Faro
The Limestone Island Of Sea Stacks (Raukar), Pebble Beaches And Ingmar Bergman, Who Lived And Is Buried Here Bleak, Windswept And Much Loved · Faro, Gotland County
Faro is the low limestone island off the northern tip of Gotland, the northernmost part of the province, reached by a short free car ferry across the Farosund strait. It is flat, windswept and thinly settled: pine heath, bare limestone plains, dry-stone walls, grazing sheep, grey stone farms and a long coast of pebble shores and a few big sandy bays. Its fame rests on the raukar, the sea stacks of ancient reef limestone carved by waves and ice, which stand in eerie groups at Langhammars and Digerhuvud, and on Ingmar Bergman, who found the island in the early 1960s, filmed several of his best-known works here, lived here for decades and is buried in the churchyard of Faro church. People come for the raukar at sunset, the white sand of Sudersand, cycling on empty roads, the lighthouse at the eastern point and a sense of being at the edge of Sweden. The honest caveat: services are thin, the ferry queues in July, the weather turns grey and cold fast, and outside summer much of the island is shut.
Faro island off the northern tip of Gotland, reached by the free car ferry from Farosund, Faro, Gotland County, Sweden
Faro itself is open land and can be visited at any time, all year. The free car ferry run by the Swedish Transport Administration crosses from Farosund on Gotland in a few minutes and runs from early morning to late at night, often every 15-30 minutes in summer and less often at night and in winter - check the current timetable, and expect queues of 30-60 minutes or more on July afternoons and at weekends. Foot passengers and cyclists usually ride without waiting. Getting to Farosund: Destination Gotland ferries sail from Nynashamn (near Stockholm) and Oskarshamn to Visby in roughly 3-3.5 hours, and must be booked ahead in summer, especially with a car; Visby also has an airport. From Visby, Farosund is about an hour by car or by regional bus. On the island, the beach cafes, Bergmancenter, shops and camping run mainly from about late May or June to August, with shorter hours in the shoulder season and much closed from October to April - check before an off-season trip.