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GALLIVARE is one of Europe's most important sources of iron ore, while Europe's largest open-cast copper mine sears the landscape 20km to the south, its gargantuan bucket-shovels and dump trucks just dots 250m down. The tourist office ferries trips to the iron ore mines (mid-June to Aug Mon-Fri 9.30am & 1.30pm; 160kr) and copper mine (June-Aug Mon-Fri 2pm; 160kr). Astounding statistics - 300 tonnes of high explosives are used for each blast - pepper the tour, which also takes in Kakstan , a rebuilt shantytown on the site of the original iron ore mine; and you stop long enough to sample local delicacies like reindeer, salmon and lingonberry juice, all for 75kr at Cafe Endast for Nyktra . There's not much to Gallivare itself. Little remains of the seventeenth-century Sami village, and the river and surrounding mountains are really the nicest feature of the town. You can walk up to Bjornfallan , a four-kilometre hike on a well-marked path - the views are magnificent. Buses make the journey (160kr return) to the summit 3km north beyond Bjornfallan to see the Midnight Sun daily between mid-June and mid-July. Buses leave from the train station at 11pm, returning at 1am. The tourist office is at Storgatan 16 (June to mid-Aug Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat & Sun 10am-6pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; tel 0970/166 60, www.gellivare.se ). Its long summer hours are aimed at late Inlandsbanan arrivals, and the office has a cafe downstairs and a museum upstairs dealing with Sami history. The youth hostel (tel 0970/143 80; GBP5-10/$8-16) is at Barnhemsvagen 2, behind the train station, and offers accommodation in small two-person cabins (no bed linen provided), though there are a few three and four bed cabins too. There's also a small private hostel, Lappharbarget (tel 0970/125 34; GBP5-10/$8-16), next to the Lappkyrkan by the river, and a hotel , the Dundret , Per Hogstromsgatan 1 (tel 0970/145 60; GBP35-40/$56-64), close to the station. The campsite (tel 0970 100 10) is by the river; for snacks or an evening coffee and cakes by the river, make for the Strand Kafeet near the campsite at Malmbergsvagen 2, beside some relocated vernacular buildings and a few captive reindeer.
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