In the 1360s Visby on Gotland was one of the crown jewels of the Hanseatic League and a rich and prosperous merchant city. Goods from all over the world were bartered and traded inside the 3.5 km long town wall that surrounds the merchants' old stone houses and churches.This part of Visby has been adopted by UNESCO as a World Heritage site because of its unique cultural value.
Visby’s glorious past is celebrated each year in the first week of August at Medieval Week, with a jousting tournament, theatre and music and a medieval market. At this time of year the town's streets are filled once again by merchants, jesters and musicians of the Hanseatic period.
During summer each year Visby is a bustling town of cafe’s, restaurants and nightclubs catering for the Swedish and international yachting crowd.