The public sauna
Built from reclaimed sheet iron and glass bottles.
Alicia Fagerving — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alicia Fagerving — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alicia Fagerving — CC BY-SA 4.0
Jubileumsparken lies in **Frihamnen**, the former free port north of the river, and is an unusual piece of urban work: it began in 2014 as a temporary experiment ahead of Gothenburg's four-hundredth anniversary, and then stayed. The idea was that the park be built **in consultation with residents and from reused materials** rather than handed to a design office. So what is in it was built gradually and tested: a **public swimming pool in the harbour water** — the first place swimming has been permitted in Gothenburg harbour in a century — and a **public sauna** built from reclaimed sheet iron and glass bottles, an architectural piece that drew international attention. There is also a timber quay, a sand garden, playgrounds and event spaces. **The pool and sauna are strongly seasonal** — summer mainly — and may need booking. The park itself is open and free. The area around it is still a working port and a building site in parts.
Built from reclaimed sheet iron and glass bottles.
Swimming in harbour water from a timber quay.
Frihamnen, Gothenburg
The Gothenburg OperaThe Gothenburg Opera stands directly on the harbour edge, opened in 1994, and it11 minutes walk4.7
Maritiman — the Floating Maritime MuseumMaritiman is **the largest floating ship museum in the world**: nineteen histori12 minutes walk4.5
Kronhuset and the KronhusbodarnaKronhuset is **the oldest standing building in Gothenburg**: a red brick arsenal14 minutes walk4.1
Keillers ParkKeillers Park lies on the slope of **Ramberget** on Hisingen island north of the16 minutes walk4.5
The Museum of GothenburgThe Museum of Gothenburg occupies the Swedish East India Company building of 17516 minutes walk4.5The sauna is Swedish and Finnish alike and an ordinary part of life. The rules are simple but worth knowing: shower before entering, sit on a towel, keep quiet. **The important point for an Arab visitor**: many public saunas in Sweden are **mixed**, and in some it is normal to enter without clothing — that is the local convention rather than an exception. But most modern facilities, this park's sauna among them, run **separate hours for women and men** or require swimwear. Ask when booking or at the door before going in — the question is ordinary and nobody will find it strange.