Inlandsbanan : Part 1 - Day 1: Mora

During the beginning of the summer holidays 2022, we took a train along the middle of Sweden up to somewhat the north of Sweden. The idea came about because a train-enthusiast friend wanted to do this trip. I was intrigued and enjoyed the idea of being on a train to explore more of Sweden. So, I did my research on Inlandsbanan (translated as 'the inland track'). Just as its name, the tracks are located inland and the views are trees and the occasional deers. 

It was a 9-day trip where we started and ended at Mora as Inlandsbanan trains start and end there. The trains do not have sleeping cars so one must get off the train at the final destination or hop off on one of the stations along the way. The timetable is scheduled to stop at longer hours at specific stations during lunch and dinner. We get to place our meals orders in advance to the train attendant and the attendant will ring up the partnered restaurant to send in the orders so we do not need to wait so long at the restaurant or the train attendant can collect the packed food for us to have the meals on the train. We bought the Inlandsbanan 14-days card for SEK2195 per person (the price has increased to SEK2395 in 2023), from their website, so one can hop-off and hop-on at any station within the 14 days. It is recommended to book places too as it can be packed in the train. A reserved seat for an individual train journey (from the station one comes aboard to the station one hops off) is SEK50. It is fine if it is a short distance and you can stand for a while. On our way back, there were many empty seats so we would not have needed seats reservation but we did not know that. One can also purchase tickets for individual train journeys but that cost much more than our 14-days train card. It is advantageous to purchase individual train tickets if one is going to alight at one or two specific stations as well as not coming back up on the train within 14 days.

Here is me very excited to be onboard Inlandsbanan and the excitement wore off after one hour. Haha!

This is the route of our trip: 

To: Stockholm --> Mora with SJ train (1 night) --> Östersund C (2 nights) --> Arvidsjaur (2 nights) --> Gällivare (2 nights)

Return: Gällivare --> Östersund C (1 night) --> Mora --> Stockholm

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1.

19/7 Day 1: SJ Train from Stockholm to Mora. Depart from Stockholm at 0741 hours and arrive Mora at 1134 hours. Unfortnately, Inlandsbanan does not start from Stockholm. 

Costs

(1) Inlandsbanan 14-days card - SEK2195 per person.  

(2) Reserved seats on Inlandsbanan - SEK250 per person. We alighted at 5 stations. 

(3) Breakfast at Vetekatten in Stockholm Centralstation - Brewed coffee SEK36, breakfast sandwich SEK43

(4) Lunch at Käk och Plock in Mora - Cheeseburger SEK145

(5) Dinner - Grilled pork shoulder with salad and french fries SEK269

(6) Accommodation at Saxvikens Vandrarhem (hostel) - SEK283 per person (our own room that fits 3 persons. The room costs SEK850), SEK50 per person for borrowed bedsheets from the hostel.

The Story

19072022 - We met up at Stockholm Centralstation and hoped that SJ train will not be delayed. SJ has a reputation of delayed train departures. We departed Stockholm and arrived Mora in time. Yay! We had no hurry to catch the Inlandsbanan train as our journey starts tomorrow.

Mora is a famous town in Sweden as this is where Vasaloppet ends. Vasaloppet is a 90km skiing race that takes place on the first Sunday of March annually. So, it was not difficult to look for accommodation in this town. Now that we have arrived in Mora, we walked to our hostel and I snapped photos along the way. Weather was sunny and lovely.

Ta-da, our hostel. We were the only occupants that day. The room that we booked can accommodate 4 persons as there is a double-decker bed and a king-size bed. We did not bring our bedsheets and paid to borrow theirs. It is common that Swedes bring their own bedsheets and pillow cases when they stay overnight at someone else's place. Initially, I thought it was to save the trouble for the host to wash the sheets but it turns out, according to my friend, in case one is allergic to the material. That is new information to me. The place is neat and one can grill outside too. I think a big group of people would enjoy this place. Nowadays, every check-in is self check-in. We received a set of numbers to punch on a keypad to unlock the door. It does save a lot of money to not hire a receptionist, especially if occupancy is low. 

After the check-in, we walked around town and found a great place to have lunch. We walked in to places that are opened to public. Parks, beaches. We took a dip in the waters too! There was a place nearby called Tingnäsbadet. 

We took the opportunity to enjoy ice-cream too that is sold on a boat. They gave away their ice-cream plastic boxes too and we took 10 of them. Yes, those boxes followed us back to Stockholm.

We walked to Mora train station to get an idea of which train tracks that Inlandsbanan train will arrive on but there was no information on the train on any of the notice boards. There was no timetable for Inlandsbanan either. We were very worried that we have arrived at the wrong place as there is another train station called Mora Strand but we checked the tickets and I have reserved places from Mora station. So, we went to a small convenient store and cafe that was by the train station and asked them if they have seen an Inlandsbanan train passing by here before. The cook did not notice but the waitress knew about it. She said that the train does arrive and stays for an hour as some of the train staff had their lunch in their cafe too. Phew! We were so relieved. We found it very odd that Inlandsbanan had no marketing brochures or train information whatsoever at Mora train station, not even in the toilets either. 

Now, we could have dinner. Found a restaurant by the waters that had grilled meat. All of us had the same dish - grilled pork shoulder with fries. 

We walked along the waters after dinner. Can you see the boat that sells ice-cream? It is so conveniet for those on water scooters to stop at the boat to buy ice-cream.