Norrköpings Kommun

With an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres, Norrköpings Kommun is the largest municipality in Östergötland. It extends from west to east from the two large lakes Roxen and Glan over the city Norrköping and the whole peninsula Vikbolandet to the coast and the northern archipelago of Östergötland.

In the north, the municipality extends beyond the deeply incised Bråviken bay to the border with its central Swedish neighbouring province Södermanlands Län – the southern boundary is formed by the Slätbaken bay and the neighbouring municipalities Söderköpings Kommun and Linköpings Kommun.

Landscape and sights in Norrköping

In the north of the municipality there are dense forest areas and besides the 95 square kilometre Roxen and the 73 square kilometre Glan, there is also the lion's share of the 250 lakes in this region. The largest continuous forest area is Kolmården, on the high ridge on the north side of Bråviken Bay. Besides the largest zoo in Northern Europe, the Kolmårdens Djurpark, there are also some exciting nature reserves in dramatically beautiful surroundings of the cliffs that drop steeply down the bay.

The eastern end of the municipality is formed by the rocky coastal region at the tip of the peninsula Vikbolandet and several hundred offshore islands of the Norrköping archipelago, the northernmost part of the Östergötland archipelago coast. The landscape transition on the peninsula is fluid. In the west the agricultural areas still predominate, but in the direction of the coast these are increasingly interrupted by rocky, wooded hills which were islands before the land uplift after the last ice age.

Due to the size of the municipality and a long, eventful cultural history, the number of exciting destinations and interesting sights in Norrköpings Kommun is quite high. They range from around 50 nature reserves in partly dramatic landscapes to beautiful beaches and outstanding prehistoric sites such as the rock paintings of Himmelstalund to special museums and the carefully restored historical industrial landscape in the city centre of Norrköping.

The municipality Norrköping in figures

With almost 142,000 inhabitants and a population density of around 95 inhabitants per square kilometre, the municipality of Norrköping is relatively densely populated by Swedish standards. The city of Norrköping alone, formerly also known as "Sweden's Manchester" as the centre of the Swedish textile industry, has almost 94,000 inhabitants and accounts for around two thirds of the population.

The remaining third of the population is spread over many smaller villages and the otherwise sparsely populated municipality. The next larger towns after Norrköping are Åby with only about 7,000 inhabitants and Lindö with almost 4,800 inhabitants.