Linköpings Kommun

With an area of just under 1,600 square kilometres, Linköpings Kommun is just slightly smaller than the largest municipality in the province, the municipality Norrköpings Kommun in the north-east. Measured by the number of inhabitants, the municipality Linköping is clearly larger and occupies the fifth place among all Swedish municipalities.

The municipality Linköping is situated between the inland municipalities Motala Kommun and Mjölby Kommun in the west and the coastal municipalities Norrköpings Kommun and Söderköpings Kommun in the east of the province. In the north the municipality extends beyond the large lake Roxen to the border with the municipality Finspång and in the south it borders the municipality Kinda Kommun.

The landscape in the municipality of Linköping

The nature in Linköpings Kommun consists of two completely different landscape types. The centre of the municipality with the provincial capital Linköping is characterised by intensive agricultural use, but in the north and south of the municipality the landscape rises and is densely wooded.

Led by the 95 square kilometre Roxen, the third largest lake in Östergötland, there are another 200 lakes in the region which invite you to swim, paddle or catch fish. In addition, more than two dozen small and larger nature reserves lure you to excursions and to get to know the different natural beauties in the region.

Places and attractions around Linköping

The provincial capital Linköping is a university town and has developed into the expanding economic centre of the province in the past decades. At the same time, the city is the cultural centre for the region Östergötland and preserves the special cultural-historical legacy of the province with its numerous museums.

The largest and best known museums are Östergötlands Museum and the Air Force Museum with the largest aircraft collection in Sweden. Not to forget the extraordinary open-air museum Gamla Linköping, which shows a complete Swedish small town of the 19th century. Outside Linköping, the Göta Canal with the famous lock staircase in Berg is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region.

At the same time, Linköping has been a bishop's seat for centuries and is home to the large medieval Linköping Cathedral, the oldest Gothic building in Sweden. Another well-known witness of the early importance of the region in connection with the Christianisation of Sweden is the monastery ruin Vreta at the lake Roxen, the oldest monastery complex in Sweden.

The municipality Linköping in figures

With almost 160,000 inhabitants and an average population density of over 111 inhabitants per square kilometre, Linköpings Kommun is relatively densely populated. However, the first impression is deceptive, as the majority of the population, namely around 107,000 inhabitants, live directly in and near the expanding provincial capital.

The remaining 50,000 inhabitants are spread over more than 20 smaller localities and the otherwise sparsely populated rural areas within the municipality. The population gap to the provincial capital is enormous and the next larger towns, Ljungsbro and Malmslätt, have only about 7,000 and 5,000 inhabitants.