The Unesco World Heritage–listed Gammelstad, Sweden's largest church town, was the medieval centre of northern Sweden. The 1492-built stone Nederluleå church has a reredos worthy of a cathedral and a wonderfully opulent pulpit. Four hundred and twenty-four wooden houses (where the pioneers stayed during weekend pilgrimages) and six church stables remain.
Guided tours (Skr70) leave from the Gammelstad tourist office at 10am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm (mid-June to mid-August).
Bus 9 runs roughly hourly from Luleå; disembark at the Kyrkbyn stop.
Adjoining the church village is an open-air museum, Hägnan (open 11am to 5pm) a recreation of a 19th-century village, staffed by guides and actors in period costume, which houses an ‘olde tyme’ candy store and where you can have a go at baking bread or assisting the blacksmith.
