By train

The railway that matters is the Västkustbanan — the "west coast line" — which runs from Gothenburg down through Kungsbacka, Åsa, Varberg, Falkenberg and Halmstad to Båstad, Helsingborg and on to Malmö and Copenhagen. It's fully electrified double track, not a scenic branch line, and it carries a genuinely frequent service in both directions from early morning to late evening. If you're moving between Halland's towns, or arriving from Gothenburg or Copenhagen, this line is almost always the fastest and least stressful option — faster than driving in daytime traffic and far less hassle than trying to park in a town centre.

Two kinds of train share the tracks. Öresundståg runs the regional service, stopping at every town along the coast and continuing over the Öresund bridge into Denmark; it's the workhorse for county-to-county hops. SJ runs faster long-distance trains that call at fewer stations, useful if you're going further — say Gothenburg to Halmstad or on to Stockholm. Both operators sell tickets that are valid on their own services, and both can be booked well ahead or bought shortly before departure, so there's no need to lock in a specific train weeks in advance unless you want the cheapest fare.

Coming from Gothenburg, the first Halland stop is Kungsbacka, reached in well under half an hour — it's effectively a commuter hop, and Kungsbacka sits inside Gothenburg's Västtrafik public-transport zone rather than Halland's own ticketing area (more on that below). South of Kungsbacka the line runs close to the coast through Åsa and on to Varberg, roughly an hour out of Gothenburg. From Varberg it continues to Falkenberg and then Halmstad, the county's largest town and its main rail junction, before running on to Laholm, Båstad and the Skåne border. Journey times lengthen gradually the further south you go — Gothenburg to Halmstad is comfortably under two hours on a direct train — and the same line, run the other direction, reaches Halmstad from Copenhagen Airport in around two hours with Helsingborg and Malmö on the way.

At the southern end of the county, Öresundståg trains blend into a dense cross-border network with Pågatåg, the Skåne regional trains, so travellers coming up from Malmö or Lund have more departures to choose from than the raw Öresundståg timetable alone suggests. At the northern end, Kungsbacka and the county boundary are close enough to Gothenburg that some journeys are effectively suburban commuter trips rather than main-line intercity ones — worth knowing if you're basing yourself in Kungsbacka or Åsa and popping into Gothenburg for the day.

Öresundståg and SJ each sell tickets through their own apps and websites, and both accept payment cards without requiring a Swedish bank account or phone number — genuinely tourist-friendly compared with some other transport systems in the region. Fares are generally cheaper the further ahead you book and pinned to a specific train, while flexible, buy-on-the-day tickets cost more but let you turn up and go. Neither operator publishes a fixed timetable that's worth reproducing here, since it changes with the seasons and with engineering works — always check current departures directly with SJ or Öresundståg before you travel.

One wrinkle worth knowing about: Kungsbacka sits inside Västtrafik's Gothenburg-region zone system, so short hops between Kungsbacka and Gothenburg can also be covered by a Västtrafik ticket or the Västtrafik app, which is a separate system from Öresundståg and from Hallandstrafiken further south. If you're day-tripping to Gothenburg from Kungsbacka or Åsa, it's worth checking both the Öresundståg fare and the Västtrafik option, since one or the other is often simpler depending on where exactly you're starting and finishing.

Every main Halland town has a station within easy walking distance of its centre — Halmstad's is a short walk from the old town and the Nissan, Falkenberg's sits just north of the centre, and Kungsbacka's is a genuine commuter-rail stop with frequent departures. Varberg is the exception right now: the town's railway is being rebuilt into a tunnel with a new underground station as part of a major infrastructure project, so the current station, platforms and any replacement bus links are temporary and can change with little notice. If Varberg is part of your trip, check the current arrangements directly with SJ or Öresundståg shortly before you travel rather than relying on anything printed or cached.

Once you're off the train, Local buses covers how Hallandstrafiken's regional bus network picks up where the railway leaves off, and Getting around looks at the county as a whole, including when a car actually beats the train.

• SJ — long-distance and regional Swedish rail tickets and timetables
• Öresundståg — the regional service linking Halland with Gothenburg, Malmö and Copenhagen
• Hallandstrafiken — connecting buses at Halland's stations