The yellow-painted 19th-century railway station is good introduction to the city of Luleå in northern Sweden. This is the eastern most point on the country's rail network and serves as a terminus. Luleå Central Station stands on Stationsgatan to the east of the city centre. It faces onto a leafy space for parking and connecting with other forms of transport like bikes, buses and taxis. Travellers who hire a car from Luleå Station find that the Storgatan main street is only a couple of blocks away and everything else is in easy reach. It's only a few minutes drive to meet the E4 coastal highway on the outskirts of town.
If you hire a car from Luleå you'll soon find it's a mix of a traditional industrial and a high-tech city. Companies based here range from SSAB steel works to Facebook's data centre. There are boat trips to the attractive archipelago from the city's waterfront and some lively nightlife thanks to a large student population. The highlight of the area, though, is about six miles to the North West. Gammelstad Church Town is a World Heritage Site, featuring a 15th-century stone church surrounded by more than 400 historic cottages built to house the church-goers on an island in the Lule River.
