An apostrophe of an island south of Stockholm in the Baltic Sea, Gotland is about the same size as Cornwall, and a similarly enticing choice for a summer getaway. The sunniest spot in Sweden, it’s a place of meadows, forests and soft beaches where you’re more likely to spot a grazing sheep than another person, and a medieval ruin than a modern house. Explore it by bike, wheeling down country lanes and coastal paths beside charmingly rural diversions: from the creaking windmills at Holmhällar and ancient standing stones to farm shops and cafés like Rute Stenugnsbageri, a stone-oven bakery in a former smithy. Some of the most scenic biking is found a ferry hop north on the trails of Fårö, a windswept isle where sea stacks line the coast like weathered statues. Be sure to make a pit stop too in Visby, a World Heritage-listed medieval port whose walls enclose a Game of Thrones-worthy timewarp of cobbled lanes, rickety cottages and churches – plus exhibits of treasures like the largest hoard of Viking silver.
The cobbled streets of Visby
Cycle trails along the coast at Fårö