Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [251]
Hotell Gästis (100 12; www.hotell-gastis.com; Herrevägen 1; s/d from Skr850/1095; ) This place has pleasant rooms in a small grey building. There’s also a good restaurant here, with lunch specials and à la carte dinners.
Café Glasskas (Porjusvägen 7; mains Skr35-75) A coffeeshop, bar and internet cafe, Glasskas has a great, wide patio for warm-weather dining, casual but filling meals (salads, quiches, sandwiches etc) and friendly service.
Ájtte Museum restaurant (mains Skr75-90; noon-4pm) At the museum cafe, it’s possible to enhance what you’ve learned about the local wildlife by sampling some of them as a lunch special.
There are supermarkets along Storgatan.
Getting There & Away
Buses arrive and leave from the bus station on Klockarvägen. Buses 44 and 45 run twice daily to and from Gällivare (Skr107, one to three hours), and bus 45 goes to and from Arvidsjaur once a day (Skr162, two to three hours). Bus 94 runs to Kvikkjokk (Skr134, two hours) twice daily.
In summer, Inlandsbanan trains stop in Jokkmokk. For main-line trains, take bus 94 to Murjek via Vuollerim (Skr68, one hour, up to six times daily) or bus 44 bus to Boden and Luleå (Skr163, two to three hours).
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ARVIDSJAUR
0960 / pop 6948
The small settlement of Arvidsjaur, on the Inlandsbanan rail line, was established as a Sami marketplace, but it’s most famous now as a testing ground for fast machines. Local companies specialise in setting up test tracks on the frozen lakes in the area, then putting vehicles through their paces. At the time of research, construction workers were busily remaking the main street, a long-term project that should keep traffic interesting for some time.
Just off Storgatan, the town’s main road, is the tourist office (175 00; www.arvidsjaur.se/turism; Östra Skolgatan 18C; 9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri, noon-4.30 Sat & Sun Jun-Aug, 8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri Sep-May). Storgatan is also where you’ll also find banks, two supermarkets, pizza joints and petrol stations. The library (Medborgarhuset, Storgatan; Mon-Fri) has free internet access.
Sights & Activities
The first church was built in Arvidsjaur in 1607, in the hope of introducing the Sami to Christianity. Church attendance laws imposed a certain amount of pew time upon the nomadic Sami, so to make their church visits more manageable they built small cottages (gåhties) for overnighting. Some 80 of these are preserved now in Lappstaden (admission free, tours Skr30; 10am-7pm, tours 5pm Jun-Aug), just across Storgatan from the modern church. The buildings are owned by the forest Sami and are still in use. In the last week of August, Lappstaden is home to Storstämning, an annual feast, party and Sami association meeting.
From early July to early August, an old steam train (136 58; adult/child Skr190/free, Inlandsbanan travellers Skr120) makes return evening trips to Slagnäs on Friday and Saturday, departing at 5.45pm and returning around 10pm, with a stop along the way for a beach barbecue and swim.
Also in summer is the opportunity for white-water rafting (070-253 05 83; adult/child Skr445/295) on the nearby Piteälven.
For a more mellow diversion, follow the winding Kyrkstigen path from the church to the hembygdsomradet (10am-4pm), an open-air homestead museum.
Sleeping & Eating
Fast food restaurants and tiny cafes line the main drag through town; for something fancier, try the restaurant-bar in Hotell Laponia (555 00; www.hotell-laponia.se; 3-10pm).
Lappugglans Turistviste (124 13; lappugglan@hem.utfors.se; Västra Skolgatan 9; dm per adult Skr130-145, per child Skr65; ) A hostel with a likable hippie vibe, Lappugglan is close to the train station and as endearing as it is handy, with a small museum and a resident chain-saw sculptor (he made the elk standing in front of the library on Storgatan). One sleeping option is a four-bed Lappish hut.
Lapland Lodge (137 20, 0768-47 57 17; www.laplandlodge.eu; Östra Kyrkogatan 18; s/d Skr550/700, f Skr750-1050; ) A new B&B next to the church, this friendly place