Gothenburg can be expensive in the obvious places and surprisingly cheap in the ones a few streets over. A memorable date here does not require a tasting menu. The dates I keep recommending to friends are mostly under 300 kronor a head, sometimes well under.
The ferry-and-coffee loop, around 80 kronor
The Älvsnabben ferry across the Göta Älv is included in a regular Västtrafik ticket, which costs 36 kronor for ninety minutes. Buy two tickets, ride from Stenpiren to Lindholmen, walk the waterfront on the Hisingen side for fifteen minutes, get a coffee at Lindholmens Science Park or Kafé Magasinet, and ride back.
Total cost: two tickets and two coffees. Roughly 150 kronor for both of you. The ride feels like an event because you are on a boat. Most cities do not give you that for the price of a tram.
A picnic from Saluhallen, around 200 kronor
Stora Saluhallen at Kungstorget is the cheapest way to eat well in central Gothenburg. Buy bread from one stall, cheese from another, a couple of slices of cured something from Bergmans, a piece of fruit, and a bottle of cider from Systembolaget across the way. You have spent maybe 200 kronor between you.
Walk to Trädgårdsföreningen, the garden park near Centralstationen, and find a bench. The park is free, the rose garden is one of the best in northern Europe in summer, and the palm house is open year-round if it rains.
Hagabion, around 160 kronor
A ticket at Hagabion, the small cinema in Haga, runs around 130 kronor. The programming is European and independent, the room is small, and the café next door does an honest dinner for under 200 kronor a plate. A film and a shared meal afterward comes in around 600 kronor for two, which is less than dinner alone at most places on Avenyn.
The move is to pick a film neither of you has heard of. The conversation afterward writes itself.
A long fika, under 150 kronor
The most underrated cheap date in Sweden is a long fika that you do not rush. A coffee and a kanelbulle at Café Husaren in Haga, Bar Bruno on Magasinsgatan, or Alkemisten on Linnégatan runs about 70 kronor a person. Stay for two hours. Order a second coffee. The staff will not push you out.
The key is choosing a café with enough seating that you do not feel guilty taking a table. The ones I named all have it.
Slottsskogen and a thermos
Free, if you already own a thermos. Make coffee at home, walk through Slottsskogen, sit on a bench near the seal pond, and stay for as long as you want. The Gothenburg habit of bringing your own coffee on a walk is genuinely the local way of doing things, not a budget compromise.
If you want to upgrade, the kiosk at Björngårdsvillan sells coffee and pastries for under 100 kronor for two.
A Frölunda hockey ticket, around 250 kronor
Standing tickets at Scandinavium for a Frölunda Indians game start around 250 kronor. The crowd is loud, the games are fast, and the experience is specifically Scandinavian in a way that travels well as a date. A beer in the arena is expensive, so pre-game at home or at a bar near Korsvägen and arrive on time.
A hockey date sorts out compatibility quickly. If neither of you minds being part of a crowd shouting in unison for two hours, you have learned something.
The library date, free
Stadsbiblioteket at Götaplatsen is one of the most beautiful interiors in the city and it is free to walk into. The café on the ground floor is reasonable. The reading rooms upstairs are quiet enough that you can sit for an hour pretending to read while actually talking in low voices.
This sounds like a non-date. It is not. A library date is one of the better tests of whether you enjoy being in a room with someone in silence. That is a real piece of information about a person.
A walk along Vallgatan and Magasinsgatan
No budget required. Vallgatan and Magasinsgatan in the city center are dense with small shops, design stores, and cafés. A walk that ducks into Artilleriet, Velour, Norrgavel, and a couple of secondhand bookshops, with one coffee stop at Da Matteo, costs the price of one coffee each. You will spend two hours easily.
The shops are real shops, not tourist places. You see what the other person notices and picks up. That is most of a date already.