Lund

Lund lies on the Skåne plain in south-western Skåne and is the main town of the municipality: almost 100,000 inhabitants, the third largest built-up area in Skåne and the eleventh largest in Sweden. Both Lunds universitet and the diocese of Lund are based here, and the city is built for bikes rather than cars, with most things within reach.

Everyday life is compact. There are plenty of schools and preschools, about a hundred counted within the area, and the nearest is a couple of minutes' walk away, just like the food shop. The library lies right alongside the centre. In the city there are about a hundred restaurants, about fifty cafés, three cinemas, about ten bookshops and a handful of museums, and the shopping centres Nova Lund and Saluhallen cover most of what you need to buy. Lund centralstation, one of the city's train stations, is reached at cycling distance.

The student city, for better and worse

Lund is named again and again as Sweden's best student city. The nations, the spex theatricals and corridor life give a community that many carry with them long after graduation, and in the surrounding area nearly half of the inhabitants are between twenty and forty-four, with considerably more unmarried than married. Anyone without a link to the university may find it harder to get in socially. Housing is a recurring worry, especially small flats for one person, and bicycle theft is almost part of everyday life.

Greenery is scarce right in the centre, but forest lies a couple of minutes' walk away and farmland within walking distance but not close. The railway and a power line lie at similar distances, part of the background in a city of this size. Some land in the area is classed as contaminated, and the nearest is a couple of minutes' walk from the centre.

Malmö is reached in a quarter of an hour by car, Göteborg takes about three hours.

Lund suits the student, the researcher and those who already have an entry into the university world. Anyone who moves here without that link, or who wants a lot of housing for their money, should expect it to take time to settle in.