Gävle Concert Hall

This occupies two buildings: you start in the main block, the two-storey former jail in the classic 19th century high-hall pattern. Then the Länscellfängelset on nearby Timmermansgatan depicts its 18th-century predecessor, a dark squalid lock-up of low-lifes, dirty straw and droll rats.

This was the birthplace in 1879 of Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, better known as Joe Hill. In 1902 he emigrated to the USA, where he became a labor organizer, song-writer and activist for "Industrial Workers of the World", the "Wobblies". In 1914 a Salt Lake City grocer and his son were shot dead by two intruders; Joe Hill came to a local doctor that evening with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was eventually convicted of the murder, and executed by firing squad in Nov 1915. The prosecution case was shaky and his many supporters believed he was shot for being a "wobbly", but his refusal to explain his wound sealed his fate.

The county museum and art gallery has a large and interesting collection; child-friendly. The building was financed in 1933 by a tobacco and shipping magnate.

A track for harness racing (trav) - jockeys sit in a two-wheel coach or "sulky", and the horse has a trotting gait, the gallop is not permitted.

Mackmyra distillery introduced the first Swedish whiskey in 1999, a single malt. The original site at Valbo (in a former power station) has an annual capacity of 0.6 M bottles. The one you can visit is the second site 10 km east near E4, the seven-storey "gravity distillery" opened in 2011. (The water is pumped up just once, then its head of pressure drives everything else with no inefficient intermediate pumping.) They also make gin. There are no brief tours, those offered are four hour events with tastings and dinner included.

The museum moved here from Stockholm in 1970 to have more display space, and it hosts a large collection of old locomotives and rail cars.