Visby
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Charming Visby is the most well-known summer resort in Sweden, but its beauty don’t disappear during the winter months. It is the center of Gotland, being situated on the west coast of the island. Visby has about 23,000 residents – whole Gotland having population appr. 57,000. It is the allegedly best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia and it have been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1995.
Visby is known have been an important centre of trade around 8th century. During the times of the Hanseatic League city flourished as a trading hub. Wall surrounding the city was built to its current appearance around the beginning of the 12th century.
Recreation
Boda Borg (Tallbacken 621) offers intriguing action quests for all family.
Shopping
Visby is well-known for its craftsmanship products, and many boutiques offer e.g. handmade ceramics, leather clothing made of skin of local sheep bread, and jam. Most shops are open in Visby between 10 am and 6 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays
Something to explore
Ringwall
Defencive wall structure surrounding the town stretches almost 3,5 kilometers and stands appr. 11 meters high. It was built mainly in the 13th century, towers being added in the 15th century. 36 towers and three main gates remain in its current shape. It is considered one of the best preserved medieval city walls in Europe.
Gotlands Museum
This museum at Strandgatan 14 guides through the history of Gotland, and houses also a science section for children.
Botanic garden
This two and a half hectares wide garden is the real urban paradise and it has an extraordinary exhibition of flowers and plants, thanks to Gotland’s mild climate. Here a visitor can admire e.g. magnolias, Chinese sequoia, cedar and several Mediterranean plants in the Gazebo garden. Here is also the ruins of St. Olaf church.
Ruined churches
Medieval Visby had more churches than any other town in Sweden, and town is famous for them.
Most notable are the ruins of St. Karin, 11th century Franciscan church on Stora Torget.
Something to see nearby
– Beautiful sand beaches of Fårö island. Here is also the Bergman Centre, the place dedicated for Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Fårö is reached by a free ferry from Fårösund that takes just 8 minutes.
– Bläse Lime Works Museum in northern part of the island. Open during the summer season.
– Lummelunda Cave at Lummelunda. This cave system amazes the visitor with its stalagtites and fossils.
How to get around in Visby
Visby is relatively small and everything is easily reachable by foot. Getting around the Gotland by car or a bike are the most suitable ways.
There are several car rentals in Visby:
- Avis Visby (Donners Plats), Tel. +46 498 21 98 10
- Sixt Biluthyrning (Västra Sömmerskestigen 26), Tel. +46 498 41 00 41
- List of the car rentals in Visby Airport
Bike rentals in Visby:
- Visby hyrcykel (Österväg 1)
- Gotlands Cykeluthyrning
There is few bus lines operating on the island. Information (Swedish) here, the search engine for all public transport inside Sweden (Swedish) is here.
How to get in Visby
Visby has a commercial airport 5 kilometres north from the town. List of its airlines is here, list of its destinations here.
Destination Gotland runs car ferries from Nynäshamn and Oskarshamn to Visby. Ferry trip takes about three hours.
Top 5 in Visby
- Ruins of the St. Karin Church
- Ringwall
- Botanic Garden
- Taking an adventure in Boda Borg
- Biking on the seaside
Text: Timo Hellman
Photos: Wikimedia Commons and Flickr with the CC licence / Albabos, Jerzy Kociatkiewicz, Hajotthu, W.carter, carlstr, Arkland[/fusion_text]
