Depending on the time and place, portrayals of Vikings as sea-based raiders are either highly accurate or somewhat farcical. It's worth noting briefly that the term 'viking' actually comes out a verb for raiding: "going viking" is something that is by definition fitting your stereotype. However, since that's not the colloquial definition it's probably only of minor interest to you.

There are certainly places where the perception is somewhat inaccurate. According to the Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, raiding was something that took place in the Mediterranean only exceptionally (there is one saga talking about a raid going to Italy) or not at all. However, we can be quite certain that viking age scandinavians were active there: trading in the Islamic world for the vast quantities of silver coinage that we find today, fighting in the Varangian Guard for the Byzantine Emperor, and otherwise getting around quite a bit without such a strong plunder association. [Varangians aren't generally associated as raiders, but they might fit your stereotype of loot, plunder and rape in other ways.]

However, it's also true that for other areas the only thorough interaction we see with the Vikings is loot, plunder, and rape. Early Medieval England sees raids from about 793 to 865 that almost entirely fit this stereotype you mention, and although the 'Great Heathen Army' that comes in 865 does quite a lot of capture territory and see the genuine settlement of Scandinavian people in the area they control. This is so much the case that when Ethelred Unraed is fed up of being raided by vikings, he attempts to have all the Scandinavians in his kingdom killedon St Brice's Day, he is allegedly unable to have this enforced in large parts of his land because there are too many Scandinavians around. But that's also complicated by the fact that even while there are lots of settlers, Ethelred is spending thousands of tons of silver a year in 'danegelds': organised payments to those who would be raiding him to get them to go away for a year.

This system of danegelds and raids occurs throughout north-western europe whenever the various kings are unable to effectively defend themselves. The vikings do all kinds of crazy things: when they attack Paris, for example, they meet a Frankish army in two halves, so they attack the lesser half, hang the prisoners, let the other half run away, sack the city, and then get payment from the King to go away. This is what gives people that rather unpleasant impression of the vikings.

But it's also true that in some areas they barely seem to fight at all, or at least don't do so with a reputation of success. A final thing worth noting is the viking settlement of Iceland, Greenland, and (temporarily) North America. That's not the stereotype at all, but it's still an important part of what Scandinavians were doing in the viking age.

I also haven't mentioned any of the stuff they're doing in Russia and Ukraine, mostly because I don't know much about that stuff.

I mentioned the Penguin Historical Atlas. Also worth mentioning is Vikings! by Magnus Magnusson for some of this information. If you're looking for detail on things like preserved buildings from the viking age, he is a good source (as far as I'm aware).