How do the ferries in the Finnish archipelago work?

A road ferry operates on the sea sections of the road. The ferries are yellow and sail short distances between the islands. The longest ferry trip takes about 30 minutes and is between Korpo and Houtskär. All yellow ferries are free of charge. All ferries along the Archipelago Trail, except the Houtskär-Iniö ferry, are yellow and free of charge and do not need to be booked in advance on the day.

There are also ferryboats that serve many different islands along different routes and have their own timetables. Some of these routes are short and take about an hour, and the longest routes take all day. For example, you can take a ferry out to Själö, Brännskär, Utö and Kökar.

The archipelago’s ring roads have several ferry connections. The Small Archipelago Trail has three ferry connections and The Archipelago Trail has eight.

Both ring roads have a ferry which makes a charge:
The Archipelago Trail: m/s Antonia, which serves Mossala in Houtskär and Dalen in Iniö
The Small Archipelago Trail: from Nagu kyrkby to Röölä in Rimito and to Hanga via Själö.

The ferries along the ring road do not need to be booked in advance in the summer; they follow a timetable. However, some night departures must be booked in advance.

The other ferries are free of charge and transport passengers and goods to inhabited islands in the Archipelago Sea all year round.

Most of these ferries call at certain piers only on request, which means that they need to be notified in advance. The destinations served on request are labelled x,y or xy in the timetables. Not all ferries take cars, but there are plenty of parking spaces at the beaches.