Haga is Gothenburg's best-preserved 19th-century neighbourhood — a district of low wooden houses, cobbled lanes, and small independent shops that was built in the 1820s and 1830s to house workers. It fell into serious disrepair in the 1960s, was slated for demolition, and was saved by a community campaign that became a landmark in Swedish preservation history. The renovation in the 1980s brought boutiques, cafés, and antique shops, and Haga is now one of the most pleasant areas in the city for an afternoon's wander.
The main street, Haga Nygata, is lined with coffee houses and bakeries. The cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) at Café Husaren are famously large — genuinely larger than a side plate — and people come specifically to sit in the old art nouveau café interior and eat one. The street gets crowded on weekends; early mornings or weekday afternoons are calmer.
Skansen Kronan, a 17th-century fort on the hill just south of Haga, is worth climbing for the views over the city and the harbour.