Långnäs Harbor is one of three larger passenger harbors on the Åland Islands. The other two harbors are Mariehamn and Berghamn in Eckerö. This is a harbor that gets regular visits from some of the largest ferries on the Baltic Sea, which can be a sight for many curious visitors. The only issue for any ship watcher is that these ships usually only make a call here in the middle of the night.
Ferry Services
As of 2021 the following ferries that make a call at Långnäs Harbor are the following:
Finnlines
Two ships, M/S Finnswan och M/S Finnfellow, make a call on the Åland Islands on the route between Kapellskär in Sweden, and Naantali in Finland.
Viking Line
Viking Line has to ships that make a nightly call at Långnäs Harbor. These are M/S Viking Grace and M/S Mariella on the route between Turku, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden.
Tallink & Silja Line
Tallink & Silja Line also has two ships that make a nightly call at Långnäs Harbor. They are M/S Galaxy and M/S Baltic Princess on the route between Turku, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden.
Rederi AB Lillgaard
This is the smaller operator at the harbor and has the ship M/S Fjärdvägen with a regular route between Långnäs, Åland, and Naantali, Finland.
Ålandstrafiken
This is kind of the public transport for the Åland Islands with stops at several of the smaller islands in the archipelago. M/S Odin connects Långnäs with Föglö, Kumlinge, Sottunga, and Vårdö. There is also M/S Gudingen which have connections to Föglö, Kökar, Pargas, and Sottunga.
A Bit of History
Långnäs Harbor has been used for the public transport within the archipelago since the 1920’s. It took until the 1960’s before Silja Line opened a terminal building for ferries. The terminal was, however, only in use until 1975 and was demolished in 1993.
The municipality of Lumparland and later the government of Åland started in the 1990’s to develop the idea of a new harbor at Långnäs. Rederi AB Lillgaard started with the route between Långnäs and Naantali. The development of the harbor has since followed the development of the European Union. Finland joined the EU in 1995 and new rules in 1999 outlawed the sales of duty-free goods on cruises within the union. The Åland Islands tax exemption made it possible for ships that call anywhere on the islands to continue to sell duty-free goods. As a result, cruise ships between Sweden and Finland started to make stops at Långnäs Harbor.
Finding Långnäs Harbor
Finding your way to Långnäs Harbor is probably one of the easier tasks on the Åland Islands. Road 3 heads east from Mariehamn all the way to Långnäs. If you decide to drive to the end and there are no ferry there, you will end up in the Baltic Sea.
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