Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [238]
Hotel Pilen (14 14 60; Pilgatan 5; s Skr650-750, d Skr850) This small boutique hotel has comfy, unfussy rooms in a quiet area some 600m from the town centre and close to the river. There’s a good restaurant attached.
Royal Hotel (10 07 30; www.royalhotelumea.com; Skolgatan 62; s/d Skr1240/1440, discounted to Skr650/850) The Royal Hotel has its own cinema, a fancy sauna and a popular restaurant, Greta’s, right in the heart of town. Staff will serve you breakfast (on request) in your spacious, clean-lined, Scandi-chic room.
Eating & Drinking
No fewer than three lively pubs – with competing music and outdoor seating in summer – surround Renmarkstorget, the square near the tourist office.
Schmäck (19 68 48; Kungsgatan 49; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat Jun-Aug, Wed-Sat Sep-May) Next to Maxim is this funky, laid-back coffeeshop-chocolaterie, where you can sample the latest chocolate decadence, sip fair-trade coffee and browse the little design boutique adjoining the cafe.
Rost Mat & Kaffe (135 800; Rådhusesplanaden 4B; soup Skr65; 11am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) This teeny industrial-chic coffeeshop is covered in tiles and doles out good espresso and light meals.
Maxim (13 82 83; Kungsgatan 47; dinner specials Skr59-89) This popular and fashionable pub-restaurant specialises in pizza and beer package deals, but it also does upmarket pub grub. It’s handily located near the STF hostel.
Teatercafe (15 63 21; Vasaplan; light meals Skr95, dinner mains Skr125-165; 11am-midnight Mon-Thu, 11am-2am Fri, noon-2am Sat) Part of the Folkets Hus performance hall, across from the Royal Hotel, is this upmarket garden-party restaurant and terrace bar, where classy-looking people linger in a fenced-off patio over salads and chic reinventions of traditional Swedish food.
Self-caterers should try the Gourmet ICA supermarket (Renmarkstorget 5A; 8am-8pm); for alcohol there’s Systembolaget (Kungsgatan 50A).
Getting There & Away
AIR
The airport (71 61 00) is 4km south of the city centre. SAS and Malmö Aviation each fly to Stockholm up to seven times daily; there are also direct flights to Luleå, Göteborg and Örebro.
BOAT
RG Line (090-18 52 00;; www.rgline.com) operates ferries between Umeå and Vaasa (Finland) once or twice daily (Sunday to Friday). A bus to the port leaves from near the tourist office an hour before RG Line’s departures.
BUS
The long-distance bus station is directly opposite the train station. Ybuss runs services south up to three times daily to Gävle (Skr375, seven hours) and Stockholm (Skr415, nine hours), via the coastal towns of Sundsvall, Örnsköldsvik, Härnösand, Hudiksvall and Söderhamn.
Umeå is the main centre for Länstrafiken i Västerbotten (020-91 00 19; www.ltnbd.se), the regional bus network. Direct buses to Mo i Rana (Norway) run once daily (bus 300, eight hours), but buses going as far as Tärnaby (Skr233, 5½ hours) run up to four times a day. Other destinations include Östersund (Skr326, 6½ hours, three daily), Skellefteå (Skr148, two hours, several daily) and Luleå (Skr285, four hours 40 minutes, several daily).
TRAIN
Tågkompaniet trains leave daily from Umeå, to connect at Vännäs with the north–south trains between Stockholm (Skr831, 7½ hours, four daily) and Luleå (Skr262, 5½ hours, once daily); northbound trains stop in Boden, from where there are connections to Kiruna (Skr498, nine hours, twice daily) and Narvik (Norway).
Getting Around
Local buses leave from Vasaplan on Skolgatan. The Flygbuss (16 22 50) leaves the airport for the city centre 10 minutes after every flight from Stockholm (Skr35, 20 minutes); transfers to other city buses are free for two hours. Or call Umeå Taxi (77 00 00); it’s about Skr150 to the airport.
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SKELLEFTEÅ & AROUND
0910 / pop 73,000
Strewn along the river like a temptress on a chaise longue, and playing up its attractions by setting them in parks along the water, Skellefteå seduces and rewards the unhurried. It’s like one long, lovely open-air museum designed for idle meandering – with