The fourth installment of my daughter and my August 2026 visit to Sweden.
We left Uppsala in the morning and took the train north to Gävle, where we changed trains for Falun. The journey took about two and a half hours altogether and was easy and comfortable. C napped for part of the trip while I enjoyed the scenery outside the window.
We arrived in Falun before lunchtime and walked the short distance from the train station to our hotel. Our room was already available, so we dropped off our bags, headed into town for a light lunch, and then set off for the place I was most excited to see in Falun: Falu Gruva, the Falun Mine.
It was a beautiful day, and the mine was about a 20-minute walk from the center of town. The Falun Mine, or Falu Gruva in Swedish, is a copper mine with a history stretching for nearly a thousand years. At its peak in the 17th century, Falun produced about 70 percent of the world’s copper. The wealth generated by the mine put Falun on the map and it helped establish Sweden as a major European power. Copper filled the coffers of the Swedish crown and helped finance its wars. Falun itself grew along with the mine, at one point becoming Sweden’s second-largest city.
This was exactly the kind of World Heritage Site I love to visit. I enjoy natural sites too, but I am particularly drawn to places where you can see history and culture come together. C had completed the Mining in Society merit badge at Scout camp earlier that summer, and I thought Falun was a perfect place to bring what she had learned to life. She had learned about the role mining can play in society; now she could see a real-world example for herself.
We arrived at Falu Gruva around half past one. It was another absolutely gorgeous day — warm, with a sky that seemed even bluer set against the rich red earth. We bought tickets for the underground tour, which would begin about an hour and a half later, giving us some time to explore beforehand.
We started with fika. C got a drink and a pastry, and I chose a chocolate and pistachio tart that looked particularly good. I accidentally dropped it before my first bite, and it landed with huge thud on my plate. Based on that, I expected it to be quite dense, but it was actually incredibly light and buttery — and may have been one of the best tarts I have ever had. I later learned that it was a mandelmussla, a traditional Swedish almond tart. And it was magical.
After our fika, we started through the Mine Museum, housed in the former administrative building. From the second floor, we had a tremendous view of the Great Pit, or Stora Stöten. Looking down into it, I was reminded of the huge ravine that ran between my residence and the U.S. Embassy when I lived in Guinea.
The Great Pit though is not natural. It was created when a huge section of the mine collapsed in 1687 after centuries of overmining and inadequate structural support within the mine. What was once a large hill known as the Great Copper Mountain folded in on itself creating a large crater. Remarkably, no one was killed in the collapse because the miners had been given the day off to celebrate Midsummer. But despite the scale of the collapse, mining at Falun continued for another three centuries, until the mine finally closed in 1992.
Then it was time for our underground tour. We put on the sweaters we had brought with us, along with bright orange rain capes and hard hats, and followed our guide into the mine. The temperature underground stays at about 43 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, a pretty dramatic change from the warm August sunshine we had just left behind.
Over the course of the tour, we descended about 400 steps, eventually reaching 220 feet below the surface. Along the way, our guide told us about the history of the mine, the changing mining practices over the centuries, and some of the stories and legends that had grown up around it.
At one point, our guide turned off the lights and her flashlight. The darkness was absolute. I could not see my hand in front of my face. It gave a very different meaning to the stories of miners whose lamps went out underground, or who wandered away and became lost in the mine. After we reached the deepest part of the tour, we came to a wooden staircase with a pool of strikingly bright red water at its base, the color coming from the copper.
The tour was fascinating, but by the end I was ready to leave the cold, damp, and darkness behind. I was also very happy to learn that we would not be retracing all those steps back to the surface. Instead, an elevator carried us back up, and we stepped outside into the warm afternoon sunshine.
We had about an hour left to explore the site, so we walked around some of the historic buildings near the mine. I wish we had had enough time to walk all the way around the Great Pit, but at nearly a mile around, we would have needed more time to really explore it. Instead, we returned to the Mine Museum to finish the part we had not seen before our tour and wrapped up just as the site was closing.
On our walk back into town, we passed through Elsborg, the old miners’ neighborhood that is also part of the Falun World Heritage Site. The neighborhood was established beginning in 1646 to provide housing for the mine workers, and many of the old wooden cottages remain. It was a lovely walk through narrow streets lined with small timber houses.
And, of course, the deep red of many of those houses has a connection to the mine too. Falu Rödfärg, the traditional red paint used on wooden houses and barns throughout Sweden, gets its distinctive color from the Falun Mine. It has been used for centuries and has become one of those colors that seems almost synonymous with Sweden. It was another example of what I had wanted C to see: the mine’s influence went well beyond the copper that came out of the ground. (I cannot say that she was paying attention though)
After a very full day, we picked up some food from the supermarket and had a quiet dinner in our room before calling it a night.
The next morning, we woke to rain. After so many days of glorious sunshine, it was disappointing, particularly because our big plan for the day was to rent bicycles and ride to a nearby village. I had researched bicycle rentals before the trip and knew of two places in Falun, one in town and another back at the mine, so I thought we were all set.
We walked into the center of town to the bike shop, only to learn that they had no rental bikes available that day. I knew we had one more option back at the mine, but I was not particularly eager to make that walk right then, especially in the rain. So we changed plans for the moment and walked a few blocks to Dalarnas Museum.
Dalarna has a particularly strong connection to Swedish folk culture. Many of the traditions and handicrafts associated with the region have become symbols of Sweden itself. The museum was a chance to learn more about those traditions and about the history of the region we were visiting.
The museum has a wonderful collection of art, clothing, handicrafts, and other pieces of Dalarna culture. C was especially excited by the Dala horses. She has had one that she bought at IKEA years ago, so there was something fun about seeing them here in Dalarna, where they originated. We were also both really taken with the colorful kurbits folk art, with its elaborate flowers and scenes of everyday life depicted in a colorful, exaggerated but charming way. I was surprised by how much C enjoyed it too, taking photos as we went through. It was my favorite part of the museum.
I was also taken with Mörksuggan or “The Dark Pig,” a creature from Dalarna folklore that was traditionally used to frighten children into behaving but is now considered something of a guardian. The museum also had a special exhibition called haxor, or witches, about the wave of witch trials that began in Dalarna in the 17th century and spread through Sweden. The exhibition was fascinating and included several pieces of art that really stayed with me.
After the museum, we made our way back out to the mine and the other bike rental location. This was our second — and last — option, so when we learned they had very few rental bikes available, I began to worry that our cycling plans might be over before they started. Fortunately, they had two bikes that could work for us. Mine was a little too big, but after riding it around for a bit, I decided I could manage it. (I did manage it, although I later fell over while trying to get off the bike at a stop.) By then, the rain had stopped and the day was looking much more promising. We adjusted the bikes, put on our helmets, and finally set off for Sundborn.
I had wanted to work some cycling into our trip from the beginning. C was working on her Cycling merit badge for Scouts, and a ride to Sundborn would meet one of her required 15-mile rides, something she had cleared with her counselor before the trip. The small village outside Falun, best known as the home of Swedish artist Carl Larsson, gave us a destination and a chance to see more of the Dalarna region while doing something together.
From the mine, we rode back through Elsborg and then alongside a lake before picking up bike paths that wound through residential neighborhoods. For a while, the path ran alongside a highway — easily the least scenic part of the ride — but eventually we left that behind for smaller country roads. From there, the scenery opened up into rolling green hills, farms, and traditional houses as we made our way toward Sundborn. We had chosen the longer route because it was flatter, and after a little over an hour of riding, we arrived in the village.
We locked up our bikes and headed first to the local pizzeria for lunch before exploring a little. Sundborn is a small village nestled between Lake Toftan and the Sundbornsån river. By this point, the morning rain was long gone and the sky had returned to that stunning azure blue we had enjoyed for so much of the trip. The blue sky, green countryside, red wooden houses, and reflections on the water made the village absolutely beautiful.
Sundborn is best known as the home of Carl Larsson, a famous Swedish watercolor painter who depicted his life at his cottage in Sundborn. We opted not to take the house tour, but walked around his pretty riverside garden and stopped for ice cream at the café next door.
While we were there, I watched what seemed like a quintessentially Swedish summer scene play out along the river. A man emerged from a neighboring house in his bathrobe, walked down to his dock, and slipped into the water for a swim. A little farther down, a woman did the same. Then three boys arrived on bicycles on the opposite bank, dropped their bikes, and got into the river. The water may have been chilly, but that certainly did not seem to deter anyone from an afternoon swim.
Across the water from Carl Larsson’s cottage, we visited a master miner’s estate dating from the 1500s that is also part of the Falun UNESCO World Heritage Site. We spent a little more time exploring Sundborn before retrieving our bikes and starting the ride back to Falun.
In total, we rode 22 miles over about two and a half hours. We made it back to the bike shop in time to return our bikes before closing and then walked back into town. It had been another very full day, so we picked up something simple for dinner and had a quiet evening at the hotel before getting ready to move on to the next stop on our trip.
