An archipelago retreat built around privacy, local food and small-scale hospitality has brought Åland national recognition at the Finnish Travel Gala.
National recognition for an Åland destination
Silverskär Islands has been named Finland’s domestic visitor destination or attraction of the year at the Finnish Travel Gala 2026. The award gives national prominence to an Åland hospitality business operating on a group of privately managed islands in the archipelago.
One group on each island
Silverskär’s model differs markedly from conventional resort tourism. Individual islands and their accommodation can be reserved for one group at a time, creating an experience based on privacy, direct contact with the landscape and a deliberately limited number of guests rather than high visitor volumes.
Food rooted in the archipelago
Meals draw on seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, connecting accommodation with the culinary traditions of Åland and its surrounding waters. Restored buildings and long-standing environmental certification strengthen a hospitality concept in which food, heritage and landscape are treated as parts of the same experience.
A model for high-value island tourism
Small islands often face a difficult balance between increasing tourism revenue and protecting the qualities that attracted visitors in the first place. Silverskär demonstrates one possible response: receiving fewer guests, encouraging longer and more valuable stays, and making seclusion, local gastronomy and environmental care central to the product.
Visibility for Åland
The award also matters beyond the individual business. Åland can easily be overlooked in Finnish tourism marketing despite its distinctive language, autonomy and island culture; national recognition for Silverskär offers an opportunity to present the archipelago as a destination in its own right rather than merely a stop between Finland and Sweden.
Suggested Online Sources: Ålands Radio · Visit Åland
