Restaurants and cafés in Åland, Finland

Give the heavy backpack a miss and leave the camping stove at home. These days many people opt to live in a hotel and eat at restaurants during their cycling holidays. “Nowadays people like to go on slightly more luxurious cycling holidays,” explains Johan Sjölund, who is involved with arranging cycling trips at the WellComing travel company.

The world’s oldest, still drinkable and most exclusive champagne on the market can be bought at an annual auction held in Mariehamn. This year’s auction and champagne event takes place on 8 June at Alandica Culture & Congress Centre in Mariehamn.

In summer 2010, a two-hundred-year-old ship was found at the bottom of the Sea of Åland. The wreck turned out to be a treasure trove. Its cargo included 160 bottles of champagne that were almost two centuries old. Some of the bottles were from the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. That’s how Fabienne Moreau first discovered Åland.

Smakbyn is a “Taste Village” taking shape just a stone’s throw from Kastelholm Castle. The first building is being built next to the restaurant Jan Karlsgårdens Värdshus, and is due to be completed by the summer.

Enjoy the local food during your holiday and, before you go, buy a little Åland cuisine to take home with you. You can buy some items on the ferries to Åland, but it's preferable to visit a proper food shop in Åland. The very best thing to do, of course, is to go out to where the food is actually produced, buy delicacies from a farm and go to a food tasting.

This is a suggested cycle ride if you prefer to take it easy along the way. You'll get not just exercise out of it, but also the best of Åland food and drink. You can try out wonderful Åland oddities like bicycle ferries and Ålvados. Reckon on a total of three days and 80 agreeable kilometres.

This summer you can choose from a selection of delicious home-baked cakes and pastries at the newly opened Tjudö Café och Gårdsbutik (cafe and farm shop) in Finström on the main island of Åland: a perfect stop if you are cycling, riding a motorbike or are travelling with your family by car. Mari Bamberg does the baking and also serves behind the counter at this charming cafe in the old threshing barn in Tjudö.