The Göta Canal is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century. The canal is 190 km (120 mi) long, of which 87 km (54 mi) were dug or blasted, with a width varying between 7–14 m (23–46 ft) and a maximum depth of about 3 m (9.8 ft). The speed is limited to 5 knots in the canal.

Söderköping is a locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a town. Statistics Sweden, however, only counts localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants as cities. Söderköping is about 15 km southeast of the city of Norrköping.