Favourite place when you have a day or week off?

The archipelago around Gothenburg has about 1,000 islands. By boat you can reach any one and have an island to yourself. No one owns an island in Sweden and there is no trespassing law - everyone has access, except to certain places when birds are hatching.

Mostly we take our boat to uninhabited islands, but only in summer. Some of the inhabited islands, such as BrAnno, have dancing to folk music on the jetty. Styrso (www.styrso.se) is another lovely island where about 3,000 people live.

The Swedish summer runs from May to September, but most Swedes take their summer holidays in July. In winter though we don’t use our boat. If we are not skiing in northern Sweden we will take a long walk along the quayside and the inner part of the harbour along the Jotta river or into the woods.

Eating and drinking?

There are so many restaurants. One good one down by the waterfront is Sjomagasinet (www.sjomagasinet.se). It used to be a warehouse for the East India Company about 200 years back and it still has the atmosphere.

As for cafes, Ahlstroms Konditori (Korsgatan 2, 00 46 31 13 48 93) is centrally located with good pastries, cakes and coffee.

Don’t miss

The harbour, because the city is a port and there are so many interesting buildings and churches.

You can walk from the harbour for about 2 kilometres along the Avenue (Aveyn), past all the shops and cafes, to the Museum of Art (www.konstmuseum.goteborg.se) at the cultural centre at the top. On show are quite a few artists from Scandinavia including Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn.

Remember to buy

A small butter knife made out of juniper wood. I use them myself and always take one as a present when I go abroad. We have a lot of wooden souvenirs.

Ake Edwardson’s detective stories featuring Chief Inspector Erik Winter are set in Gothenburg. They are published in Britain by Harvill Secker. Visit www.randomhouse.co.uk for more information

Find out more

For more information about West Sweden and Gothenburg visit www.west-sweden.com and www.goteborg.com.

How to get there

FlyMe (www.flyme.com) flies from Stansted to Gothenburg from pound;41 return in February including taxes.

The Gothenburg City Pass gives free admission to 20 sights, attractions and sightseeing tours, free travel on public transport, including ferries and restaurant and shopping discounts. A 24-hour pass costs pound;16 for an adult and pound;11 for a child.

Price to the planet

Offset the climate cost of a return flight to Gothenburg for pound;5 per adult (www.climatecare.org).