Skövde is a locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland in central southern Sweden. Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It lies on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge, Billingen, which cuts through the plain between the lakes. The Western Main Railway was built through Skövde in the 1850s, which gave the town a dramatic industrial and population boost.