Whilst travelling around Sweden with our Interrail passes, the children and I stopped at Linköping for a couple of days. It’s the perfect place to enjoy culture, history and nature all in this little city and surrounding area. It’s well worth a couple of nights to explore both the city itself and surrounding areas such as the magnificent Göta canal. You can easily use the local bus service to navigate the surrounding areas, or if you have a vehicle it’s easy to drive.
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Where is Linköping?
Linköping is located in the Östergötland county of Sweden, South West of Stockholm. Its location just below lake Rosen means it’s an excellent place to visit the Göta canal. The less well known Kinda canal runs through the city. It’s a university city with a beautiful old town filled with Swedish history as well as modern development.
How to Get to Linköping
It’s easy to travel to Linköping by train or bus from the surrounding area. We chose to travel by train direct from Stockholm, which is only a 2 hour journey. Make seat reservations if you can, as it can get busy.
Alternately you can drive to Linköping, most hotels have car parking or there are parking areas nearby. You can also find campsites around the town if you are driving a campervan or motorhome.
Getting Around Linköping
If you have a car it’s easy to travel to the further reaches of the city or nearby towns. However, a car isn’t necessary, the Swedish bus service is excellent. You will find regular buses to all surrounding towns as well as the Swedish Air Force museum and Bergs Slussar. Make sure you download the Östgötatrafiken app which will show which bus to catch, where from and times.
You can upload a payment card to the app and use it to buy tickets, simply scan these tickets on the machine in the bus when you enter. You can also watch the buses moving on a map in the app so you know that they are on the way or not. When on the bus, keep an eye on the screen hanging from the ceiling, this tells you which stop is next. It’s a lot easier than UK buses where you have no idea where you are or what the next stop is!
The town itself is walkable and easily accessed by foot. Although you can also hire bikes to navigate the city by bike.
Things to do in Linköping
Although it’s not the most well known city in Southern Sweden, there is plenty to do in the area and it was a worthy stop for myself and the children. Highlights were definitely the Göta canal and the science museum at the Swedish Air Force Museum. In winter you can enjoy winter sports such as ice skating or skiing in the local area, or sledding for the younger ones. If you still need a reason to visit Linköping then look no further than my list, below.
Göta Canal
We took the bus to Bergs Slussar, but you can also drive there. It’s only a few miles outside Linköping itself. This section of the Göta canal stretches from Lake Roxen to Lake Boren at Borensberg. You can take a tour boat along the canal from Berg all the way to Borensberg, although this a whole day trip! Alternatively during the summer you can hire bikes and cycle along the canal, or simply enjoy a walk!
At the Bergs Slussar end of the Göta Canal is a staircase of locks, which are fun to sit at and watch the boats going up or down. There is also a self service Kayakomat in Berg Slussar where you can rent kayaks by the hour to paddle out onto the lake. My children and I also had fun at the mini golf course at Berg, plus there is a great ice cream shop right beside canal.
With plenty of outdoor activities and natural beauty of the lakes, this is a must-do for nature lovers. The perfect destination for an educational experience, learning about why the Göta canal and adjoining Tröllhatte canal are so important for joining together the East and West of Sweden.
Kinda Canal
The Kinda Kanal runs North to South through the city of Linköping itself. You can take a walk to the Eastern side of the city and stroll along part of the Kinda canal that connects Roxen lake to Äralången lake South of the city. It’s a great place for a morning walk, then finish up at Mickeys Strand Fik for food or drinks and try out some of the activites there. From cycle and kayak hire to peddle boats and a party bike! They also have miniature golf, so it’s fun for all the family! An excellent place for some city based outdoor adventures.
You can also check out Kinda Kanal boat tours. They have various different packages available, from simple tours along the canal, to 3 course evening meals whilst cruising and a canal tour and castle visit. Check out their website here for the schedule.
Swedish Air Force Museum
The Swedish Air Force Museum is just to the West of the city center, look out for the loud planes taking off periodically from behind the museum! This museum tells the story of Sweden’s aviation history and the development of military aviation. It’s interesting to see the large amount of aeroplanes from Swedish history and listen to the different stories about the people who flew them.
There are several interactive exhibits downstairs, however kids will want to head upstairs to the science centre area. This is perfect for all the family with many different interactive exhibits that the kids will want to spend hours exploring and trying different things. The science centre is only 2 rooms, but my kids still managed almost 2 hours trying different Exhibits. Favourites were creating different paper objects to see how they fly on the air machine and trying out the mini flight simulators. This was certainly a highlight for my kids!
The cafe downstairs has delicious food too, I definitely recommend a visit there if you have time. Also, if you have smaller children make time for them play in the little play area outside the entrance. Even my big kids loved the wheeley planes and runways set out there!
Gamla Linköping Open-Air Museum
Beside the nature reserves in the west of the city is the open-air museum Gamla Linköping. There are often cultural events here in the holidays or at weekends and it’s a greatplace to visit and learn about the cities rich history and lean about these historic buildings. It‘s not far from central Linköping, so you can easily cycle or take the bus.
Take a slow walk along the cobblestone streets admiring the wooden houses, pop inside to the numerous museums or shops that house traditional Swedish products and crafts. During the summer there are live performances from re-enactors, which bring the whole museum to life. Casual visitors to Linköping should definitely make time for this unforgettable experience.
Linköping Cathedral
One of the most important historical sites in the charming city of Linköping is the stunning Linköping Cathedral. It’s located in the heart of Linköping just west of the Stora Torget (main square). The magnificent cathedral has been dominating the city skyline for over 800 years, and is a popular tourist attraction in old Linköping. Enjoy the gothic medieval architecture year round, and don’t miss the Linköping Cathedral and castle museum next door in Linköping castle.
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