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All you need to know about
A-land far away

Aland is a self-governing, Swedish-speaking region of Finland with its own flag, stamps, license plates and web domain.

It is part of the Scandinavian Islands, an archipelago region, stretching from Stockholm's archipelagos to the west, beyond the islands of Aland to the archipelagos of Turunmaa and Western Uusimaa in the east. Typical of the Aland archipelago are the beautiful smooth red rocks, similar to the ones pictured on the facing page.

Aland has a population of 27,000 inhabitants, 11,000 of which live in its only town, Mariehamn. The government is called landskapsregering and the most important economic sector is shipping, which accounts for 40 per cent of the island's income. Aland's currency is the Euro.

Aland has more hours of sunshine in June, July and August than most middle and southern European countries, with 1,880 hours of sun throughout the year.

Aland also boasts more sunshine than the rest of the Nordic region, while the average temperature in July is 15C. The wind is usually south-westerly with an average speed of 7.4m/s.

Being an autonomous Finnish state adrift in the Baltic Sea has naturally left its mark on Aland's culture. Finnish, Swedish and even some Russian cultural influences rub together.

Here you will find midsummer poles and Swedish TV alongside Finnish and Russian specialities on the Christmas menu. Delicacies in the island include black bread and Aland pancake with whipped cream and stewed prune accompaniments.

You may not know that in the 1930s Aland had the world's largest fleet of sailing vessels. At the Aland Maritime Museum you can follow the development of shipping from the skiffs of yesteryear to today's ferries and cruise liners.