Falun Mine
UNESCO World Heritage Site (2001): The Great Copper Mountain, For Centuries One Of The World'S Great Copper Mines, With Its Collapsed Great Pit, Underground Tours And The Source Of Falu Red Paint · Falun, Dalarna County
Falun Mine (Falu gruva) is the Great Copper Mountain, for centuries one of the world's great copper mines and the treasury behind Sweden's age as a great power; in the 17th century it is said to have produced around two-thirds of Europe's copper. Mining here goes back roughly a thousand years and ended only in 1992. Its dramatic heart is the Great Pit, Stora Stoten, a vast open hole left when underground workings collapsed in 1687 - famously at a holiday time, so no one is said to have died. Visitors walk the rim for free, visit the mine museum, and put on helmet and cape for guided tours deep underground through wet, cold passages. The mine gave the world Falu red paint, the rust colour of Swedish wooden houses, still made from its minerals. It was listed by UNESCO in 2001 together with the town of Falun and the miners' settlements around it. The honest caveat: the underground tour is cold, wet and cramped, with age limits, and the surface site is industrial rather than pretty - the value is in the story.
Falu Gruva, Gruvplatsen, at the western edge of Falun town, Falun, Dalarna County, Sweden
The Great Pit's rim, viewing platforms and outdoor mine area are open to walk at all times and free. The visitor centre, mine museum and guided underground tours run all year: daily with frequent tours in summer, roughly late June to mid-August, and fewer days and set tour times the rest of the year, with closures at Christmas and Midsummer possible - check the current schedule. Underground tours are guided only, in groups, and can sell out on summer days; English-language tours run at set times, often fewer than Swedish ones, so book online ahead. Getting there: SJ trains run from Stockholm to Falun in roughly 2.5-3 hours, some changing at Borlange; the mine is on the western edge of town, a walk of about 20-25 minutes from the station or a short Dalatrafik bus ride. There is a large car park at the site.