Mariehavn buzzes in the summertime. But don't think for a minute that Åland is sleepy in the winter. Several places in Åland lay on live music all year round.

Pub Niska is this summer’s news on the pier in Mariehamn’s western harbour. Here the archipelago chef Michael Björklund will introduce ”plåtbröd” – Åland pizza – in the pub next to the restaurant ÅSS Paviljong.

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.

The champagne house of Veuve Clicquot is going to participate in the champagne auction that is to be held in Mariehamn in Åland on 3 June 2011. Two of the exclusive bottles of champagne that were discovered in a shipwreck off Åland in the summer of 2010 are going to be sold at the auction. Preparations for the auction are currently under way.