On a warm Friday evening in summer, you get off the Inland Railway in the mining town Gällivare. Dundret, the mountain in town, still looks inviting in the lingering sunlight. You’ve given yourself 36 hours to do something exciting in a place you’ve never visited before. The only thing you’ve done in preparation is booked accommodation. But what are you doing in Gällivare, now that you’re here?

Evening: The Inland Railway stops at the beautiful railway station, a classic wooden building in Gällivare. Right across the road from the railway station is the Grand Hotel Lapland, and a bit further up the road, in the residential area, is Gällivare Bed & Breakfast. A few blocks into town, across the road from the ice and event arena Isborgen, there’s Scandic Hotel. You’ve booked accommodation and a late dinner at Grand Hotel this evening. You check in and then enjoy a dinner in peace and quiet.

Then, before turning in for the evening, you take a walk through town.

Across the railway line and the Vassara River, past the very peculiar castle Fjällnäs slott. Then back past the open-air museum where there’s an ancient windmill preserved – as if you don’t have enough Don Quixote projects already – before you pass Kunskapshuset, a building with award-winning and exciting architecture, and then your bed calls.

Afternoon: In town you find lunch at the sushi bar Wasabi. After that, you pack up your bike and decide to take it easy. If you weren’t on a bike you could have hiked the Navvy Road, taken a mining tour or just strolled around town. Near Gällivare there are adventure camps such as Aurora Lake Lapland in Tjautjas, Aurora Hut on Dundret and Skogshotell in Koskullskulle, where you can take a digital detox among other things.

But this afternoon you opt for another kind of well-being at the hotel spa with a roof terrace and a pool. Then you get changed and head out on the streets. A double espresso at Alla Tiders Café – despite its name this is more a place to finish the evening, with live music and late orders – will restore your caffeine levels. A quick google later, you see that there’s another sushi restaurant, Menu, across the road. Nearby there’s the micro-brewery Black Nails Brewery, which also runs the restaurant Fat Tony’s. You walk over there.

Evening: A cold Dry Rabbit from Black Nails sound like a nice start to the evening, and it turns out to be true. Black Nails Brewery is truly small scale, and of course it would have been fun to try a stout made using coarse-ground coffee from Lemmelkaffe, but they’ve run out this evening. The beer is served in small glasses (runners) so you can try several different options. You have a burger, ‘Texas Vacay’, for starter, then a pizza, ‘Skeletor’, for dinner.

When you leave Fat Tony’s someone has turned up the lights at Alla Tiders Café, but you resist the temptation – you have an early train in the morning. Once you’re back at Grand Lapland you can’t resist a last order on the sun terrace, though. After all, there’s the midnight light to enjoy here above the Arctic Circle.

Packing up: After an early breakfast, you get back on the train. If you were to come back, or had stayed a bit longer, a trip to World Heritage Laponia, to Naturum at Stora Sjöfallet – designed by architect Gert Wingårdh – would have been in order. There are also nice places to stay at STF Saltoluokta and Stora Sjöfallet Mountain Lodge. When the train leaves Dundret behind you’ve got time to think that in winter the tracks and slopes on Dundret would work wonders for your ambitions as a skier. Besides, they say the tacos at Taps& Dundret are exceedingly tasty.