Visby, Gotland County, Baltic Sea, Sweden

🇸🇪 Visby is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland. Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia, and, since 1995, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Among the most notable historical remains are the 3.4 km (2.1 mi) long town wall that encircles the town centre, and a number of church ruins. The decline as a Hanseatic city in the Late Middle Ages was the cause why many stone houses were preserved in their original medieval style.

Visby is a popular vacation destination for Scandinavians during the summer and receives thousands of tourists every year. It is by far the most-populous Swedish locality outside the Swedish mainland. The Gotland University is in Visby, and, since 2013, it is a department of Uppsala University under the name Uppsala University–Campus Gotland. Visby is also the sole county seat in Sweden accessible from the mainland only by boat and air.

Visby is the name of the locality, or town, as well as the name of the larger area surrounding it, Visby socken. In 1936, the socken was incorporated within the newly formed Visby stad (Visby city), the only locality with historical city status on Gotland. Visby socken comprises the same area as the administrative Visby District, established on 1 January 2016. As of 2019, Visby Cathedral, Visborg Church and Terra Nova Church in Visby belong to Visby Cathedral parish (Visby Domkyrkoförsamling). Visby is also the only municipality seat of Sweden that is accessible from the mainland only by boat and air traffic.

Visby is situated on the central west coast of Gotland, on the rather steep slopes of limestone cliffs surrounding the first natural harbor. The town has evolved around the medieval harbor that now constitutes the Almedalen park. Long streets run parallel with the old shoreline with shorter alleys at a straight angle from these, lead from the harbor and up the slope up to the eastern higher part of town known as Klinten.

The old, original part of Visby is more or less enclosed by the city wall to the north, east and south, with the old harbor and the Baltic Sea in the west. The more modern parts of the town expand mostly east and inland from the wall. Along the shore south of the wall is the modern harbor with its ferry terminals and further south is a green recreational area called Södra Hällarna. Just inside the north part of the wall as well as along the north coast outside the wall, are several beaches: Kallbadhuset, Norderstrand, Snäckgärdsbaden (or simply Snäck) and Gustavsvik.

Visby and Tallinn are the only two North-European towns in which the city's medieval grid plan has been fully preserved into present day.