Transport in Åland
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Åland is an archipelago of over 6,000 islands in the Baltic Sea. Constitutionally, it is a Swedish-speaking autonomous province of Finland. Sea travel is a vital part of Åland's economy and a major local employer. The main ports are located at the capital Mariehamn in the south, at Berghamn in the west and at Långnäs on the east shore of Fasta Åland (the main island).
Air
[edit]Nordic Regional Airlines flies to Mariehamn Airport, operating for Finnair.[citation needed] The island of Kumlinge has an airfield and helicopter landing site, used only for charter flights, not scheduled services.[citation needed]
Roads
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The islands have quiet roads that are much appreciated by cyclists. Several main roads (Swedish: huvudväg) have separate cycle lanes. There are Ålandstrafiken local bus services operating in conjunction with the inter-island ferries.[citation needed]
Road vehicles registered in Åland have number plates with blue lettering starting with ÅL.
Red granite is used as a road surface, so both gravel and tarmac roads tend to be red in Åland.[citation needed]
Sea
[edit]The Silja Line, Viking Line and Tallink ferries operating between Helsinki, Turku or Tallinn and Stockholm call briefly at Åland, at either Mariehamn or Långnäs, Lumparland. As well as providing useful transport links, this also permits the sale of duty-free alcohol etc. on board the ships. This is due to Åland's special constitutional status and exemption from normal European Union rules on Value Added Tax and other tariffs, negotiated by Finland as part of talks leading to membership of the EU in 1995. Vessels must call at an Åland port to qualify.[1] A network of ferries operated by Ålandstrafiken provide inter-island services and links with the ferry harbours of Galtby (in Pargas) and Vuosnainen (in Kustavi) on mainland Finland.[citation needed]
Eckerö Linjen operates a ferry service between Berghamn port in Eckerö, Åland and Grisslehamn port in Norrtälje Municipality, Sweden.[citation needed] Finnlines operates a service from Naantali, Mainland Finland to Kapellskär (also in Norrtälje Municipality), Sweden via Långnäs.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ "A part of Europe to remain forever duty-free". Irish Times. 10 November 1998. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
External links
[edit]
- Ålandstrafiken (Archived)
- Visit Åland website: travel information
- Destination Åland (Archived booking site)
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