Stockholm to Göteborg / Gothenburg by train

The Swedish national operator SJ operates these Snabbtåg trains, which are the fastest trains on the Stockholm to Göteborg route.

It also operates its Regional Trains between the two cities, they're more than two hours slower, but if you will be booking tickets last minute, they will be cheaper.
And if you will be travelling with an InterRail or Eurail Pas, you can save money by avoiding the rail pass reservation fee, which has to be paid before boarding to travel by these Snabbtåg trains.

SJ's InterCity trains also operate on this route, but they are only scheduled to depart on Monday to Friday at 13:41 and Sundays at 17:29.

But SJ does not operate the only trains on this route, alternative express trains are also operated by MTR; and now by Flix trains.

Final Destination: Göteborg (or Uddevalla or)

These Snabbtåg trains to Göteborg normally depart from platform/spar 10 at Stockholm C station, which is adjacent to the main concourse; the trains will pull into the station from the servicing depot around 5 mins before departure.

If you're not sure where to wait on the platform, in order to board the train by the door that’s closest to your reserved seat, there is usually an SJ staff member on the platform who guides passengers and answers questions.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: around 6 months ahead

Try to book for a date too far ahead and ‘Not Available' will be displayed.

It won't mean that the train has sold out, instead you'll have to check back a couple of days later to see if the tickets have been released for sale

Booking Advice for these Snabbtag trains:

• Reservations are complimentary; seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey by these Snabbtåg trains.
• If you can be flexible with departure and arrival times then search through the day's trains to see which have the cheapest fares; Snabbtåg trains leaving earlier/later on the same day MAY be 3 x cheaper than other departures.
• Generally it's best to ignore the SJ Regional trains*, they're around 1hr 30mins slower than these Snabbtåg trains and tickets aren't generally cheaper, particularly if you're booking ahead.

Though if you'll be booking last minute tickets at the station, it's likely that you'll be able to make a significant saving by taking those Regional trains.

Comparing the prices of SJ's Trains with the alternative Trains:

MTR Express and FlixTrains also operate on this Stockholm - Gothenburg route
However, because they are not operated by SJ, they cannot be booked on the SJ website.
And their respective websites only sell the MTR and FlixxTrains, so you'll need to check out all three websites if you want to compare prices and departure times

Rail Pass Users:

Rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding if you want to take these Snabbtåg trains.

Booking your rail pass reservations online, before you arrive in Sweden is highly recommended - the instructions for how to do this are here.

Though the comparatively expensive supplements charged on these Snabbtåg trains can be avoided if you take the SJ Regional trains.

Rail passes cannot be used at all on the MTR Express trains.

Final Destination: Göteborg

These SJ Regional trains are generally around two hours slower than the alternative express Snabbtåg trains when you'll be making a journey from Stockholm to Göteborg.

So why even consider travelling by these trains?

Three reasons:

1. If you will be booking tickets last minute at the station, you can make a significant saving by taking these trains.
   There's a chance that they'll also be much cheaper if you look up this journey online, only a couple of days ahead of your travel date.

2. If you will be exploring Sweden with an InterRail or Eurail Pass, you can avoid the comparatively expensive rail pass reservation fees payable on the Snabbtåg trains, by taking these trains instead.

3. These trains are slower than the Snabbtåg trains because they take a different route.
   So if your goal is to see as much as Sweden from the train as possible, you could travel to Gothenburg, by these trains; and then return to Stockholm by the Snabbtåg trains.

Book early and save: Yes

You can save by booking these Regional trains ahead, but the savings won't be as great as on the alternative Snabbtåg trains

Online bookings open: around 6 months ahead

If you're booking at least a couple of days ahead it's likely that the cheapest Snabbtåg departures won't cost much more than tickets for these Regional trains

Try to book for a date too far ahead and ‘Not Available' will be displayed.

It won't mean that the train has sold out, instead you'll have to check back a couple of days later to see if the tickets have been released for sale

Booking Advice for these Regional trains:

• Seat reservations are not available on these Regional trains.
• On the journey booking pages on the SJ website, the journeys by these trains are those which don't have 'High Speed' written beside the journey time.
• If you'll be booking last minute tickets at the station, it's likely that you'll be able to make a significant saving by taking these Regional trains.

If you're new to booking tickets for train journeys in Sweden we also recommend taking a look at our guide to Swedish train tickets - it should help you save time and money and confusion.

Comparing the prices of SJ's Trains with the MTR Trains:

MTR Express trains also operate on this Stockholm - Gothenburg route

However, because they are not operated by SJ, they cannot be booked on the SJ website.

And the SJ website doesn't sell tickets for the MTR trains, so you'll need to check out both websites if you want to compare prices and departure times

Rail Pass Users:

Rail pass users don't need to pay any fees prior to boarding these trains - because reservations are not available.

So if you will be travelling with a rail pass taking these Regional trains, is always a cheaper alternative to taking the Snabbtåg trains.

Final Destination: Göteborg

These trains operated by MTR compete with trains operated by Swedish national rail operator SJ, on this Stockholm to Gothenburg/Göteborg route.

These MTR Express trains are slightly slower than SJ's Snabbtåg trains, but are much faster than SJ's Regional trains.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: around 3 months ahead

Comparing the prices of SJ's Trains with these MTR Trains:
These MTR Express trains compete with SJ's trains on this Stockholm - Gothenburg route.
However, because they are not operated by SJ, they cannot be booked on the SJ website.
And the SJ website doesn't sell tickets for the MTR trains, so you'll need to check out both websites if you want to compare prices and departure times

Rail Pass Users:

Rail passes cannot be used at all on the MTR Express trains.

Final Destination: Göteborg

These trains operated by the German travel company Flix, now also operate on this route, they're set up to be low-cost, but more basic services, so it's a good idea to take a look at the respective 'Train Guides' to see how they compare.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 3 months ahead

Something to be aware of when booking tickets for journeys by FlixTrain is that Flix is predominantly a bus operator, so the train travel options for booking tickets are listed alongside the bus travel options; also some of the info around ticket exchanges and FAQs in general can point at the FlixBus website.
To make a it easier to hone in on a train journey it can be a good idea to look up the timetables to check the departure times which suit and then keep these times in mind looking for your rail ticket(s).

Much of the general advice around booking and using rail tickets in Sweden doesn't apply to journeys by FlixTrain.
Tickets booked with SJ, the Swedish national rail operator, can't be used on FlixTrains, as Flix has used its own terms and conditions and set its own policies for how its tickets can be booked and used.

What are particularly different from SJ is the reservation / seat selection on FlixTrain and how tickets can be exchanged