I'm not recommending any particular option, I'm just explaining the options and their consequences.
You are correct, a recharacterization would eliminate the 6% excess contribution penalty and the attributable gains that are now in the Roth IRA would become tax deferred gains in the traditional IRA.
(I'm assuming that the Roth IRA contribution is an excess contribution only due to MAGI and not because you had insufficient compensation to support an IRA contribution.)
