Lund

Lund is a university city in Scania, the southern part of Sweden. Lund is one of the oldest cities in Sweden and has also played an important part in Danish history. It has a population of about 90,000 people, and is only a few minutes away from the larger city, Malmö and under an hour away from Copenhagen. The University of Lund is the second oldest and one of the largest in all of Sweden. The city also has many high-tech companies. This tradition of world class research and high tech infrastructure certainly played a role in the decision to put the European Spallation Source (ESS) into Lund. The ESS will be the strongest neutron spallation source in the world when it opens in stages between 2023 and 2025.

Understand


Unlike most Swedish cities Lund has preserved its medieval non-regular street pattern. Even though it is very charming it also makes it rather difficult to navigate through the city. Unlike many other cities Lund also lacks major natural boundaries like rivers to navigate by. One of the few boundaries to orient by is the railway which runs in a north-south direction west of the city. The cathedral can also be used as a landmark in order to find your way through Lund.

The first major settlement in the area was a Viking-era village known as Uppåkra, 4 km south of present day Lund. This area was supposedly a cultural and religious centre with a pagan temple. Unlike other comparable sites, like Old Uppsala and Hedeby, it is not mentioned in written sources.

Around 990 Uppåkra was abandoned and Lund is established. The founding of Lund is often considered to be an important step in the founding of a unified Danish state (much of what is now southern Sweden, was once Danish). It soon became a Christian centre and in 1103 the Archdiocese of Lund became its own ecclesiastical province, including all of the Scandinavian countries. At the same time Lund Cathedral was built; according to local legend by "the giant Finn". Malmö was founded as a port city for the Archbishop of Lund, but came to eclipse its mother city as a commercial centre during the 15th century.

In 1658 Scania and Lund were conquered by Sweden. As a step in the "Swedification" of Scania the University of Lund was founded in 1666. Although it is the second oldest university in present day Sweden, it was the fifth Swedish university. (Universities were founded in Uppsala 1477, Tartu 1632, Åbo 1640 and in 1648 Vorpommern with the already existing University of Greifswald was incorporated into Sweden.) In an attempt to re-conquer the Scanian provinces Denmark launched the Scanian war against Sweden in 1675. In December 1676 Sweden won a decisive victory at the Battle of Lund - one of the bloodiest in Nordic history - and Scania stayed Swedish.

Tourist office

 * Lund City Government website
 * Lund City Government website

By plane
Copenhagen Airport is the largest Airport in the Nordic countries and the major point of entry to the Öresund-region. Lund is connected to Copenhagen and its airport by direct trains (Øresundtåg). Malmö Airport serves 20 international flight operators and is 25 km from Lund. The airport shuttle "Flygbussarna" carry passengers from the airport to central Lund for about 100 kr.

By train

 * is 15 minutes and 50 kr by train from Malmö, and 50 minutes and 140 kr from Copenhagen and its airport. All trains (pågatåg, öresundståg) stop at Lund, including the X-2000 expresses from Gothenburg and Stockholm. There are also yellow regional buses from Malmö.

By motorcar
Lund is between the highways E6 and E22, which continue towards Malmö in the south. In the other direction the E22 carries traffic to Karlskrona and then follows the Swedish coast north. The E6 continues to Helsingborg and then follow the Scandinavian Western coast to Gothenburg, Oslo, and across Norway. In Helsingborg it connects with the E4, which is the fastest way towards Stockholm and Svealand or Norrland.

Get around
Lund is small enough to see most of it in an afternoon's walk. You can pick up a city map at the tourist office at Stortorget (adjacent to the Town Hall).

By tram
Over 120 years after the first proposal, Lund finally opened its first light rail line in 2020. It goes from the main train station to the European Spallation Source science complex.

By bus
The local Skånetrafiken buses can get you to most areas of town. The hubs are around the train station, Botulfsplatsen, and the University Hospital (Universitetssjukhuset). Tickets are 25 kr for as far as you want to go, if you're under 19 it's 15 kr. If you are traveling as a pair or family, ask for a Duo ticket (45 kr) to save a few kronor. The Duo ticket is valid for a maximum of 5 people where max 2 of those are over 19. Two children under 7 can travel for free with an adult.

As in the rest of Skåne, the buses do not take cash, so you have to tap your bank card on the reader, or buy your ticket in advance. You can do this with an sms (if you have a Swedish sim card) or at the Pressbyrån stores, there are three by the station and one by Botulfsplatsen. The yellow, regional, buses take credit cards.

By taxi
The best places to catch a cab is by the train station or by Botulfplatsen.



Do
Being a university town, Lund has good arts and entertainment for its size.



Stay safe
Lund is an extremely safe town by international standards and there is no need to avoid certain areas. Even late-night walks through the darkest and most desolate back streets are relatively safe and most local residents walk home at night without any second thought.

On weekend nights, you may encounter rowdy groups of drunk people (mostly students). However, they are seldom violent to third persons unless you engage them.

Other than rampant bicycle theft, crime is virtually non-existent.

The only violence you are likely to encounter is from night club/student nation bouncers, which are notoriously rough.

By web

 * The 7-Eleven on Lilla Fiskaregatan 5 has three workplaces for Sidewalk Express, an internet-point chain. You can pay with a credit card (30kr for 2h of surfing) and use your code in other towns too.

By mail

 * There's no more main post office, but most major convenience stores have post office branches inside where you can buy and send everything from postcards to bigger parcels.

Go next

 * Copenhagen - The capital of Denmark.
 * Malmö - The largest city in Scania.