From the bright art-filled cities of Helsinki and Turku to the depths of the boreal forests and the thinly inhabited outer archipelago, Finland stays a noticeably unknown nook of Europe. This is in all likelihood due to the fact it is so a ways from the mainstream visitor routes, however the country’s many cultural and historic sights add to the unspoiled herbal environment to make it an perfect destination. Its lakes, fells, rivers, and giant wild areas, alongside with the simple task of snow in the wintry weather make it a Nordic playground for each iciness and summer time activities.
Helsinki is the primary factor of entry for most traffic to Finland. The busy Baltic port is the place you will discover the most vital museums, as properly as structure with the aid of some of the best Finnish architects, mainly Eliel Saarinen, who designed Helsinki’s Railway Station, a landmark of early modern-day architecture.
Within handy attain of Helsinki are the charming smaller cities of Turku and Porvoo. But it would be a disgrace to confine a outing solely to the Baltic coast, when so tons lovely open nation-state beckons. To the west lie the Finnish lakes, and in the north is the considerable vicinity past the Arctic Circle, domestic of the nighttime sun, northern lights, and some of Europe’s fantastic iciness sports.
Winter or summer, Finland provides lots of matters to do. Plan your time out with our listing of the pinnacle points of interest and locations to go to in Finland.
- Suomenlinna Fortress
Suomenlinna Fortress
Suomenlinna Fortress
One of the world’s biggest sea fortresses, the 18th-century fortress on Suomenlinna is a 15-minute ferry journey from Helsinki’s Market Square (a mini-cruise that has stunning views of the metropolis as a bonus attraction).
Once here, you ought to effortlessly fill a day with its points of interest and activities. The staggering fortifications, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had been constructed in 1847 by way of the Swedes (Finland used to be Swedish territory then) to scare off the Russians; they weren’t scared and later captured each the castle and Finland.
Begin with the audio-visual journey in the traveller middle (it’s in English) for a active history, then discover its ramparts, tunnels, and museums and stroll the trails round the lovely island. Or signal up right here for a guided stroll to examine extra about the castle and its quite a number attractions. Among these are the 250-ton Vesikko submarine, used via the Finnish Navy from 1936 till the give up of World War II.
The Ehrensvärd Museum illustrates the earliest Swedish period, and the Doll and Toy Museum shows dolls, dollhouses, and toys in an historical Russian villa. Various structures residence studios and stores of glassblowers, potters, and different craftsmen, and in the summer, you can remain for night dance and musical performances of the Suomenlinna Summer Theatre.
- Kauppatori (Market Square) and Esplanadi
Kauppatori, Helsinki
Kauppatori, Helsinki
Helsinki’s harbor is an fundamental phase of the city, whose essential landmarks forget about it. It’s additionally a famous gathering point, with an open-air market of neighborhood farmers, craftsmen, meals producers, and fishermen, who promote without delay from their boats.
You may additionally trap the heady scent of salmon cooking over cedar planks beside the boats, and relying on the season see a rainbow of glistening ripe berries or baskets of foraged woodland mushrooms. The ancient 1889 market corridor shelters extra meals vendors, however the out of doors market is a year-round tradition, blanketed with the aid of tarps and tents in the winter.
Stretching from one aspect of the Market Square, the open swath of the Esplanadi is the place the whole metropolis looks to congregate on summer season evenings. The tree-lined promenade is bordered by way of dependent structures and a pavilion homes the Kappeli Restaurant, whose terrace is specifically famous on summer season evenings when there are concert events in the bandstand.
A fountain, any other work through Eliel Saarinen, helps a statue of Havis Amanda, Helsinki’s symbol. Helsinki’s most uncommon museum, the Street Museum, climbs from market Square to Senate Square, a one-block development from the early 1800s to the 1930s, with paving surfaces, road lights, mail boxes, and cellphone cubicles altering with every era.
- Rovaniemi and the Arctic
Reindeer and sleighs in Rovaniemi
Reindeer and sleighs in Rovaniemi
The Arctic Circle runs throughout northern Finland, proper via the city of Rovaniemi, giving it declare to being the Gateway to the Arctic. In the summer, this potential the well-known Midnight Sun. While the solar solely stays above the horizon for a full 24 hours in Rovaniemi on the summer time solstice in late June, from late May to early August it by no means drops a ways adequate for it to get dark. Locals are out taking part in their tremendous exterior at some point of these “White Nights” and welcome travelers to be a part of them.
Rovaniemi is in the core of a extensive herbal vicinity of speeding rivers for canoeing, swimming, or fishing, with trails alongside them for trekking and cycling. The town is satisfactory acknowledged (ask any Finnish child) as the domestic of Santa Claus, proper astride the Arctic Circle at Santa Claus Village. You can meet reindeer right here or go to a Sami reindeer farm.
To study greater about the Lapland lifestyle and about the herbal history, meteorology and geology of the Arctic, go to the attractive Arktikum Science Museum.
- Helsinki Churches
Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral
Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral
Three of the pinnacle locations to go to in Helsinki are churches, two of them cathedrals and the 1/3 a landmark of modern-day architecture. Uspensky Orthodox Cathedral rises dramatically above the east aspect of the harbor, its thirteen green-topped spires ending in gold cupolas. This is western Europe’s biggest Orthodox church, its indoors glowing with gold, icons, crosses, altars, and intricately embellished arches. The cathedral serves Helsinki’s massive Russian population, and traffic are welcome.
On the hill at once in the back of the harbor and an equally seen landmark to these coming near Helsinki via sea, the big Neoclassical Lutheran Cathedral is so shut and so giant that it seems to be standing on the roofs of the harbor-front buildings. The tall inexperienced dome and large steps of the early 19th-century cathedral structure the majestic focal factor of Senate Square.
The structures going through the rectangular whole a harmonious enclosure, one of Europe’s most stunning public squares. It is used often for celebrations and as the beginning factor of parades. In December, the whole rectangular is stuffed with cubicles promoting stunning nearby crafts and excursion foods.
While these two cathedrals are firmly in the traditions of their denomination, Temppeliaukio Church is an architectural experiment, carved into strong rock on a notably small area in the middle of the city. Architects Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen designed the church, masking it with a rounded, woven copper roof supported by using concrete spokes. The acoustics created with the aid of the mixture of copper and stone are remarkable, making this a famous venue for musical live shows of all styles.
- Go Skiing or Ride a Dogsled
Dogsledding in Rovaniemi
Dogsledding in Rovaniemi
In the winter, the Arctic vicinity is a paradise for skiers and others who love snow and ice sports. You can journey throughout frozen lakes and go to Sami villages on a dogsled safari, analyze to pressure your personal reindeer sled, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for miles, and watch the wonderful northern lights.
Downhill skiers need to head about a hundred and seventy kilometers north of Rovaniemi to Levi, a core for all iciness recreation, with miles of scenic Nordic ski trails, lighted for night time skiing. So are the pistes and slopes of Finland’s greatest downhill ski area. Many lodges at Levi have rooms with glass ceilings, so you can watch the northern lights from inside.
The relaxed Levi Hotel Spa is a five-minute stroll from the ski resort, the place you can lease equipment. Right at the lodge hotel, you may discover saunas, swimming pools, outside warm tubs, bowling, and a kids’ play area.
- Shop and Browse in the Design District
Design Museum Helsinki
Design Museum Helsinki
The epicenter of current Scandinavian design, Helsinki has an whole district committed to studios, galleries, and even vintage stores committed to Finish designers and their work. Whether you are buying or simply looking, a few hours in these neighborhoods is a hazard to journey this shiny aspect of Finnish arts and culture.
Design District Helsinki brings collectively innovative human beings in the central neighborhoods of Punavuori, Kaartinkaupunki, Kamppi, and Ullanlinna, the place you may locate boutiques, galleries, and studios dedicated to present day designs in fashion, jewelry, furnishings, tableware and day-to-day items.
Along with the shops, you can prepare visits to some clothier studios, such as Raaka Rå (organic pottery) and Paja (artisan jewelry) to see craftspeople at work; contact them via the Design District website. You’ll additionally discover retail outlets specializing in design-driven antiques and old Finnish designs, such as Art.fi and Artek 2nd Cycle.
For an overview (and a first-rate shop) go to the Design Forum Finland on Erottajankatu, which showcases the pleasant of Finnish layout in everything from dishes to paperclips. To see how Finnish layout and craftsmanship have developed, and see some amazing examples from the past, go to the Design Museum in the Kaartinkaupunki neighborhood.
- Watch the Northern Lights
Northern lights
Northern lights
For most people, seeing the northern lights is a once-in-a-lifetime treat. Finland is one of the high-quality locations in the world for seeing these blazing curtains of mild drape throughout the sky. Although, at times, the lights can be considered even in the southern most areas of the nation, the excellent location to see them is in the location shut to or north of the Arctic Circle.
Here, between September and March, traffic are nearly assured a exhibit if the sky is clear. A huge vary of resorts in the north cater especially to humans trying to see the lights. Also, the Finnish Meteorological Institute approves you to signal up for free Northern Lights electronic mail alerts.
- Åland Archipelago
Åland Island
Åland Island
The Åland Islands (or Åland) are an self sufficient archipelago between Sweden and Finland. A predominantly Swedish-speaking province of Finland, Åland is comprised of a few giant islands and almost 10,000 smaller ones. Åland has a special history. It used to be ceded to Russia with the aid of Sweden in 1809. In 1854, a mixed British/French fleet took the islands, destroying the fortress. After that, the whole archipelago used to be demilitarized and stays so to this day.
About 27,500 human beings stay in Åland, with about 11,000 in the foremost city of Mariehamn. The principal enterprise of the islands has continually been delivery and trade, so the Maritime Museum, the Museum Ship Pommern, and the Maritime Quarter in Mariehamn are really worth seeing to apprehend the islands’ captivating maritime history.
Also well worth a go to is the Jan Karlsgården open-air museum in Kastelholm, the place you can see what a standard island farm seemed like round 1890. However, the huge draw to Åland these days is its unspoiled nature and lovely landscapes.
On midsummer’s eve, Åland holds a big and historical social gathering marking the longest day of the year. The beautiful landscapes and seascapes make it a favored with artists, and their studios and galleries are famous with tourists, who arrive by way of boat from Turku and Stockholm.
- Turku
Turku Castle
Turku Castle
The southwestern
Finnish city of Turku, the country’s oldest city and till 1812 its capital, lies on the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of the Aurajoki River. Turku lies in the place the place the successors to the Swedish Vikings landed in the twelfth century and set out to overcome what is now Finland.
With eight centuries of history, it is these days the most regular medieval city in Finland, however in addition to its extraordinary medieval buildings, you may discover examples of Art Nouveau and present day architecture, such as the Sibelius Museum, by using Woldemar Baeckman. The river is a focal factor for the city, lined with ancient boats, some of which have been transformed into restaurants. In the summer, locals accumulate alongside its banks in the night and in the winter, it will become a large skating rink.
On the northeast aspect of the river is the industrial core with the Kaupatori (market square) buying middle and beautiful Orthodox Church. On the contrary financial institution the medieval cathedral, consecrated in 1290, rises above the Old Great Square. It is a large brick church in Late Romanesque fashion with Gothic and Renaissance additions and a big 97-meter-high tower, which dominates the city. During the midsummer Medieval Festival, the ancient square’s ensemble of ancient structures regains its medieval air with craft stalls and meals vendors.
Tall ships docked on the River Aura in Turku
Tall ships docked on the River Aura in Turku
Just down from the cathedral alongside the river, two historical crusing ships are moored – the “Suomen Joutsen,” now a education college for seamen, and the “Sigyn,” the ultimate last wood barque used for sea trade. Both are open to the public in summer.
Nearer the harbor is Turku Castle, constructed round 1300 on what was once then an island at the mouth of the river. It used to be enlarged in the sixteenth to seventeenth century and now homes the Turku Historical Museum.
For a seem at what Turku seemed like in the early 1800s, stroll via the streets of the Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum, an complete nearby of forty homes, the solely ones saved in the hearth that destroyed Turku in 1827. Preserved as a museum village, its residences and workshops now residence artisans who show duration crafts.
- Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo
The country’s 2nd oldest town, Porvoo, is forty eight kilometers east of Helsinki. It rises from a picturesque riverfront lined with little pink timber buildings, thru a charming tangle of historic streets and ochre-colored wood homes to its hilltop medieval cathedral. Highlights right here are the ornate 1764 pulpit and wall art work from the fifteenth century.
Between the river and the hilltop cathedral is the Market Square with two museums well worth visiting. One has famous on nearby records and the other, the Edelfelt-Vallgren Museum, is of precise hobby to these interested by way of the Art Nouveau movement. It facets the furniture, ceramics, and different works of numerous artists who shaped an artwork colony right here at the turn of the twentieth century.
Porvoo is nevertheless regarded for its exceptional crafts, so permit time for searching the retail outlets and studios. In the summer, you can go to Porvoo from Helsinki by using boat.
- Lake Saimaa and Savonlinna
Castle Olavinlinna, Savonlinna
Castle Olavinlinna, Savonlinna
The complete jap element of Finland is greater sea than land. With actually tens of hundreds of lakes, rivers, marshes, and ponds, japanese Finland is a suitable aquatic playground. The dominant lake of the area is large Lake Saimaa, the “lake of a thousand islands.” Lake Saimaa itself has an location of some 1,300 rectangular kilometers – apart from its severa islands.
The entire lake machine is drained through the river Vuoksi, which leaves Lake Saimaa to the north of the city of Imatra and flows into Lake Ladoga in Russia. The hilly shores of the lake and most of the islands are nearly totally protected with coniferous forest, with some birch woodland farther north.
Savonlinna is the predominant metropolis of Finland’s lake region. A famous spa and excursion resort, Savonlinna grew up round Olavinlinna Castle, begun in 1475 and Europe’s northernmost medieval stone fortress nevertheless standing.
The castle, which has been superbly restored, incorporates a wide variety of good-looking rooms, amongst them the King’s or Knights’ Hall, the Congress Hall, and the Great Hall. Three large spherical towers have survived, and in one of them, the Church Tower, is a small chapel. In the Great Bastion is a summer season café.
East of Savonlinna lies Kerimäki and the biggest timber church in the world. A need to do when in the lake area are the boat cruises. From Savonlinna, there are boat journeys to the different cities on Lake Saimaa, to Punkaharju, with the Retretti Art Center, the biggest in the Nordic countries, to the monasteries of Uusi Valamo and Lintula. Another day day trip alternative is a cruise down the Saimaa Canal to Vyborg in Russia on the Baltic Sea.
- Vaasa
Vaasa
Vaasa
Established in the 1300s, Vaasa used to be an essential city in the time that Sweden dominated Finland. The authentic city burned down in 1852 and was once relocated six kilometers northwest close to a higher harbor. The ruins of the historical metropolis are now a large park (Vanha Vaasa, Gamla Vasa).
The city is about 34 percentage Swedish speakme and retains many ties to Sweden. Surrounded via a large vary of cafés, restaurants, and shops, the massive market location is the core of town life. This peaceable city affords masses of attractions. Visitors can stroll alongside the waterfront, which starts in the front of the city and extends for miles alongside the coast.
Other points of interest consist of the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, down at the harbor, the Ostrobothnian Museum, the Terranova Kvarken Nature Center, the Tikanoja Art Museum, and the Vaasa Maritime Museum.
Just to the east of the town center, on an island, is Tropiclandia and tropical spa, a waterpark internal a heated dome packed with pools, slides, and saunas. South of Vaasa is the famed Söderfjärden crater precipitated via a meteor thousands and thousands of years ago. To the north lies the Kvarken National Park, a wild archipelago web hosting many fantastic hikes and great bird-watching opportunities.
Vaasa additionally hosts a wide variety of super cultural events, together with the Night of the Arts; the Korsholm Music Festival, one of the most mentioned of chamber track festivals; and the Vaasa Choir Festival. Vaasa claims to be the sunniest city in all of Finland, so soak up some rays on one of the many beaches.
- Tampere
Orthodox Church in Tampere
Orthodox Church in Tampere
Founded in 1779 as an industr
ial settlement, Tampere is Finland’s 1/3 greatest town, but does not sense like a giant city center. It lies between two lakes: Näsijärvi, to the north, and Pyhäjärvi, to the south, which are linked through the Tammerkoski, a stretch of rapids almost a kilometer long.
Along with its industry, Tampere is regarded for its energetic cultural lifestyles with an open-air theater and typical festivals. These consist of the November Tampere Jazz Happening, a subculture now for greater than 35 years, when world-renowned names in jazz function all through the metropolis in small live performance venues and clubs.
In the Vapriikki Museum, you will discover the Natural History Museum and different exhibitions. Three church buildings are of note: Tampere Cathedral is recognised for its uncommon art work and frescoes depicting skeletons in black hooded capes, created in the early 1900s through Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg.
The Kaleva Church, a hovering concrete constructing developed in the Sixties has a ground diagram in the form of a fish, an historic Christian symbol. The green-domed brick Orthodox Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky and Saint Nicholas has a sumptuously adorned interior.
- Lemmenjoki National Park
Lemmenjoki National Park
Lemmenjoki National Park
Anyone in search of an Arctic barren region journey will love Lemmenjoki National Park. The tract of boreal woodland is the biggest park in Finland and one of the most significant chunks of wildlands in all of Europe, overlaying extra than 2,589 rectangular kilometers. For the trekker, there are thousands of kilometers of marked trails, as properly as free and open desolate tract huts and extra state-of-the-art condominium huts with sauna and campfire places.
The namesake of the park, the Lemmenjoki River, is a sight to behold as it flows down from the fells into a attractive valley of towering pines. Visitors can both lease a boat or take a tour. This is the vicinity to discover brown bear, wolves, and wild golden eagles, as properly as moose and reindeer.
- Oulu
Oulu
Oulu
Sweet little Oulu lies close to the north give up of the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of the Oulujoki river. It started as a village clustered round the late 16th-century fortress constructed by way of King John III of Sweden on the island of Linnansaari at the mouth of the Oulujoki.
At the north stop of the busy Kirkkokatu stands the cathedral, firstly constructed in 1770-72. Beyond, at the north cease of Kirkkokatu, a small bridge leads into the stunning island of Ainola, the place you may locate a park and the Provincial Museum. Farther north is the Botanic Garden, and on the island of Hupisaari, a summer time theater.
Another famous traveler enchantment is the Tietomaa Science Center to the east of the Oulu Botanic Garden. In the summer, spend some time at the Market Square over espresso and basic Finnish pastries. A few kilometers up the Oulujoki is the island of Turkansaari, as soon as the domestic of Russian merchants in the town and now an open-air museum.
- Hameenlinna
Hameenlinna
Hameenlinna
Like many Finnish towns, Hämeenlinna commenced close to a castle, in this case the 13th-century Tavastehus Castle. Its distinct red-brick fortifications pinnacle the listing of locations to see in Hameenlinna. The different location you mustn’t omit seeing is Aulanko Nature Reserve. Part backyard park, phase woodland reserve, it is the first National Urban Park in Finland.
The English-style park was once developed between 1883 and 1938, and in addition to trekking its well-kept trails amongst distinct and native trees, you can climb the 30-meter-tall granite tower on Aulangonvuori Hill for views throughout a normal Finnish wooded area and lake landscape. More than 50 exceptional species of bushes and shrubs are recognized alongside the nature path spherical Lake Joutsenlampi. Two ancient pavilions and the ruins of a late 19th-century fort are additionally in the park.