Alvesta Kommun

The municipality of Alvesta is located on the foothills of the southern Swedish highlands and stretches along its eastern border from north to south along the large lakes Stråken, Salen and Åsnen. The topography in the area of Alvesta Kommun is predominantly hilly, with a flat plain with intensive agricultural use running from Grimslöv to the central town of Alvesta in the southern half of the municipality.

In the western but mainly in the northern direction, in the transition to the neighbouring province Jönköpings Län, the terrain rises by about 300 metres in altitude and becomes much hillier. Alvesta Kommun is relatively densely forested, accounting for about 70 percent of its area, although the type of woodland changes as the terrain rises. While mixed deciduous forests still dominate in the southern half, they are increasingly replaced by dense coniferous forests in the northern direction.

Lakes, nature reserves and tourist destinations in the Alvesta municipality

About 10 percent of the municipality's almost 1,100 square kilometres is made up of water, which is distributed over slightly more than 100 lakes. Lake Salen, which borders directly on Alvesta's municipal area, is the largest lake in the municipality with an area of 18 square kilometres, although the lake is also located in the neighbouring municipality Växjö Kommun.

The situation is similar with the huge lake Åsnen, the second largest lake in Småland with an area of 147 square kilometres. The municipality of Alvesta runs along the entire length of the western shore of the lake, but can only claim the north-western extension of the branched lake for itself. Nevertheless, the main entrance to the Åsnen National Park near Sunnabron and the second entrance at Trollberget near Hulevik is located in the municipality of Alvesta.

In addition, more than ten small and large nature reserves – the largest of which is the 1,000-hectare Fiolenområdet by Lake Fiolen in the north of the municipality – offer marked trails to help visitors get to know the special features of the local nature.

More than a dozen communal bathing places on the lakes provide refreshment on hot summer days and for visitors interested in cultural history, several local open-air museums with rural buildings show how people lived, housed and worked in southern Småland before the first industrial revolution. A particularly popular example of local cultural history is Huseby Bruk, which shows a fully preserved combination of manor estate and early industrial ironworks with other workshops that have not changed since the turn of the century.

The municipality of Alvesta in figures

On almost 1,100 square kilometres the municipality of Alvesta has more than 20,000 inhabitants, which means that the population density here with almost 21 inhabitants per square kilometre is a little below the national average of Sweden. Nearly 9,000 people live in the central town of Alvesta, another 2,000 in Moheda, and about the same number live in Vislanda, the third largest town in the municipality.