Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

DISCOVER SWEDEN

Sweden’s most bizarre tourist attraction is up for sale – again

Have you always dreamed of owning an enormous Chinese-style building next to Sweden’s main motorway? You’re in luck, for Dragon Gate is again on the market.

Published: 24 June 2024 15:30 CEST
Sweden's most bizarre tourist attraction is up for sale – again
Dragon Gate, near Älvkarleby south of Gävle. Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/TT

Driving along the E4 motorway from Uppsala to Gävle on Sweden’s east coast is like this: forest, forest, forest, forest, GIANT CHINESE CONCRETE BUILDING, forest, forest, goat on fire.

The Dragon Gate saga began in 2004, when Chinese billionaire Jingchun Li bought the former Hotel Älvkarlen with the aim of turning it into a hotspot “where east meets west”.

But the building remained unfinished, with only a restaurant, museum (featuring an army of 200 replica terracotta soldiers) and a souvenir shop opening to customers at the time.

The construction of the hotel finished in 2014, but couldn’t open due to not meeting Sweden’s fire regulations, among other things. A few years later Li left Sweden, having fuelled 200 million kronor into the project, and the building was left practically deserted.

In 2017, it was bought up by Swedish construction development group Sisyfos.

Its biggest mark on Dragon Gate was to organise a techno festival at the venue, which vowed to be the culmination of “years of struggle” and to “go down in history”.

Then came the pandemic and the building was again left empty.

It is now again up for sale, reports regional newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning (UNT).

The price tag is 40 million kronor.

“We need someone who is as crazy as we were,” co-owner Thomas Sonesson told UNT.

Public broadcaster SVT reports that Dragon Gate has in fact been up for sale for a year, with buyers not exactly lining up for the chance to try to turn fortunes around for the building.

“We have to find the right buyer who wants to develop the project for the future,” Sonesson told SVT.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

MOVING TO SWEDEN

Here’s why Umeå was just ranked the best place to live in Sweden

Situated seven hours north of Stockholm, Umeå may not be the most famous municipality beyond the borders of Sweden – but there's more to this northern city than meets the eye.

Published: 28 June 2024 10:35 CEST
Here's why Umeå was just ranked the best place to live in Sweden

Umeå is in fact the best place to live in Sweden, according to a new ranking by the magazine Fokus. 

The research was carried out by Infostat on behalf of Fokus and looked at factors such as household economy, safety, jobs, education, childcare, healthcare, infrastructure, services, leisure and public economy.

“This is of course great. All of northern Sweden and not least Umeå is on fire right now and offers residents extremely good opportunities to live good lives,” Umeå mayor Hans Lindberg said in a press statement.

Lindberg highlighted the fact that the city has low unemployment, good proximity to nature and good transport links. It was also ranked highly when it came to feelings of safety, has a low gun violence rate, low ethnic segregation and good police presence.

It’s also the largest city in Sweden with no so-called vulnerable areas.

While much of the rest of Norrland is predominantly industrial, Umeå has two universities, so the city benefits from a young population and a thriving cultural scene. Many people outside Sweden may not have heard of it, but it does have one claim to fame internationally: Stig Larsson, the author of the Millennium crime trilogy, grew up in Umeå and wrote some of his earliest work in the city.

And having a university appears to be a common theme in the top three, where Umeå was joined by Luleå, also in Norrland, and Karlstad, on the shores of Lake Vänern.

The study also looked at how different cities fare among varying groups of people who may not want the same things. The best municipalities for people in their twenties, for example, were Solna, Stockholm and Luleå, while families with young children had the same top three as the study as a whole, but in a different order, with Luleå first, followed by Karlstad, followed by Umeå.

Pensioners preferred Örnsköldsvik, also in Norrland, followed by Umeå and Solna.

The worst municipalities overall were Tanum, Älvdalen and Vansbro.

Here’s the top ten:

1. Umeå

2. Luleå

3. Karlstad

4. Lidingö

5. Mölndal

6. Täby

7. Örnsköldsvik

8. Östersund

9. Nacka

10. Lund

And the bottom ten:

281. Heby

282. Gnesta

283. Östhammar

284. Valdemarsvik

285. Flen

286. Vingåker

287. Gagnef

288. Vansbro

289. Älvdalen

290. Tanum

Do you live in Umeå? Do you agree it’s the best place to live in Sweden? Let us know in the comments what you like about it.

SHOW COMMENTS