Almost one million tourists visit Gotland in the Baltic Sea every year. Most hours of sunshine, a strong founding spirit and Ingmar Bergman have made the small island Sweden’s most sought-after holiday destination. Learn more about Sweden’s most popular summer vacation destination.
Gotland is Sweden’s largest island but also a province including the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands to the west. The main town is Visby, which is a Viking-era wonder and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Gotland – The Paradise Island
Gotland is a paradise island with characterful wilderness and a coastline punctuated with sandy beaches and sculptural sea stacks. South of Gotland, the landscape opens up towards the sea. At Pensionat Holmhättan, time seems to have stopped in the 1950s. The mosquitoes buzz in the evening sun and in the dining room steak and potatoes with brown sauce and jelly are served at five o’clock exactly. Some visitors have vacationed here every summer for 40 years, but now tourism has exploded.
Gotland has been inhabited since approximately 7200 BC. The island’s main sources of income are agriculture, food processing, tourism, information technology services, design, and some heavy industry such as concrete production from locally mined limestone. From a military standpoint, it occupies a strategic location in the center of the Baltic Sea.
Sweden’s Most Popular Summer Vacation Destination, article continues below image.
Related: Experience Visby & Gotland by Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA)
Gotland – like a different country
The Pippi Longstocking TV series was entirely filmed in Visby and other parts of Gotland. Gotland feels like a different country. It is experienced as very genuine, also for the Swedes.
There are several shallow lakes located near the shores of the island. The biggest is Lake Bästeträsk, located near Fleringe in the northern part of Gotland. The Hoburg Shoal bird reserve is situated on the southern tip of the island. The highest point of the island is Lojsta Hed which stands 82 m (269 ft) above sea level.
Gotland – unique flavored
Anyone who’s set foot on Gotland soil would agree there’s something magical about it. This unique island off the southeast coast of Sweden has it all – natural scenery, remarkable history and unique local flavors.
Distinctive delicacies from Gotland include saffron pancakes made from leftover porridge and served with dewberry jam (blåhallon). The berry grows wild. Lamb meat is a delicacy here. The gray woolly otters graze freely on large parts of the island. Cultivation of truffles started in 1999 as a research project. The first truffles were harvested in 2010. The godfather of recent years’ baking trend on Gotland is sourdough bread. The tourists bunker down at Rute Stenugn’s bakery.
Related: Sweden’s Culinary Island
Gotland – Sweden’s largest tourist destination
In 1996, for the first time, ferries between Gotland and mainland Sweden carried more than 1 million passengers in a year. In 2007, the number of passengers exceeded 1.5 million. In 2012, the ferries had 1,590,271 passengers and the airlines 327,255 passengers. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic tourism did not change much as Swedes chose to visit the island instead of travelling abroad.
In 2001, Gotland was the fifth largest tourist destination in Sweden based on the total number of guest nights.
You’ll find 92 medieval churches – dating from the 12th to the 15th centuries – dotted around Gotland (approximately the size of Long Island). Gotland’s coastline, if counting Fårö, stretches across 800 kilometers.
Gotland – where artists and tourists meet
In 2002, Johan Hellstrøm bought the old limestone factory on the Furillen peninsula, a short drive south of Fårö. It has become one of Sweden’s most famous design hotels. In the gourmet restaurant, the old chains still hang from the ceiling. In the forests, he has set out hermit huts: seven square meters without electricity or water, where people can be completely at peace. Hellström has welcomed 700 photo teams who have created fashion series and advertising campaigns on the island. Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Daniel were guests here during a truffle safari. Today, architects, artists, writers, musicians and tourists frequently meet here.
Unfortunately, the hotel and restaurant will not be open during summer season 2023.
Naomi Mitchison, in her autobiographic book “You may well ask”, relates an experience during a walking tour in Sweden: “Over in Gotland I walked again, further than I would have if I had realized that the milestones were in old Swedish miles, so that my disappointing three-mile walk along the cold sea edge under the strange ancient fortifications was really fifteen English miles [24 km]”.
The crime novels of Mari Jungstedt, featuring Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas, are set on Gotland.
In the Battlefield Vietnam video game modification Invasion Gotland, the Soviet Union invades Gotland in 1977.
For the 1989 Studio Ghibli film, Kiki’s Delivery Service, by Hayao Miyazaki, he and other illustrators spent time in Gotland in preparation for animation.
Related: A Swedish Island Retreat in Medieval History
The historic Visby
In 1995, Visby entered the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and for good reason – Visby is the best-preserved fortified trading town in northern Europe. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, it was the main center of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic.
Visby’s historic townscape features a high number of significant architectural buildings and structures dating back to the 13th century. Wrapping around the centuries-old center, ‘ringmuren’ (The Visby City Wall) – complete with towers and gates – was built between 1250 and 1288 and stretches across 3.5 kilometers.
Attempting to summarize Gotland is not an easy feat – it’s truly an island that must be experienced first-hand with all it has to offer.
Overall, it is worth planning a longer stay in Sweden so you can discover most of the interesting destinations. While planning, you should check out vacation rentals with cozycozy and book your stay in advance!
Sweden’s Most Popular Summer Vacation Destination, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top) © Visit Sweden