Borås: Art, Nature and Hiking Trails

Borås combines urban culture with easy access to nature: The city is surrounded by forests and lakes and is located about an hour from Gothenburg. Bus route 100 connects Gothenburg with Borås Central Station; the journey takes just under an hour.

Places

Other places in the selection include Bredared, Äspered, Aplared, Backabo, Kinnarumma, Målsryd, Dalsjöfors and Borås, as well as Borgstena, Sparsör, Rydboholm, Dannike, Sjömarken and Seglora.

Culture

Borås Art Museum displays national and international contemporary art; admission is free. The collection at the Textile Museum covers products from the Swedish textile industry from the 1870s to the present day. In the DIY area of the Textile Museum, visitors can use tools and materials free of charge for their own sewing projects.

In the centre of Borås, there are more than one hundred sculptures, installations and murals spread across an area of just under 1.5 kilometres. In addition, Borås has around 40 murals; most were created as part of the former No Limit® festival. The Hej Borås app offers three different art walks and also shows additional sculptures and street-art murals in Borås. One art walk in the app is 1.3 kilometres long and starts and ends at Sandwalls Plats.

Wildlife and Knowledge

Around 300 animals from 42 different species live at Borås Djurpark. The Djurpark serves as a centre for species conservation, biological diversity and research. Navet Science Center offers experiments and interactive discoveries for all age groups. The exhibitions include natural sciences, lightning, mental challenges and space.

Nature

Borås’s 16 nature reserves offer leisure activities such as fishing, birdwatching and hiking. The Borås Outdoor Guide shows hiking trails, facilities and nature reserves and includes information about difficulty level, length and amenities. Borås offers roller-skiing tracks as well as cycling and mountain-biking trails through beautiful nature and challenging terrain. Numerous hiking trails and exercise routes make it possible to experience nature on foot.

Rya Åsar is located right by the centre of Borås and offers paths through rocky landscapes and oak forests, as well as lakes and viewpoints. From Björbobacken, an accessible 1-kilometre path leads to a viewpoint with tables and benches. Rya Åsar also has hiking trails of 2.4, 4 and 9 kilometres with varying difficulty levels; the longer trails range from moderate to challenging.

The Storsjöleden hiking trail is 8.5 kilometres long, provides a sense of wilderness and passes traces of the old cultural landscape. The Linnémarschen routes range from an accessible 3-kilometre course to a two-day, 57-kilometre hike with tent camping. The Linnémarschen hiking event has been held in Borås for more than 40 years and is now considered Sweden’s largest hiking event.

In the surroundings of Borås, Vänga mosse offers an easy hike with abundant birdlife; part of the trail is accessible and runs along wide wooden boardwalks.

Activities

Borås offers winter activities such as sledding hills, ice rinks, winter swimming and ski slopes. In winter, Borås Skidstadion, with ski slopes and snowmaking capacity, is located directly below the Ymer outdoor recreation area. The Ymer outdoor recreation area also has a 27-hole disc golf course. Four exercise or hiking trails start there; the long Sjuhäradsleden hiking trail also passes Ymergården.

Borås has numerous swimming spots as well as a snorkelling park and opportunities to use a wood-fired sauna. In the surroundings of Borås, the canoe route in Bosnäs follows the Bosjön lake system; the entire route takes around two hours by canoe.

To the main travel overview: Västra Götaland.