Luleå

Luleå, also called Lule, is the seat of Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. The city lies at the mouth of the Lule River, in the north-west corner of the Gulf of Bothnia. It has about 70,000 inhabitants, a technical university, and a steel mill.

Understand


When Luleå was mentioned in documents for the first time in 1327, it was located on the site of today's Gammelstad. It developed into a market place and centre of a parish, which at that time included almost all Norrbotten. Due to the post-glacial land rebound, it became increasingly difficult to use the harbour, and in the mid-17th century the town relocated to where it is now, with the old town changing its name to Gammelstad. The major employers in the area are the steel industry and Facebook (which operates some data centres there). The city is located about 110 km south of the Arctic Circle.

By plane


The airport is in Kallax (and thus is commonly called Kallax airport), about 5 km from Luleå city centre, which is accessible by shuttle bus or taxi. The shuttle bus to the centre costs 50 kr each way, and it's departures are based on the flight schedule.

There are scheduled flights from Kiruna and Tromsø (Nordkalottflyg), Pajala (Nordkalottflyg), Umeå and Östersund (Nordic Regional), Gothenburg (City Airline), Sundsvall and Borlänge (Direktflyg), London (one flight every Saturday, SAS) and Riga (AirBaltic).

By train


Luleå is connected to Stockholm by the over 100-year-old Norra Stambanan (Northern Trunk Line), which travels way into the inner parts of northern Sweden before meeting the coast again at Umeå. Thus, it can be a good price option between Luleå and the southern parts (from Sundsvall and south) of the country, but not between Luleå and some of the other larger cities along the coastline in the northern half of the country, such as Umeå and Skelleftea). All along the northern coast, bus is the way to travel.

Vy has a few sleeper trains scheduled each night between Luleå and Stockholm, about a 14-hr ride; consider paying extra for a bed while booking.

The Malmbanan railway leads from Narvik in Norway to Luleå via the towns of Kiruna, Gällivare and Boden. The railway is not connected to the rest of the Norwegian rail network. The line was mostly intended to deliver the products of Swedish mining to Norway's northernmost ice-free port and was thus of tremendous strategical importance, but it is also an important link for passenger travel in this remote corner. It also reaches the northernmost points connected to the mainline standard gauge rail network in Europe.

There are also regional trains from Haparanda, at the border with Finland via Kalix and Boden.



By bus
Tapanis Buss has a line going from Stockholm to Tornio, Finland, with a stop in Luleå. Ticket from Stockholm are 870 kr, from Tornio 200 kr.

As there was no passenger rail traffic to Haparanda (at the Finnish border) 1992–2021, the gap got covered by buses, which are free with most rail passes. The journey to the Finnish border at Tornio/Haparanda takes 2½ hr, and onward to Kemi (with trains all year) another half an hour. Note the timezone difference between Sweden and Finland. Local and regional buses are run by Länstrafiken Norrbotten.

lies 200 m from the railway station.

By car
Luleå is on E4 between southern Sweden and Tornio in Finland and on E10 from Narvik in Norway via Kiruna and Gällivare to Luleå.

Get around
A fast, cheap and comfortable way of getting to the different parts of the city, is by using the local bus traffic (LLT). Local buses are usually 20 kr per trip. If you plan on making more than 4 trips, buy a 3-day tourist pass from the tourist office, which allows you unlimited travel on local buses for 80 kr.

At weekends you should be able to catch a night-bus from most local traffic bus stations about once an hour between 00:00 and 03:00, at a raised cost.

See




Do


Lulea to Narvik is, on average, 7 h 33 min for the distance. Narvik is the northernmost standard-gauge railway station in the world. This iron Ore Line passes through forests of Sweden, the Scandinavian Mountains and the thick forests of Norrbotten and Lappland.

Go next

 * Piteå — Known for the dish "pitepalt" and the local Swedish dialect pitemål.
 * Skellefteå — A mining town renowned for its hockey team.