Gotland is like nowhere else. The countryside is magnificent and often spectacularly beautiful. Monuments to enduring nature and rugged symbols of the island itself, the dramatic sea-stacks stand guard over Gotland's beaches.

Over countless thousands of years, the animals and plants of the ancient Silurian Sea slowly sank into the sediment that was to become the limestone platform of modern Gotland. All round the beaches, fossils can be found of plants and animals that thrived here millions of years ago. This is where you'll find the monumental sea-stacks, the dramatic stone pillars carved out of the soft limestone by the action of the wind and waves.

Long, rolling horizons and open countryside. Gaunt rocks, untouched forest, precipitous cliffs and soft, sandy beaches. Everywhere you're close to the sea. By long-standing tradition, the coastline has been spared from buildings, and the right of common access guarantees everyone free access to the beaches and countryside.

Gotland's flora is unbelievably rich. In the summer, the country is full of orchids, poppies and viper's bugloss, and the island's rich bird life attracts ornithologists from far and wide. Wild rabbits abound, as do foxes, hedgehogs and numerous small rodents.

The landscape is characterised by its low vegetation, its network of stone walls, its hidden beaches and tiny fishing communities. Here, all is perfect peace. Here you'll find steep cliffs dropping to the sea and miles of sandy beaches. Here, golf courses are set in areas of outstanding beauty, and here winding country lanes invite visitors to take to the road, whether by bicycle or on foot. Wherever you go, you'll be greeted by flowering meadows and charming limestone buildings.

Off the coast of Gotland lie several other islands, each as different as it is fascinating. Farthest to the north lies Gotska Sandön, a place of myths and legends and stronghold of Sweden's last pirates. Just a stone's throw off the north coast lies Fårö, familiar to many even outside Sweden as the favourite retreat of Ingmar Bergman and political and cultural personalities. To the west, the twin Lilla and Stora Karlsö islands, famed for their huge colonies of guillemots and other sea birds, rise steeply out of the sea.