The Göta Canal joins the Swedish east coast by Mem (Söderköping) to Gothenburg at the west coast. It is 190 km long and established during the years 1810 to 32. 58 locks elevates (and brings you back to sea level again) to 91,8 meters height. The canal takes boats up to 30x7 meters with a max. draft of 2,8 and an air draft of 22 meters.
Nicknamed 'the divorce canal' (due to the many locks) one should fear the worse, but following some simple rules (explained in at brochure from the canal company) it's really quite simple. All Danish and Swedish sailors have to do a crossing at least once and we did it in 1993
Bergs slusser: Seven coupled locks and two double locks elevating you from lake Roxen | |
Fishing along the canal |
The last remaining manually operated lock |
Läckö castle in lake Väneren |
Tourist boats |
A pastoral view along the canal |
As water enters in the front of the lock it is important to make sure that the incoming water doesn't catch the bow and turns the ship |
Back to the Cruising Scandinavia map