The Archipelago Route

This poster was designed to market the first ferry between Finland and Sweden able to take cars onboard. Viking Line started this route going from Galtby in the Finnish archipelago passing via the Åland islands and then on to a small harbour in Sweden.

Nowadays Viking Line runs from Turku, Naantali or Helsinki mainly to Stockholm (via the Åland islands).

But the trip to and from Galtby on the island of Korpo was a long one, there were no bridges at that time. That’s why Viking Line at this stage marketed the Archipelago-route to Galtby as the big adventure, not the ferry to Sweden.

Today the Archipelago Route (Saaristotie-Skärgårdsvägen) is a very popular travel destination for cyclists and motor tourists. And the archipelago is just perfect for kayaking and sailing. For Finns this is a very popular area to have that red-painted summer cottage.

The area is traditionally Swedish-speaking, that’s why all the signs are bilingual, with Swedish still mostly being the majority language.