Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [240]
Café Lilla Mari (391 92; Nygatan 33) This sweet cafe in a small, leafy courtyard offers sandwiches from Skr35, hot lunches from Skr60 and an array of desserts.
KåffeIn (777 540; Tjärhovsgatan 14; daily specials Skr98; 11am-late Mon-Sat, 11am-4pm Sun) This modern, arty place has cool design, great-value specials – usually a hearty dish of pasta with a beer – and live music some nights.
Getting There & Away
Bus 100 departs every two hours on the Sundsvall–Umeå–Skellefteå–Luleå route (some buses continue as far north as Haparanda). Skellefteå’s nearest train station is Bastuträsk; bus 27 connects there three times daily.
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NORRBOTTEN
LULEÅ
0920 / pop 45,050
Luleå is a pretty town with several parks and a sparkling bay with a marina. There’s a compact pedestrian thoroughfare full of shops and restaurants. It’s the capital of Norrbotten, chartered in 1621; the town centre moved to its present location in 1649 because of the falling sea level (9mm per year), due to postglacial uplift of the land. An extensive offshore archipelago contains some 1700 large and small islands, many decorated with classic red-and-white Swedish summer cottages and easy to visit from the town centre.
The tourist office (45 70 00; www.lulea.se; Kulturens Hus; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) is inside Kulturens Hus, along with the library (closed Sun), with free internet access.
Boat tours of the archipelago depart from Södra Hamn daily between June and August; typical prices are from around Skr300 to Skr400 for adults, and Skr150 for children. Evening cruises are also popular; pick up a brochure at the tourist office.
Sights & Activities
If you just can’t get enough of those little red Swedish cottages with the white trim and lace curtains, head for the mother lode: the Unesco World Heritage–listed Gammelstad (Old Town; 45 70 10; www.lulea.se/gammelstad; admission free; 24hr). This little settlement – row after zigzaggy row of cute little red-and-white cottages – was the medieval centre of northern Sweden. The stone church (from 1492), 424 wooden houses (where the pioneers stayed overnight on their weekend pilgrimages) and six church stables remain. Many of the buildings are still in use, but some are open to the public and the site is lovely to walk around.
Guided tours (Skr30) leave from the Gammelstad tourist office (25 43 10; worldheritage.gammelstad@lulea.se; 9am-6pm mid-Jun–mid-Aug, 10am-4pm Tue-Thu rest of year) every hour on the hour between 10am and 4pm from mid-June to mid-August. (Tours are given in the language of whoever booked first, so you may have to wait an hour for one in English.) Bus 32 runs hourly from Luleå.
Adjoining the church village is an open-air museum, Hägnan, which houses a gift shop, ‘olde tyme’ candy store and petting zoo.
Back in Luleå, Norrbottens Museum (24 35 02; Storgatan 2; admission free; 10am-4pm Tue-Fri, noon-4pm Sat & Sun) is worth a visit just for the Sami section, but there are also exhibits about the Swedish settlers, plus films and musical performances, an outdoor maze and a kids playground. In summer it’s also open on Mondays.
The neo-Gothic Domkyrka (cathedral; Mon-Fri summer) dates from 1893 and has an unusual altarpiece.
Kids will love the gigantic, educational playground that is Teknikens Hus (492201; adult/child Skr50/30; 10am-4pm daily mid-Jun–Aug, Tue-Sun rest of year), within the university campus 4km north. The museum has hands-on exhibitions about everything from hot-air balloons to the aurora borealis (northern lights), plus a planetarium (take bus 17 or 35).
Boden, some 36km northwest of Luleå, is Sweden’s largest military town. Built in defence against Russia, it’s surrounded by forts and has several good museums. Rödbergs-fortet (0921-48 30 60; tours adult/child Skr100/75; tours 11am-3pm late Jun–mid-Aug), one of the five forts defending Boden, is open for guided tours hourly in summer and by appointment the rest of the year. The Defence Museum (0921-506 70; www.forsvaarsmuseum.se; Granatvägen 2; adult/child Skr60/30; 11am-4pm