A Cosmopolitan Centre

Gävle was a cosmopolitan centre with big visions in the 18th and 19th century and this is still shown in the architecture of the city. You will for example find our theatre built in 1878 inspired by L’Opéra Garnier in Paris, our beautiful city garden Boulognerskogen inspired by Bois de Boulogne and also a great, green and gorgeous esplanade running through the central parts of the city. Most of the tourists coming to Gävle thinks that the city is wonderful and beautiful.

And those tourists haven’t had the inside information that we will give you here.

The five most essential things for us at Fico, that we can travel a long way to experience are: good food, alternative/underground music, modern art, wine and of course inspirational fashion. So the following text is about how to fulfill these parts in an optimal way in Gävle.

For the best experience of Gävle and to make sure that you will not miss out on any of our favorite spots, we recommend that you arrive for Friday lunch. And as every place in Gävle are in walking distance, we suggest that you leave the car in the garage all weekend.

After you have checked in at our favorite hotel Elite Grand, a hotel built in the early 20th century that has been carefully renovated by Elite. You should take a walk through Alderholmen, the old ports storehouse area, on your way to Salt Studio for lunch.

The First Food Stop

At Salt, situated in the old gasometer area, you will meet the young talented couple Rasmus and Evelina. They serve amazingly tasty dishes in a fresh innovative style. Only two dishes on the lunch menu, one vegetarian and one with meat or fish. The options change everyday and everything is amazingly tasty. But 95% of the times we go for the vegetarian dishes, because they are so delicious. Salt also has a small deli where you can buy their selected favorites of cheese, olives and oil. So it´s totally worth the short 2km walk from the hotel.

After you have finished your lunch and if you are lucky to get a seat. You can cross the street from Salt and catch an early movie in one of the coziest cinemas we have attended. Also situated in one of the old gasometer buildings, the cinema is called Bio 7:an and are only showing quality movies. But be aware, they only have 20 seats!

Time for Shopping!

Now it’s time to go downtown for some shopping. If you are looking for inspirational contemporary fashion with high quality and design, then of course the only choice for you is Fico. You will find our physical store on the biggest shopping street in the centre of Gävle. On our self-designed furnishings, we show a carefully curated assortment of fashion from the best brands in Scandinavia. In addition to fashion you will also find vinyl records, perfumes, shoes and other carefully selected items. Our well educated and discrete staff will help you find the outfits of your dreams. Always with you, the customer, in focus.

When the outfits are bought and you feel satisfied, it´s wine o’clock. So you just sprint 100 meters from Fico to Verovin. This wine bar has been nominated as one of the top 3 wine bars in Sweden. And for good reason, the wine list is extremely good and reasonably priced. The food is also excellent and well-paired with the wine. So we recommend you to take a seat in the bar and suggest that you order the charcuterie and cheese plate together with a good bottle of red wine from Saint-Emilion. And that you reserve a spot for dinner later in the night.

But as all fashionistas, you need to change outfits, so after you finished your wine you head back to the hotel before returning for a late dinner.

Aprés-dinner cocktails! After a lovely dinner, you need to have some cocktails. And the place to be is Noun. This restaurant serves both fantastic cocktails and food. If you are a real meat lover, this is heaven for you. In addition to their à la carte menu, they have a meat cabin with a changing assortment of dry-aged details. But their small intimate bar is the reason for tonights visit. Here you will meet great people that zips on crafted cocktails while listening to dj:s playing alternative gems. It´s the perfect ending of your first night in Gävle.

The Walkabout

Rise and shine! With breakfast in our stomachs it´s time for a walkabout. So put on your power walk clothes and running shoes because you will in total walk around 10km. From Elite Grand you cross the bridge over Gavleån and then you will directly reach the county museum of Gävleborg. Here you will find exhibitions about the history of the regions Gästrikland and Hälsingland, together with an art collection with both classic and modern pieces.

When you are ready with your tour in the museum. We recommend that you take a stroll through the old town just behind the museum. Some of the cobblestone streets dates back to the Middle Ages and the houses are from the 16th century. Here you will find where the world known artist Gunnar Cyrén lived and crafted his silver and glass creations. You will also find a museum dedicated to protest singer Joe Hill. A worker union hero with a fascinating and intriguing story.

After this and before we lead you on the longest walk of your trip, you need to get some energy in your body. So let’s go and do the most Swedish thing you can do, a “fika” at Lido. This patisserie make everyone nostalgic as it originated 1954 and still has much of the original interior. At Lido you will find classic confectionery, sandwiches, sallad and of course strong black Swedish coffee.

After the classic “fika”, we send you in the direction to Boulognerskogen. On your way there you will pass the castle of Gävle and the prison museum. If you feel that you have the time, this prison is totally worth a visit. It´s very interesting to see the old prison cells and the exhibitions about how the life in prison was back in the day.

But the planned stop before we enter our city garden is Gävle Konstcentrum. At this place you can enjoy changing exhibitions from exiting modern artists. Search Konstcentrums website for information about who is showing their creativity when you are visiting. The art centre is located in a building that is an architecture masterpiece and has a very soothing and relaxed atmosphere. A perfect environment to reflect on the fantastic pieces and performances that are shown.

With a day full of historical and cultural elements it’s now time to be recreational in they way that the locals have done it since the 19th century. By taking a walk in our Parisian city park, Bois de Boulogne(Boulognerskogen). In this park you will find a lot of statues and sculptures, for example the beautiful Milles Angels with a view over looking the concert hall. In the summer, this park is bustling with activities, you will see people playing miniature golf, brännboll, going for a swim, sunbathing and having big family barbecues.

When you are ready with your walk in Boulognerskogen it’s time to head back to the hotel. Because we still have one more place to visit in the evening.

Let’s go to Matildas!

For this special Saturday evening we will take you to Matildas. This restaurant is as classic as it gets. It started in a simpler way in the beginning of the eighties. But for 15 years the chef couple Johan and Frida have been serving a menu of extremely well cooked French-Scandinavian classics in a modern way. This is the local neighborhood restaurant with a discrete and lovely fine-dining touch. Perfect for a date! You can also visit their lounge area for some snacks and a nice glass of Viré-Clessé. Matildas always score big points when the food guides visit.

Gävle’s club life is a bit low right now, so if you want to continue after the fantastic dinner we can only recommend a few places. If you like proper house or hiphop you can check out Nora(the basement of Noun). Or it’s possible to go to Mokai or Hits for you. At Mokai you will meet djs playing EDM and at Hits for you, they will play … hits for you.

We know that better night club days are coming soon. Because Gävle usually have a nice underground movement for electronic music with dedicated followers.

A Day to Rest

On Sunday you should rest, as all the locals also do. But if you miss breakfast or are in desperate need to cure a bad hangover. We have the perfect place for you, a place with the best comfort food Gävle has to offer, Bistro Tullhuset. This place is a newcomer in our city and get our hearts to move a bit faster when we take a big bite on our Reuben sandwich and when we drip honey over our Sobrasado.

If you want to experience Gävle even more, we encourage you to look for concerts in Gävle Konserthus and Musikhuset. See if the Theatre is putting up a good play or if Gävle’s proud hockey team Brynäs IF has a game. And of course we have many more restaurants and bars that you can visit, like for example: Le Bon, Nygatan and Erlandssons.

With that said, welcome to Gävle! We will greet you with open arms.