Nothing about Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, in the Baltic Sea appears promising when approached by cruise ship.
As Azamara Journey glides towards the island across silvery early morning waters, the low-lying landscape is stark. On a headland, what I take to be a castle turns out, as we sail closer, to be a huge concrete silo.
So where is Visby, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its dozen churches, 22 towers and entirely intact medieval walls? Well, unlike many old towns, not standing out on a hilltop. Not gracing Ravensburger jigsaw puzzles. Not on South Korean tour group itineraries, either.
Gotland is a popular holiday retreat for Swedes, but mainly in July and August. And since Gotland is in Sweden, that’s OK. Holidaying Swedes blend in with local Swedes in a blond blur that seems appropriate in a place settled by Vikings.
Anyway, it’s June. The roses are in bloom but not the holidaymakers. Azamara’s shuttle deposits me at the old town’s eastern gate. Although a busker in armour clops past on a dejected-looking horse, he doesn’t seem to have much of an audience.
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One of the things I like most about cruising is that it takes me to places I mightn’t otherwise visit. As I head into Visby, I hit the jackpot. Or at least, whatever you might call a jackpot if it elicits not excited shrieking but a day of calm pleasures.
Visby has everything you want from the tidied-up Middle Ages. No dung heaps or peasants with the plague, just attractive church ruins, Hansel-and-Gretel cottages and towers with conical hats and flapping flags.
Visby locals were once Viking warriors, then Hanseatic League traders who between the late-12th century and 17th centuries dominated maritime trade in the North and Baltic seas. Now they’re artists in little studios, or waiters serving up cream cakes. Have the mighty fallen? If they have, that’s fine by me.
Small-town Sweden is among the world’s most civilised places. Locals might paint their shutters blue and eat saffron pancakes for afternoon tea, but they still have their Viking side: who else would plunge into frigid Baltic waters from the waterfront?
Do they still have Hanseatic instincts? Maybe not. This is an old town almost devoid of tourist tat, and unhung with Harry Potter scarves or “I Love Visby” T-shirts. Gotland has a name for sheepskin rugs and wool blankets, I’m told.
Everything is free in Visby. The lovely botanical garden, for example, with its heavy lilac blossoms, exotic trees and erratic butterflies. The cathedral, with its stone angels peeping from beneath the pulpit.
You don’t get that in old towns in Italy or Croatia, or anywhere on the continent below an imaginary line that separates European grey from sunny blue. You need to head north these days to enjoy your old towns free of charge, and free of crowds.
Yes, Visby is a bit chilly although it’s almost early summer. A jacket fixes that. What fixes the madness of Dubrovnik or Amalfi?
I’m unbothered by milling hordes as I wander down cobbled streets and into Gothic churches. I don’t have to queue to get into Gotland Museum, crammed full of silver Viking treasures and woodcarvings.
People go about their daily business in Visby: mothers pushing prams along the waterfront, workers on laptops in cafes, shoppers back from the supermarket. This town hasn’t yet been overtaken by ice-cream sellers and touts.
We’re the only cruise ship in town, and a small one. Azamara Journey carries just under 700 passengers: like Visby modest, but with many pleasant rewards. A few more unexpected port destinations will come up on this Baltic cruise to highlight a region still mostly beyond mainstream horizons.
For now, back on board, I fork up Lithuanian beef rolls stuffed with mushrooms and pickles in Windows Cafe, pleased with today’s old-town discovery.
THE DETAILS
CRUISE
Azamara’s 11-night “Baltic Intensive” cruise between Copenhagen and Stockholm visits Visby as well as Ronne, Gdansk, Klaipeda, Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki. It departs on August 6, 2027 and costs from $6577 a person twin share. Visby is featured on several other itineraries in July 2026 and between June and August 2027. See azamara.com
Brian Johnston seemed destined to become a travel writer: he is an Irishman born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland, who has lived in Britain and China and now calls Australia home.
