Sweden - Göta Kanal

Picture: Göta Canal between Borensberg and Vandrarhem Glasbruket after a rainy day.

The ‘Göta kanal’ is a canal in Götaland with a length of 190.5 kilometers. It runs between Mem on the Baltic Sea and Sjötorp on the eastern shore of Lake Vänern. Together with the river ‘Gota älv’ and ‘Trollhätte kanal’ it connects Stockholm with Göteborg. .

The canal - built between 1810 and 1832 - was an important link in the transportation of wood and iron. The promoter and building contractor was the Swedish admiral Baltzar von Platen. 87 kilometers of the canal was excavated manually by 58.000 soldiers. ‘Göta Kanal’ has a width which varies from 7 to 14 meters and a maximum depth of about 3 meters. At its highest point the canal is 91.8 meters above sea level and has 58 locks (PiP 1, one of the locks) along the way.

Nowadays the waterway is only used by pleasure boats (Pip 2) and vintage canal boats like M/S Juno (PiP 3), launched in 1874 and specially designed to sail in the ‘Göta Kanal’. It is the world’s oldest registered ship with overnight accommodation.