The Göta Canal is almost exactly 190 kilometres long and, together with the Trollhätte Canal and the Göta älv river, connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea. The official cycle route, marked by a blue and white sign, runs mainly along the canal on the old towpaths, but sometimes also off the beaten track through rolling hills, fields and forests in the regions of Västergötland and Östergötland.
The tour video
The surface of the canal cycle path is mostly gravel that is easy to cycle on, although it can get quite deep when it rains. There is hardly any traffic on the small roads to the right and left of the canal, and it is not unusual for these roads to alternate between tarmac and gravel. The major country roads (34, 49 or 50) should be avoided as far as possible, as they are very busy and rarely have a so-called roadside cycle path.
Tour itinerary
Sjötorp - Lyrestad - Forsvik - Karlsborg - Motala (by boat) - Borensberg - Berg - Borensberg - Karlsby - Motala - (detour to Vadstena) - Karlsborg (by boat) - Vassbacken (by excursion steamer or by bike via Mölltorp and Forsvik to Tåtorp - Töreboda - Sjötorp
GPS data
You can download the GPX track for the cycle tour along the Göta Canal download directly via this link or find it in the MYBIKE Collection on komoot
The MYBIKE tour leads from Sjötorp to Berg on the official cycle path. On the way back from Berg, the route runs on small roads through the rolling hills to Borensberg and from there off the canal again to Motala, which makes the tour more varied overall. We also made a detour from Motala to Vadstena and took the excursion boat from Karlsborg via Viken and the canal to Tåtorp on the way back. In total, the MYBIKE tour covered around 275 kilometres by bike.
You can download the complete travel report on the cycle tour along the Göta Canal with all the travel information as a PDF below the article. The article costs 1.99 euros.
