Find the lowest fare to Gotland

You can save money by planning your trip to Gotland in good time. Boat or plane, weekend or mid-week, last minute or planning in plenty of time? How and when you choose to travel to Gotland and how you book your ticket all make a big difference to the price. Here are a few tips about how to find the lowest fares on both ferry and air travel. 

Ferry
There are four new fast ferries run by Destination Gotland that carry cars and passengers to Gotland from Nynäshamn and Oskarshamn on mainland Sweden. During the summer there is even a ferry sailing between Grankullavik on Öland and Visby, Gotland. The trip between Gotland and the mainland takes about 3 hours. From Öland to Gotland it’s about 2 hours. Since the beginning of the year the ferry company has introduced a new price concept whereby the ticket price is determined by the number of bookings made on each particular departure. We asked Destination Gotland’s marketing director for some tips about how to find the lowest fare on the ferry to Gotland.

“A good idea is to take some time to plan your trip. Don’t travel when everyone else also wants to come to Gotland. It often pays to take a ferry mid-week instead of during the weekends when there are most passengers,” says Evensen.

Here’s how to find the lowest fare on the ferry
• Book on the Internet. http://www.destinationgotland.se/publish/eng/portal/start_uk.htm
This will give you a 5% discount compared to booking by telephone.
• Travel in the middle of the week instead of on the weekends and holidays.
• Book early. The price is adjusted depending on how many people have booked that particular departure. Fewer bookings mean lower fares.
• Choose the cheapest seating alternative; economy class on the bigger ferries (SF 1500) will get you a seat in the restaurant area.
• Look for the alternative: “Alla + bilen” This will give you a set fare for your car and up to five passengers.
• If you are certain of your departure date/time, choose a non-re-bookable ticket. Re-bookable tickets and refundable tickets both have a surcharge.

Air travel
Travellers to Gotland have a wide choice of routes when it comes to flying. Nowadays you can fly directly to Gotland from a number of different airports, both in Sweden and outside the country. Gotlandsflyg and Skyways have daily flights to and from Gotland. Here are some hints on how to find their cheapest tickets.

With Gotlandsflyg (www.gotlandsflyg.se/Booking1.asp) you can book tickets directly to Visby from Bromma (35 min) and Skavsta in Stockholm and Ängelholm/Helsingborg all year round. In the summer of 2009, direct flights to Gotland from Oslo, Helsinki, Hamburg, Gothenburg, Växjö, Sundsvall and Ronneby are also available.

Here’s how you find the cheapest tickets on Gotlandsflyg
• Book in good time. Then you have a better chance of getting a cheap air seat. Fares depend on the number of bookings there are on a particular flight.
• Try to avoid the times when many business travellers fly, i.e. early morning and late afternoon.

Gotlandsflyg’s competitor Skyways flies year round to Bromma and Arlanda (40 min) in Stockholm. Even there it is a good idea to plan ahead.
“Book ahead and keep your eye out for our Klick-tickets”, advises Malin Larsson at Skyways.

Here’s how you find the cheapest tickets on Skyways
• Book on the Internet. www.skyways.se/en/Book-flight/
• Keep your eye open for Klick-tickets. Register for Skyways newsletter. Then you get information about when new Klick-tickets will be released before everyone else.
• Use the low-fare calendar on the website. It shows you day-by-day how much the cheapest ticket costs.