A Guide to the Swedish island of Gotland
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Gotland, located in the Baltic Sea, is the sunniest part of Sweden and arguably the best destination in Scandinavia. Its extensive shoreline and warmer climate (compared to the rest of Sweden), along with its long medieval history and intact walled city at Visby, easily made it one of my favorite places to see in Sweden.
The population of Gotland is roughly, 57,000, with about 40% living in the county capital of Visby. The island can be reached by air via the Visby airport or by ferry from either Nynäshamn (via 1.5 hour train South from Stockholm) or Öland.
Quite obviously, summer is the best time to go however be forewarned…Swedes and other Scandinavians alike think the same thing and therefore ferries can book up very early (so booking well in advance in strongly recommended).
Furthermore, there are two weeks in the summer that people usually avoid to stay way from larger than normal crowds. These weeks are:
Almedalen Week - Usually week 26 - A forum for Swedish politics
Stockholm Week - Usually week 29 - One week of partying from Stockholmers
Nonetheless, regardless of when you go, I recommend spending at least four days in Gotland and preferably with a car rental to maximize what you can see and enjoy. I will highlight some of the best places to see in the rest of this blog post.
Check out my drone video of Sweden below!
Even further, if you have lots of time in Sweden, I suggest checking out some of the other cities in the country. You can check out my blog posts on some of them below:
Stockholm (Blog Post Title: Why Stockholm is the best Scandinavian capital)
Stockholm Tunnelbana (Blog Post Title: The World’s Longest Art Gallery - Riding on the Stockholm Tunnelbana)
Uppsala (Blog Post: Uppsala: the hidden gem just North of Stockholm)
Helsingborg (Blog Post: Just a few reasons to see Helsingborg in the South of Sweden)
Malmö (Blog Post: Take a weekend break in Malmö, Sweden)
Lund (Blog Post: A Day tour of the university town of Lund)
Kalmar (Blog Post: Kalmar: The town you should know more about in Sweden)
Öland (Blog Post: A Day Tour of the Swedish island of Öland)
Marstrand (Blog Post: A day trip to the Swedish island of Marstrand)
Swedish Castles (Blog Post: A Tour of Sweden’s Coolest Castles)
Fårö (Blog Post: A Guide to the Swedish Island of Fårö)
Visby (Blog Post: A Closer Look at the Hanseatic Town of Visby)
Gotland (Blog Post: A Guide to the Swedish Island of Gotland)