Conscious travel notes: the Swedish island of Gotland

An island with often rough, but beautiful nature, surrounded by the Baltic Sea. An island small enough to travel across in a day but big enough to have enough to explore for weeks. I’ve visited the island of Gotland a few times before and always enjoy coming back.

In terms of geography, Gotland is mainly known for its rauks – a rock formation, often a column, formed by the sea and strong winds over time. There are some great rauk spots on most sides of the island but the most stunning ones are on the tiny island of Fårö that you can get to via a short car ferry journey at the very north of the island. We went there on a grey and windy day, which sort of added a sense of drama, and also ensured we were almost alone (which is usually not the case on a Saturday in July). We also went past a small, and oh so beautiful, old fishing station with tiny cabins the fishermen used to take shelter in. The wind and the solitude added to the feeling of being brought back in time.

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Whilst on the northern part of the island we also had lunch at Prima Gård – where converted barns now hold a restaurant with excellent food, and a shop filled with pottery and jewellery handmade by the owner. The rain waited until after lunch so that we were able to eat in the dreamy courtyard.

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After lunch we took a slight de-tour to a shop ’round the corner (down a countryside lane through some fields) – ‘Fint o fult’ (approx. translation: Pretty & ugly) with a mix of second hand clothes and things, and a curated selection of mainly handmade or eco-friendly items. Because that’s the beauty of Gotland – you can take off on any road and within a short distance there will be another small shop selling handmade products, or homegrown chilli, or wool from the farmer’s own sheep. Or there’s a lady selling her old vintage stuff in her barn, or there’s a local flea market in a field – look out for any ‘LOPPIS’ (flea market in Swedish) sign and just go. Or go to the next one because there will be another one if you keep going another 10 minutes.

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The main town on the island is Visby – a gorgeous medieval town with narrow cobblestoned streets. Colourful old houses and all of the flowers. Just beautiful.

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Walking around, smelling flowers, is enough, but if you fancy some shopping too I’d recommend the Akantus shop, with a great selection of conscious, often handmade products, and a big room of antiques.

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Just south of Visby is another great spot for food and conscious shopping – Leva Kungslador. A place with a focus on social and environmental sustainability. We bought some lovely, organic, homemade marmalade and saffron biscotti as a gift for the in-laws as we were going to visit them a few days later.

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If you continue driving south on the same road there’s another great shop (and café) called Berså. Most of the island’s small shops are local, selling environmentally friendly, and often locally produced, products. This isn’t quite one of them, but it’s nevertheless filled with beautiful items for the home. My favourite piece was this print on fabric by Danish artist Pernille Folcarelli.

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One of the main things to buy if you’re visiting Gotland is some locally made pottery. You can find small, or slightly larger, shops in barns all around the island and there’s something for everyone. One of the bigger ones, that I remember visiting as a child, is Etelhem with a huge selection of bowls, and cups, and flower pots, and plates, and jugs.

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I tried to control my urge to visit every single shop we went past, and we also made sure we made stops for nature. One of our last stops of the day when we had a full day of exploring was the hilltop of Grogarnsberget, overlooking the sea on the east side of the island. We were completely alone in the afternoon sunshine and apart from Fårö, this was probably our favourite stop.

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Our favourite breakfast spot was Själsö Bakery and its outdoor seating with a sea view. A bakery using organic and local produce, serving a simple, but excellent Swedish breakfast made up of a boiled egg, a sandwich, and yoghurt with homemade granola. Great stuff.

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Just north of Själsö is Krusmyntagården with a lovely herb garden overlooking the sea , a great shop with a deli of local produce and organic and natural skincare. There’s also a restaurant where they serve an excellent version of the local dish (dessert) saffron pancake with jam and whipped cream.

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Getting to the island is fairly easy as it’s situated just southeast of Stockholm, but you need to fly (about an hour) or take a ferry (about three hours), and going on a ferry is almost as bad as flying when it comes to your carbon footprint. You can bring a car onto the ferry but for a more environmentally friendly option, take the commuter train from central Stockholm to Nynäshamn and then the ferry terminal is just a five minute walk from where the train stops.

The island is fairly small but to get around (at a decent pace) you do need a car so when my boyfriend arrived we rented one for a couple of days to be able to explore the whole island. I was initially there on my own and mainly relied on a bike and local buses but the buses aren’t very frequent (there was only one bus in the evening leaving Visby going in my direction) and don’t go everywhere. The island is very flat so it’s great for cycling but it of course depends on how much time you’ve got. If you’ve got time and fitness on your side then cycling around the island and camping in a tent is a popular option. I cycled to and from Visby two of the days when I was there and even though it was quite far (about 45 minutes one way) it was a great ride on this excellent bike lane that’s been built on the side of the road for a safe ride away from traffic (not that there’s much traffic).

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All in all, a gorgeous time spent. It always is.