If you buy the same kit online you can get an express pass for the same price, giving you access to the express line of three different attractions of your choosing. The only attraction not included in the pass is Spökhotellet Gasten (the haunted house) which you have to purchase a specific ticket for, which cost 40kr if you have a pass and 60kr without.

If you want to buy tickets instead of a pass you should know that one ride on one of the bigger rollercoasters cost 4 tickets, and one ticket cost 20kr. This means that in order to ride one rollercoaster you will have to pay 80kr(!) which is kind of expensive for one ride. However, the smaller rides usually cost fewer tickets, so if rollercoasters isn't your thing buying tickets instead of a pass could be worth it (if you only go once or twice). Check out Liseberg's official webpage to learn more about how many tickets you need for each attraction.


 
We decided to start our day at the park with a waffle breakfast at Systrarna Olssons Våffelbageri ("The Olsson Sisters Waffle Bakery"). A waffle with jam and whipped cream cost 39kr and it was really good! Despite the long line, we only had to wait a couple of seconds before receiving our freshly baked waffles, which was good because we were really hungry!

On the same street as the waffle bakery you can explore a number of tiny shops where you can buy park souvenirs and Swedish candy. If you're not from Sweden I recommend that you try the Swedish polkagris from Gränna, which is a swedish candy cane that traditionally come in red and white, but also many other colors and flavors.


 
 Liseberg usually announce a new attraction every year and this year they not only announced a new attraction but also a huge, new garden area you can explore going up the hill. At the top of the hill there is a new playground located in a beautiful, victorian garden called Barnens Paradis ("The Children's Paradise") that is free and a great place for a picnic.

If you want to explore a more colorful playground I recommend Kaninlandet ("The Bunny Land") below the hill by the main entrance. The place is swarming with attractions but it is also a fun place to explore. Many of the details on the buildings and attractions are bunny themed and all the signs are basically made for the children. A funny thing that we discovered were that all the trash cans had the word "skräp" ("trash") misspelled in different variations, as if a child had spelled it.




While we were taking a stroll through the harbour district and admiring the haunted house from the outside the rain stopped and the sun came out (if only for a little while)! We headed for the churros stand by the Colorado attraction to buy some snacks. Finding churros in Gothenburg is pretty much impossible (if anyone knows where to buy them please let me know!), but you can buy churros at Liseberg.

Speaking of rain, I would have prefered to have left my umbrella at home and walked around in a poncho instead. Walking around with an umbrella in a crowded park was not a very practical move on my part. Buying a poncho in the park cost only 25kr and they come in many colors.




This massive portion of churros cost 40kr, and adding a topping (like ice cream or chocolate) cost an additional 6kr for each topping. I honestly could not finish this beast on my own, but it was really tasty and I recommend it if you are going to buy a snack at Liseberg. Other than churros the park offer traditional snacks like popcorn, cotton candy and hotdogs.

We did not end up eating at the restaurants in the park (we were still full on churros and waffles!), but I would still recommend The Green Room which is a vegetarian all-you-can-eat restaurant which cost 159kr for adults and 62kr for children between 2-12 years old. Other restaurants I have tried before and enjoyed are Trebello and Evert Taube's Café, which despite their cafeteria-feel serve huge portions of really tasty food.
 
 

We could not leave the park without going on my favorite rollercoaster - Helix, however, the line was very, very long, and it was quite difficult to tell just how long it was as it goes through tunnels just like the one in the picture. Still, it was worth it and I highly recommend you try this attraction if you ever visit the park.

Before going to the park I decided to try the official Liseberg app which is free but only seem to be available in Swedish. The app allows you to get an overview of the lines to all the attractions, but it turned out that the rides that had a 0-10 minute waiting line according to the app was actually 25-30 minutes. I'm not sure if the app was inaccurate despite updating often or if we simply had bad timing. Nevertheless, you can always read the estimated time at the entrance of every attraction.

 

Liseberg is not only open during the summer. During fall and by Halloween the park is turned into a haunted place where pumpkins, twisted scarecrows and other scary decorations can be found all over the park. During winter you can get into the Christmas spirit at the park as it is turned into an amazing winter wonderland with all the trees being covered in pretty lights and the streets being turned into markets.

I really wanted to document and photograph more during our stay in the park, but with the weather being bad I decided to make the best of it and save the documentation for another, less rainy day. I hope to write a more detailed guide to the park later on, because if you ever come to Gothenburg, even if just for a weekend, it's definitely worth a visit.


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