I visited this WHS in June 2018 as a day trip from Stockholm. There are frequent flights daily from around 07:30 till 19:00 from Bromma Airport with SAS and the cheaper Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA). My visit happened to be just a few days before the Almedal Week, known as the biggest 'political' festival in Sweden so booking well in advance was an asset to secure the cheapest options available. If you travel from Stockholm on a sunny day, try to secure a window seat on the left hand side of the plane (first come, first served basis on BRA) as the panoramic view of the walled town with the Baltic Sea in the background is worth viewing before landing.

During the summer months, the Flygbussarna Airport Coaches offer a shuttle service to the city centre which is timed around 15 mins after each arrival. Tickets can be bought on the bus with credit card only and free city maps, leaflets and wifi are available on the bus itself. It's not a very long walk if you want to save money and are not pressed for time. The bus stops 3 times at different points around the city walls and after less than 10 mins I decided to stop at the first stop, Norgatt (photo - morning light is great here for photography), to enjoy a lovely walk around the 3.4km ringmuren or town wall built in the 13th and 14th centuries with 27 preserved ground towers and 9 hanging towers. It really reminded me of Tallinn, Estonia but in Visby it's not possible to walk on the walls themselves (even though some of the towers are accessible).

I really enjoyed walking through all the different roads and alleys to take in the different architecture styles and facades of the houses and buildings. There was an antiquities (Loppen!) market in the main square or stora torget and it was great to see the town still pretty much alive mostly with locals. The fact that Campus Gotland, a campus of Uppsala University with over 4000 students and a former university college, is located in Visby helps to keep the town alive almost all year round.

The second largest square is Donners plats where you can get some more information at the town hall and visitor centre. Nearby there's also Gotlands Museum which should not be missed. The ticket is a daily ticket so you can go in and out of the museum and explore different parts or floors at leisure. Apart from the main attraction of the museum, namely the picture or rune stones and memorial crosses of Gotland island, there are 3 floors dedicated to Visby and Gotland in general as well as the Vikings. It is also a good opportunity to view one of the storehouses' interior.

Apart from the rune stones, another highlight of the museum was the Stavars treasure found by chance in 1975 with some 1441 arabic silver coins and spiral rings from the mid 10th century as well as the hoards from Spillings unearthed in 1999 and weighing around 67kg. These contained objects from 20 different countries mainly in the Middle East and from several other WHS such as Santa Maria del Naranco, near Oviedo, Spain, Bukhara, Uzbekistan, etc.

Scattered within the stone walls of Visby are the ruins of 12 churches which had been erected in the 13th and 14th centuries and were largely abandoned during the 16th century Reformation. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, the main church was the only church to be rebuilt and it became Visby's Cathedral. One of the stained glass in its interior depicts the walled town of Visby and is worth viewing.

Gotland island was ruled by Danish castellans at the former Visborg castle or fortress in Visby. The building of the Visbory castle was initiated in 1407 by the crusaders and the Order of Brothers, commonly known as the Teutonic Knights. If you have more than a day in Visby, a rental car would come in handy to explore different parts of the rather large island of Gotland. I wouldn't be surprised if Sweden try to include some small natural site or component in Gotland in the Rise of Systematic Biology tentative WHS. Linnaeus visited Gotland in 1741 after visiting Oland to investigate and record all the species he could find on both islands.

The oldest tower in the stone walls is Kruttornet close to the relaxing green area (best light for photography is in the afternoon) of Almedalen. Behind the tower is another worthwhile green area to explore, the botanical garden, with one church ruin and an interesting tower wall which you can climb to get a panoramic view over Visby.

After a delicious lebanese early dinner at Beyreuth restaurant, I walked back to the bus station for my return shuttle trip to the airport and back to Stockholm. I managed to explore all of Visby in a day since I had to be back in Sweden for a family function the day after, but if you have more time to spare, try to explore the rest of the island of Gotland. All in all, I think Visby is Sweden's best cultural WHS.