Sweden’s largest island, Gotland is a popular holiday destination, favoured for its mild climate, sandy beaches, distinctive landscape and beautiful walled town of Visby. It is known as the Pearl of the Baltic. The island’s strategic potion made it an important trading centre especially in the Middle Ages. Gotland celebrates its heritage with enthusiasm in their annual Visby Medieval Week.

In geological terms, Gotland is fairly old. It consists of layers of rocks which were deposited in a tropical sea during the Silurian period around 400 million years ago. Fossils can still be found washed up along the shore. The northern and southernmost tips of the island, the limestone comes to the surface and plant life is sparse. In the centre of the island forest dominates.

A wealth of archaeological finds have been uncovered on the island, form the ship burials of the Bronze Age to the silver treasure of the Viking period. More than 90 medieval churches dot the landscape and the museums have numerous artefacts from the hanseatic period. Visby itself is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.