With its pristine sandy beaches and national record of sunshine hours, the Swedish island of Gotland is a popular vacation spot. Whether it’s the fresh sea air, rugged coastal landscape or the string of summer festivals that’s the main draw, from June through to the end of August this otherwise quiet corner of Scandinavia gets rather busy. But those in the know come outside peak season, foregoing the warmest weather in favor of an island escape without the crowds.
Easily accessible from Stockholm by ferry or a 40-minute flight, it’s the ideal destination to add on to a stay in the Swedish capital, and a real treat for history buffs. A look around the Viking runestones and Roman treasures on display at Gotland Museum is a must, but simply wandering the cobbled streets of the walled town of Visby is like stepping back in time.

The wall itself, built between 1250 and the early 14th century, is the best-preserved of its kind in northern Europe and an atmospheric backdrop to the old town, easily walkable in an afternoon. Much of it dates back to the 12th century, when Visby was the center of the Hanseatic League and the limestone buildings now transformed into hotels and art galleries were a merchant’s warehouse or a tanner’s workshop.

The entrepreneurial spirit is still felt all over the island, which has spawned internationally acclaimed fashion and furniture designers as well as a cottage industry of artisans producing pottery, sheepskin rugs, knitwear and woolly blankets, sold in boutiques such as Kvinnfolki, a treasure trove of female-produced art and handicrafts.
The abundance of wool-based wares is no surprise – Gotland is synonymous with the native breed of gray-coated sheep that graze its fields. During lambing season the animals outnumber the island’s two-legged population of around 60,000, but not for long. Lamb is a culinary specialty, best enjoyed with another local delicacy, asparagus, which thrives on the island thanks to its lime-rich soil. Farm-to-table restaurants such as Lilla Bjers and Stelor make a point of championing organic agriculture.

At the latter, a farm stay half an hour’s drive south of Visby, guests are served homemade apple juice instead of imported orange juice at breakfast and, depending on the season, dinner could be Mangalitza pork cuts and spring greens, or a risotto made with ancient grains and freshly foraged truffles. One thing you can be sure of is that everything is locally sourced.

“We have personal relationships with all our suppliers,” says owner and chef Linus Ström, “about 30 of them, from egg producers to lamb farmers. Cutting out the middleman is a win-win.”
“And local, organic produce just tastes better,” adds his wife and business partner My Wrethagen, “Plus, it doesn’t pollute the Baltic Sea.”
Being surrounded by – and reliant on – this almost land-locked arm of the Atlantic Ocean, Gotlanders feel the fragility of their environment in a way that mainlanders don’t. The Baltic Sea’s brackish waters used to be full of life, but overfishing, contamination and heavy sea traffic between its nine bordering countries have made it ecologically vulnerable. Cod, eel and the Baltic Sea harbor porpoise, a little whale unique to these waters, are just some of the native species that are now critically endangered. But islanders are working hard to turn things around.

Mission Blue, an ocean conservation nonprofit founded by the U.S. oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, has named Gotland a ‘Hope Spot’ in support of local marine conservation efforts, ranging from scientific research to beach cleaning events. Kirsten Åkerman, a champion of the project, says public engagement is crucial and is excited about the development of an app that will let users record marine wildlife sightings.
“The idea is to make people aware of the importance of living seas, and to engage the general public as observers. Parallel to research, this is so important because what we understand and care about we want to protect,” she explains.
Getting curious about local marine wildlife is also a great way to approach a new destination, says Åkerman:
“Just learning about the sea, what is below the surface, will add another dimension to your travel experience.”
Of course, as environmentally conscious travelers we also have a collectively powerful choice in terms of where to spend our tourism dollars. Fortunately, on Gotland there are plenty of sustainable accommodation options. Villa Alma, a stylish boutique hotel right on the coast, uses only eco-friendly laundry detergent and cleaning products instead of harsh chemicals that would end up in the sea. A stone’s throw away, in Visby old town, Hotel St. Clemens encourages guests to opt out of their room being cleaned one day to help ‘save a pike’ – the cleaning fee is instead donated to a marine conservation project. A clever idea, and far from the full extent of its efforts.

This is a hotel where every aspect of the business, from its green energy use to its rigorous on-site recycling, is fine-tuned for sustainability. Its independently audited annual carbon emissions total 18 tons – around a quarter compared with that of other hotels of a similar size. To offset it in full, the hotel invests in an African tree-planting scheme as well as a local climate protection fund working towards Gotland becoming climate positive by 2030.
Effectively this means ensuring more greenhouse gases are removed from the atmosphere than emitted into it. Turning the island into a carbon sink within the next five years would be no small feat, but the Gotlanders are pulling together to make it happen. The agricultural sector is being incentivized to use carbon-storing biochar in the soil, while plans for both hydrogen-powered ferries and electric flights between Stockholm and Visby are well underway.
Gotland may be an island steeped in history, but it has its sights set firmly on the future.