Nora is a small, well-preserved town in Örebro county, in the old Swedish mining district of Bergslagen. Its centre is a grid of cobblestoned streets lined with wooden houses from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, painted in the traditional deep reds and yellows. It has the feel of a place that has changed very little.
The historic railway between Nora and Örebro, built in 1856 for iron ore transport and claimed to be the oldest railway in Sweden still in use, now operates as a museum line running steam and vintage diesel trains. It is a popular outing from Örebro, especially in summer. The old ironworks village of Pershyttan, just south of town, gives the clearest picture of what Bergslagen looked like at its industrial peak.