The Gotska Sandön National Park is the most isolated spot in the Baltic Sea, 4 hours by boat (which is the only available way of transportation) from Swedish mainland. The island is 8 kilometres long  and 5 kilometres wide. The total area of 45 km² is 80 % covered by pine forest.

The name "Gotska Sandön" literally translates as the the Gotlandic Sand Island, from the province of which it forms part. Since 1909, it is one of the National parks of Sweden. All of Gotska Sandön is covered by sand, with the exception of the rubble beaches in the south-west and moraine that lies exposed at Högaland headland in the south. 

There have always been people living on Sandön.

Despite the fact that Gotska Sandön is one of the most isolated islands in the Baltic Sea, traces of humans dating from the Stone Age have been found. Probably people didn’t live here for longer periods and some researchers say that the finds originate from fishermen and seal hunters who happened to make their base on the island.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, there was sheep farming, and later also crop and cattle farming.

Gotska Sandön, Sweden , August 2009