• The Pommern [1] (earlier name Mneme) is a windjammer turned into a museum ship. She is a four masted barque that was built 1903 in Glasgow at J. Reid & Co shipyard. She is one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. Later she belonged to Gustaf Erikson (Åland) who used her to carry grain from Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbours in England or Ireland until the start of World War II.

• The Åland Maritime Museum [2] preserves memories of the sailing-ships, one of its exhibits being the red-brown captain’s saloon from the fourmasted barque Hertzogen Cecilie, one of Gustaf Erikson’s ships. She ran aground off the coast of England in 1936 and before she sank her saloon was salvaged and brought to Åland.

• Boat building traditions are kept alive at the Maritime Quarter in the Eastern Harbour. Among the red sheds there is a boatyard and a smithy as well as a boat and shipbuilding museum. Several small ships have been built there, including the galleass Albanus and the schooner Linden.

• The Åland Museum [3] exhibits the history of Åland from prehistoric times up to the present day. The Åland Art Museum displays pictures by both old and young Åland artists and the Mariehamn Gallery at the Western Harbour has a model of Mariehamn in the 1920s with its wooden houses.

By plane

There are regular flights from Helsinki, Turku and Stockholm. They are mainly used by business travellers.

Least expensive are flights from Helsinki (Air Åland). Rates vary.

Flights from Stockholm-Arlanda (Air Åland) do not run on weekends or vacation periods. They are more expensive (149 €), but sometimes there are reduced rates (19 €!).

Flights from Turku (Turku Air) do not run on weekends. They are the most expensive at 180 €.

The airport is just 3 km north of the city centre. There is a restaurant in the building, usually open every day. There is no airport bus.

By boat

Viking Line and Silja Line ships travelling between Finland (Helsinki, Turku) and Sweden (Stockholm) dock briefly at Mariehamn or Långnäs (in the night) for tax reasons. If the stop is at Långnäs, there is usually a bus or taxi connection to Mariehamn, costing as much as the boat ticket.

There are also a service from Kapellskär with connecting bus from Stockholm, which takes less time than the Stockholm boat.

Tallink runs daily from Tallinn.

Birka Cruises runs daily from Stockholm, using their own terminal in the Western port, facing the Adlon hotell and pizza restaurant.

Viking, Silja and Tallink all use the same terminal in the Western port. The terminal is open 24 h. Tickets can be bought when a boat is due to leave. Facilities are limited. There are several lockers, a money exchange machine (EUR-SEK), toilets and a customs office. Just outside, there is a café and a small kebab restaurant.

There are four city bus lines (A-D) and they are free (no tickets). Services are reduced in summer with two lines only. No city buses run on Saturday evenings or Sundays.

The shopping street is the northern part of Torggatan.

Shops usually close at 17:00 or 17:30 on weekdays and at 14:00 on Saturdays. Some close at 20:00 on Thursdays.

Most shops accept Visa and MasterCard, but some of them do not accept Visa Electron.

ATM's ("OTTO") are thin on the ground. There are some in the city centre, outside the four bank offices along Torggatan. Another one is situated in Strandnäs, at the Ålandsbanken bank office.

• Restaurant Pommern - in the same building as Hotel Pommern ( a fair walk from the ship Pommern) is aranged with ship's fittings. The menu is delicious and some items are quite cheap.