The Inlandsbanan

The Inlandsbanan — the Inland Line — is one of the great slow railways of the world. It runs 1,288 kilometres up the empty middle of Sweden, from the lake country of Dalarna to the mines of Lapland, through a landscape of forest, bog, river and fell where the single track is often the only thing made by people for miles in any direction.

It was built the hard way, between 1908 and 1937, to open up the interior — and it very nearly died. As roads and the coastal main line took its traffic, the line was run down, and by 1992 through services had stopped altogether. What saved it was tourism: today the northern half is run each summer by Inlandsbanan AB as a heritage tourist railway, a little red railcar ambling up the line from mid-June to mid-August.

That is exactly how to ride it — slowly. There is no luxury express here; the joy is in the pace. The train stops for coffee and lunch, halts at waterfalls and viewpoints, pauses to let you photograph the Arctic Circle marker, and slows for the moose that stand on the track. The full run takes two days, with a night in the island city of Östersund halfway, and by the end you have crossed the Arctic Circle and travelled the length of a country most people only see from the coast.

The tourist line runs between Mora and Gällivare, with Östersund as its hub and natural halfway halt — so the classic trip is done in two days, one section each day, with a night in Östersund in between.

The southern day begins at Mora, on the shore of Lake Siljan in Dalarna, and heads north through deep forest and along wild rivers, climbing steadily out of the lake country and into Jämtland. By early afternoon the railcar rolls into Östersund, a cheerful wooden town on the great lake Storsjön, looking across the water to the island of Frösön — a good place to eat, sleep, and watch the long northern evening.

The northern day is the epic one: Östersund to Gällivare, some 746 kilometres in a single long, magnificent day. The country empties out mile by mile — Vilhelmina, Storuman, Sorsele, the old railway town of Arvidsjaur — until the forest gives way to the fells and marshes of Lapland. North of Jokkmokk the train slows and stops at a painted line in the wilderness: the Arctic Circle, where everyone gets out for photographs before the railcar carries on to Gällivare, a mining town under the Lapland sky.

A few things worth knowing about the run:

• It follows the Inland Line, 1,288 km from Kristinehamn to Gällivare; the summer tourist trains run the northern part, Mora–Östersund–Gällivare.
• The full trip takes two days, with an overnight at Östersund; there is one railcar a day on each section.
• Trains run only in summer — roughly mid-June to mid-August.
• The timetable is deliberately slow, with meal stops, coffee stops and sightseeing halts — including the Arctic Circle — built in.

This is a journey to savour rather than rush. Many riders break it further still — a day in Östersund, a night in Arvidsjaur, a side-trip to the Sami town of Jokkmokk — and turn the two-day line into a leisurely week in the Swedish north.

The Inlandsbanan runs only in summer, and there is just one train a day on each section, so the timetable matters — plan around it. In 2026 the tourist trains run daily from 15 June to 12 August, and the published times (from the operator) are:

(Operator timetable, as of summer 2026 — always confirm before travelling, as dates and times change each year.)

So the classic two-day trip is Mora → Östersund one afternoon (about 5½ hours), a night in Östersund, then the long Östersund → Gällivare day (about 14 hours) — or the same in reverse. These are not fast trains: the northern section covers 746 km in a full day precisely because it stops so often, for meals, coffee, viewpoints and the Arctic Circle photo halt (reached around 20:00 northbound, mid-morning southbound).

The southern stretch, Kristinehamn–Mora, is run by a separate operator (TÅGAB) and connects the line to the national network at Mora.

Because there is only one train a day and it is popular in high summer, book ahead. Full, current timetables and booking are on the operator's site — see the Tickets section below.

The line is run by Inlandsbanan AB, and tickets are booked directly with them:

• Online, at inlandsbanan.se (opens in a new tab), which has an English site with the full summer timetable and booking.
• By phone, on +46 (0)771-53 53 53, or by email to boka@inlandsbanan.se.
• At staffed stations along the line in season.

There are two main ways to pay:

• Single-journey tickets for each section (Mora–Östersund, Östersund–Gällivare), if you just want to ride part of the line or make the two-day trip point to point.
• The Inlandsbanan Card, a rail pass giving unlimited travel along the line over a set period (14 days). If you plan to break the journey — a night here, a side-trip there — the card is much better value and lets you get on and off as you please.

Because there is only one train a day on each section and seats are limited, reserve ahead for high summer. Fares change year to year, so we don't quote a figure here — the current prices, the season's exact dates and the full timetable are all on the operator's site above.

The Inlandsbanan is a journey through places most visitors never reach, and the stops along it are half the point.

Mora, at the southern end, sits on Lake Siljan in the heart of Dalarna — the folk province of red cottages, painted Dala horses and Midsummer poles. It is the finish of the Vasaloppet, the world's oldest and largest cross-country ski race, and a pretty lakeside town to begin from.

Östersund, the hub, stands on the shore of Storsjön, Sweden's fifth-largest lake — said, like Loch Ness, to have its own monster. It is a relaxed town of wooden streets and waterfront, with the open-air Jamtli museum and the island of Frösön, and it makes the natural overnight halfway.

North of Östersund the line runs deep into Lapland and Sápmi, the land of the Sami. Arvidsjaur keeps its old wooden church-town of Sami cottages; Jokkmokk, just above the Arctic Circle, is the cultural capital of the Swedish Sami and hosts a famous winter market each February, with the excellent Ájtte museum of Sami life and mountain nature. Near the line lie some of Europe's last great wildernesses — the national parks of Sarek and Muddus, part of the Laponia World Heritage Site — and the mighty Storforsen rapids.

At the northern end, Gällivare is a mining town on the edge of the mountains, a jumping-off point for Laponia and, by the connecting Iron Ore Line, for Kiruna, Abisko and the far north.

Because the Inlandsbanan is a two-day journey with only one train a day, where you sleep is part of the plan — and the natural stop is Östersund, halfway up the line.

In Östersund, aim for the waterfront: there are comfortable hotels along and near the harbour, looking across Storsjön to Frösön, all within easy reach of the station. It is a proper town with restaurants and a good dinner scene, and the long light of a Jämtland summer evening makes the lakeside the place to be.

If you want to slow the journey further — and the line rewards it — there is simple, characterful lodging at the smaller stops. Arvidsjaur and Sorsele have modest hotels and guesthouses; Jokkmokk has places to stay near the Ájtte museum and makes a fine base for a day in Sápmi; and at the ends of the line, Mora offers lakeside hotels in Dalarna and Gällivare has practical hotels for onward travel into Lapland.

Wherever you break the trip, book your bed and your train together in high summer — both fill up, and in these small northern towns the choice is limited. As with all our journeys, we keep this to the shape of the trip rather than specific bookings: decide where you want to spend your nights along the line, and reserve the railcar and the room to match.