Gothenburg Tours is the result of thirty-two years of discovering our hometown. Let’s step back to 1991 and a young Swiss university student, Hans Hirschi, arriving in Gothenburg. He’s on an excursion with twenty fellow students, a research assistant, and their professor. The goal of the trip was to immerse themselves in Nordic culture and history.
One year later, one student returned to Gothenburg to study literature at the University of Gothenburg. Hans still lives in the area, which he has called home for over thirty years.
He graduated from university in 1993 and found his post-graduate studies into Henrik Ibsen interesting but not leading anywhere. He embarked on a corporate career in learning and development that has taken him around the globe many times, both as an executive and as a teacher/instructor.
2017: from a hobby to a passionate business
Over the years, countless friends and colleagues from around the world have passed through Gothenburg, visiting Hans Hirschi and/or his family. And he’s taken them to see the sights. As a student of Nordic philology (the knowledge of the Nordics), he’s always been interested in the history, geography, culture, etc. of his hometown. Over the years, he’s amassed a tremendous amount of–call it–”Jeopardy Knowledge” about the region.
As a full-time author, Hans decided to use the downtime in his writing to guide visitors professionally. But not in front of a bus with a microphone in hand, parroting the same memorized phrases ten times a day to hundreds of tourists, but to take his guests by the hand and show them his Gothenburg, based on their interests, their likes. In 2017 we founded Gothenburg Tours as a business, not just a hobby.
Billionaires, celebrities, and birthday trips with Grandpa
Working with hotels, cruise lines, and a few travel agencies but mostly in direct contact with his clients, Hans Hirschi has had the pleasure of guiding very interesting people around his hometown. Naturally, our lips will forever be sealed as to who they were, and what we discovered together. But each tour is different, from the mode of transportation, the sights we discover, the order in which we visit places, the stories told, or the places where we stop to eat. To Hans, each guest is equally important, and he adjusts his pace, or the stories to his guests, whether they are eight or eighty years old.
Due to his education and his long experience, he can take you places nobody else would dream of. Just ask! History, nature, geology, architecture, culture; your interests will shape your time in Gothenburg with Hans.
Your guide: Hans Hirschi
A frequent traveler, father to an eleven-year-old, and writer of twenty-six books (and counting), you’ll meet a guide who’s still curious to learn new things. He loves to discover even more quaint stories to delight his guests with, and he is an endless source of anecdotes from his businesses, his artsy background, or his many travels. If you’re curious to learn more about Hans, visit his website.
Hans speaks five languages fluently and will be able to guide you in English, Swedish/Scandinavian, Alemannic, German, Italian, or French. Hans has been called a force of nature, and whether you meet him for a two-hour walking tour downtown or a couple of days to travel across West Sweden, he’ll take excellent care of you!
That is our promise.