Varberg

Varberg is a city in Halland on Sweden's west coast approximately 70 kilometres south of Gothenburg. The municipality, Varbergs kommun, has around 65,000 inhabitants, with half of them in Varberg. Varberg is known for its beaches, crowded at summer with visitors from many parts of Sweden.

Among other attractions is Varbergs fästning, a coastal fortress with a museum, and the Grimeton radio station, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Understand
During the Middle Ages, Halland was part of Denmark. Varberg had city privileges at least since the early 14th century, and has been an important centre of commerce since then. In the 16th and 17th century, the expanding Swedish Empire fought Denmark over the southern Scandinavian provinces, eventually annexing Halland in 1645. The fortress was expanded during the centuries, but was decommissioned in 1830 and is a museum today.

Get in
There is no airport in Varberg except for a small landing strip on Getterön only used for recreational flying, nearest international airport is in Gothenburg which has flights from most airport hubs in Europe. Ground travel to Varberg by airport bus to Gothenburg and train. Copenhagen Airport is an option, connected to Varberg by train, 2½ hours travel time.

Coming by rail, Varberg is along the line between Gothenburg and Copenhagen via Malmö with plenty of departures, every hour during the day and more often during mornings and evenings, named Öresundståg. Travel time from Gothenburg is 40 minutes and three hours from Copenhagen. Tickets for Öresundståg trains can be bought with credit card in machines at the station. They are not sold on board, must be prebought. Connections is also available from Borås with six trains daily, see Hallandstrafiken. There are no direct trains from the capital Stockholm, a change of trains in Gothenburg is necessary, with tickets from SJ. is a block north of the city centre.

Highway E6/E20 passes by just outside the city. From Stockholm use roads E4, 40 and 41.

Cycling is also a popular option with several bicycle paths passing through.



Get around
The city center is easily accessible by foot. Other options are bicycle and car. There is a small bus network run by Hallandstrafiken, there are at least half-hourly departures from morning to early evening.

See




Do
Get a spa at Apelviken or just walk around. Varberg also has some of the best wind surfing in Sweden, with a surf centre in Apelviken. The centre offers rental surf boards and it has a café that's open day time. Next to the center you find the restaurant "Majas vid Havet" [Majas by the Sea] which offers excellent food and wine. They're only open in July, and they put on concerts practically every night of the week.

Eat
Varberg has several different restaurants and bars serving food. It also has a fish shop in the harbour for those wanting to make their own meal. Apelviken, a short taxi ride south of the city, offers a wide range of food, with 4 popular restaurants spread out along the sand strip. "Solviken" attracts mostly customers from the nearby camping. "John's Place" is famous for its fantastic location - on the beach - and it has a good but pricey Bar-B-Q. "Majas vid Havet" is well known for its concerts with major Swedish pop groups, their good food and nice atmosphere. Be sure to order their tender ribs. The shooting star is "Olles", a small and very popular outdoor restaurant in the south part of the bay. They serve good food at great value.



Drink
Varberg has several bars and a good nightlife in the summer. Most bars are open to 02:00 on the weekends.



Go next
From Varberg there are excellent bicycle paths as well as good road connections (E6/E20) and frequent trains both northbound and southbound along the coast connecting:
 * Kungsbacka, 40 km north
 * Göteborg, 80 km north
 * Falkenberg, 40 km south

There is also a train connection as well as the road 40 connecting to Borås.

Other notable places to go to is Ullared 33 km east along the road 153 in Falkenberg municipality with the massive shopping mall Gekås.

Moreover, you can take the ferry to Grenå in Denmark. There are two daily departures and the crossing takes about 4 hours.