Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [197]
Limone (41 75 60; Stora Gatan 4; starters Skr75-110, pastas half/full Skr90/120, dinner mains Skr205-245; 11am-1.30pm & 5.30-10pm Mon-Fri, 5.30-10pm Sat) Limone is an elegant, upmarket Italian restaurant with stylish decor and impressive menu items such as linguine with mussels and lobster sauce, or grilled veal wrapped in Parma ham.
There’s an ICA supermarket around the corner from the First Hotel Plaza (left). Ericssons (13 55 12; Stora Torget 3) is an excellent delicatessen for stocking up on picnic supplies. For alcohol, visit Systembolaget (Stora Gatan 48).
Getting There & Around
The airport (80 56 00; www.vasterasflygplats.se) is 6km east of the city centre, and is connected by bus L941. Budget carrier Ryanair flies here daily from the UK, and other budget airlines reach a variety of destinations, including Crete and Turkey (weekly). Check the airport website for an updated schedule.
The bus and train stations are adjacent, on the southern edge of Västerås. Regional buses 65 and 69 run to Sala (Skr64, 45 minutes, up to eight weekdays, two Saturday and Sunday) as do trains (Skr41, 25 minutes, three daily). Swebus Express (0200-21 82 18; www.swebusexpress.se) runs to Uppsala (Skr157, three hours, five daily), Stockholm (Skr103, 1½ hours, six daily) and Örebro (Skr103, 1¼ hours, eight daily).
Västerås is accessible by hourly trains from Stockholm (Skr113, one hour). Trains to Örebro (Skr98, one hour), Uppsala (Skr113, 1½ hours) and Eskilstuna (Skr62, 30 minutes) are also frequent.
For taxis, call Taxi Västerås (18 50 00).
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SALA
0224 / pop 21,560
The source of tiny Sala’s parklike charm is distinctly unfrivolous. The local silver mine made Sweden rich in the 16th and 17th centuries, and its creation changed the face of the town centre: those small rivers, ponds and canals that weave so prettily through and around the town were built to power the mines.
The tourist office (552 02; www.sala.se/turism; Stora Torget; 8am-5pm Mon-Fri year-round, plus 10am-2pm Sat May-Sep) inside the town hall faces the main square; it doesn’t always stick to posted hours, but brochures are also available at the library (555 01; Norra Esplanaden 5). Free internet access is available at both the tourist office and library. The free town map is useful if you want to use the walking paths.
Sights & Activities
Even if you’re reluctant to take the plunge, the above-ground parts of Sala Silvergruva (67 72 50; www.salasilvergruva.se; 10am-5pm May-Sep, 11am-4pm Oct-Apr), a mine about 2km south of the town centre, are nice to walk around. Bring a camera – the weird landscape of mysterious, purpose-built structures occasionally sprouts chimneys or falls away into deep holes. The mine closed in 1908. The 30-odd listed buildings in the museum village contain artists’ workshops, a cafe, a mine museum and a small Swedish-only police museum (adult/child Skr20/10; noon-4pm Jun-Aug), full of rusty knuckledusters.
Beneath the surface are 20km of galleries, caverns and shafts, which you can explore on one of two mine tours. The more frequent tour is the informative one-hour 60 Metersturen (adult/child Skr100/50). The 90-minute tour, 150 Metersturen (Skr200), goes down to 150m. Tours aren’t scheduled in advance; they’re given depending on when enough people show up and how deep most of them want to go. To be sure of catching a tour in English, book ahead.
Both village and mine are off the Västerås road. It’s a pretty walk along the Gröna Gången (Green Walk), which takes you southwest via the parks and the Mellandammen pond at Sofielund. Public transport connections aren’t good; take the Silverlinjen bus from the train station to Styrars, then walk the remaining 500m.
In the main park in town is Väsby Kungsgård (106 37; www.vasbykungsgard.se; Museuigatan 2; adult/child Skr25/free; 1-4pm Mon-Fri), a 16th-century royal farm where