There is lot of beautiful places to visit in Finland, so we decided to write about a few of our favorite places in the south. These places are all quite close to the capital city, Helsinki and can be reached even with public transportation. Here is some places we have enjoyed while exploring the south of Finland.
Visit Turku
Turku is Finland oldest city and used to be the capital of Finland before, Russia took over the country in 1809. Unfortunately, a large area of the city was destroyed in a massive fire in 1827. Still, the part of the city that was not destroyed has been preserved to this day and can be visited. It is quite astonishing to see how small the houses were back then.
You can also visit the sale shall in the city center where you can enjoy a coffee, grab lunch or shop for fresh produce.
When you’re planning to visit the city you will need to try the legendary restaurant called Dennis, here you can eat pasta and pizza all made by hand, this is the oldest restaurant chain in Finland founded in 1975. For many years you could only visit this restaurant in Turku but not it is also located in other cities, however there is something special about visiting the original restaurant in Turku.
Porvoo Finland Tourism
You can find the small city of Porvoo about 30 minutes east of Helsinki, this city has the cutest old town with small shops, cafés and restaurants. Porvoo is histrically very important in Finland, it’s the half-way mark between St Petersburg and Turku, many important meetings were held here. Porvoo was also the most important trading town in the olden days. On the hill of the old town you can also fin the beautiful Porvoo Church. They began building Porvoo Church in the 1200th century.
Finland Loviisa
Loviisa is a town located about 90km east of Helsinki, if you are visiting Finland in the summer; I highly recommend taking a look what events are happening in this small town. Especially in the summer, this town has fun local events by the Finnish channel.
Want to experience the Archipelago? it can be done from here, there’s even some cabins to rent through airbnb in the summer. It is beautiful to enjoy the light summer nights close to nature.
Outside the coast of Loviisa there is also a sea fortress, just like Suomenlinna that I wrote about in the ”travel Helsinki” article. The sea fortress is smaller but still worth seeing. They also have a restaurant and café out on the island where you can enjoy a meal, in order to get out to the fortress you can catch a ferry in town.
Right by Loviisa in a place called Pernaja you can visit one of Finlands the oldest churches, the church is detailed from floor to roof in paintings and details, it is truly a work of art. They also have mass here every Sunday.
If you would like to experience a little bit of swedish-finn culture you can also time your stay so that you can attend the Lurens summer play, this is a fun amateur theater who puts on a show every summer, even if you wouldn’t understand the language it is a lot of fun to listen to the music and see them enjoy themselves.
Repovesi National Park
Repovesi national park is located almost 3 hours from the capital, here you can hike and see breath taking views. The park is fit for people all ages, there is about 40km of trail running through the park, some are easy that everyone can enjoy and some are a little more difficult. Even on the easier trails you can see lots of amazing views. You can tent out in the park overnight, the parks also have rest areas with bonfire pits where you can make food.
You can check out the Repovesi website http://www.nationalparks.fi/repovesinp for more information!
Sightseeing The South
The south of Finland has strong and rich history, this is where the biggest cities have been since the start of Finland under the Swedish empire. If you are a fan of very old Nordic history these places are a must visit. Finland also has many beautiful lakes and hiking trails that offer scenic view of natural beauty. We are definite planning on taking a trip up north to explore Lapland and the beauty of Northern Finland.
Please leave a comment if you have visited any of these places and let us know what you liked the most. Have you visited Lapland? We would love to hear your suggestions on what to see in the Northern part of Finland.