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.

If you want to travel around Åland and discover the island state at your leisure, staying at Åland’s camping grounds is a good way to go. Camping in Åland provides flexible accommodation near to nature, with access to services and often in the vicinity of things to do and sights to see.

Does the idea of a 120-km long cycle ride at high speed on smooth, red tarmac appeal to you? Have a go at cycle training and competitive cycling in Åland, then. There are plenty of excellent paths, and whizzing along in an archipelago environment is a remarkable experience. One recommendation is the Åland race on 6 August 2011. But there are a number of superb tours for both clubs and individuals who want to do their cycle training in an environment with a difference.

An excellent way of discovering the archipelago is by bicycle. Many ask about 2-3 day cycling tours that are peaceful, but full of adventure at the same time. We are from Hälsofrämjandet in Åland and we have tried a whole lot of bicycle excursions. Here are four of our favourites that we would like to recommend.

"Hire a bicycle trailer". This one simple piece of advice goes a long way to make the family's cycling tour easier and more fun. Many like to cycle with children in Åland owing to the quiet roads and short distances. Here you can read about practical tips for families that want to go out and cycle with children of all ages.

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.

It’s easy to make fun of ‘shabby chic’ romantics. But if you give a positive spin to the term, it applies perfectly to people like Ella Grüssner Cromwell-Morgan and her husband Martin. People who see the beauty and benefi t of things that others think have been lost; enthusiasts with dreams and the initiative to make them into reality.

There is a well built network of roads in Åland, a total of 912 kilometres of public roads. The main roads are four, and some 30 bridges and road banks connect the different islands. Some islands are connected by cable ferries that traffic round the clock.