Finland Travel Guide to Top Tourist Attractions
Although Finland has lively art-jammed cities like Turku and Helsinki, breathtaking depths of enchanting boreal forests to the faintly inhabited outer archipelago, the country remains a mostly unknown niche of Europe. This is probably due to it being so distant from the popular tourist routes, but Finland's several historical and cultural tourist attractions only enhance the untarnished scenery to make it a perfect destination.
You want great tourist attractions and places to visit in Finland? Its vast wild spaces, rivers rushing in every direction, lakes gleaming, ideal for peaceful fishing, fells, all that and knowing it'll snow in winter make Finland a Nordic playground for winter and summer-related activities.
Helsinki is the central spot where most tourists enter Finland. The bustling Baltic port is home to the most significant museums, plus architecture by the country's greatest architects, particularly Eliel Saarinen, responsible for designing Helsinki's Railway Station, constituting an early modern architectural landmark.
Just within a stone's throw of Helsinki you'll find the delightful smaller cities of Porvoo and Turku. But why confine your trip just to the Baltic Coast, while vast stunning countryside beckons? Finnish lakes lie to the west, huge area past the Arctic Circle is in the north, home of the northern lights, midnight sun, and a few of Europe's top winter sports.
Whether summer or winter, Finland offers numerous activities to do. Map out your trip using my Finland travel guide to find the top tourist attractions in Finland.
1) Suomenlinna Fortress. As one of the largest sea fortresses in the world, the 18th-century fortress sitting on Suomenlinna is only a fifteen-minute ferry trip from Market Square in Helsinki.
Once here, you can quickly fill your day visiting charming sites. The splendid fortress, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Swedes constructed in 1847 to frighten away the Russians, who instead of being intimidated, captured the fort later.
Start in the visitor center and have an audio-visual experience of lively history. Next, explore its museums, tunnels, and ramparts, and take one of the trails that go around the lovely island. Or enroll here instead for a guided tour and learn much more about the fortress and its different attractions. Some of these include the 250-ton Vesikko submarine which the Finnish Navy used beginning in 1936 until World War 2 ended.
The Ehrensvard Museum demonstrates Swedish's earliest era, and the Doll and Toy Museum exhibits dollhouses, dolls, and even toys housed in the Old Russian villa. Various structures are home to studios as well as shops of potters, glassblowers, and other craftsmen. In the summer, Suomenlinna Summer Theatre hosts musical and dance performances.
2) Rovaniemi and the Arctic. The Arctic Circle not only crosses northern Finland but also through Rovaniemi town, claiming to be the Gateway to the Arctic. During the summer, you'll experience the famed midnight sun. Although the sun just stays as if stuck beyond the horizon for all 24 hours in Rovaniemi in late June on the summer solstice, from later in May to early in August it never falls far to cause darkness. Locals everywhere can be seen indulging in the great outdoors during this unusual "white night" period and invite visitors to join them.
Rovaniemi lies in the heart of a huge area bursting with gushing rivers for fishing, swimming, or canoeing, and trails running alongside them for cycling and hiking. The city is famously known as Santa Claus' home, right beside the Arctic Circle where you'll find Santa Claus' Village. Here, you can pet reindeer or visit Sami reindeer farm.
Tour through the fantastic Arktikum Science Museum to learn about Arctic's geology and meteorology, natural history, and Lapland culture.
3) Ride a Dogsled! During winter the Arctic region becomes a winter wonderland for skiers and snow lovers. You could enjoy long and fun rides cruising across frozen lakes, including visiting Sami villages, all while on a dogsled safari. Learn how to drive your very own reindeer sled for many miles, snowshoe, cross-country ski, or observe the splendid northern lights.
Downhill skiers can head around 170 kilometers to Levi, which is an all winter recreation center, with miles of scenic ski trails, even lit for night skiing. The slopes and pistes of the country's biggest downhill ski area are also lit. Several hotels here provide rooms conveniently with glass ceilings for guests to be able to watch the northern lights.
4) Aland Archipelago. These islands in fact exist as an independent archipelago between Finland and Sweden. As a mostly Swedish-speaking Finnish region, Aland consists of some large islands and almost 10,000 smaller ones. Aland has a distinct history. Sweden relinquished it to Russia in 1809, but in 1854, a joint British/French fleet captured the islands and then destroyed the fortress. After this, the whole archipelago got demilitarized, remaining so until today.
Around 27,500 people call Aland home, and 11,000 live in the chief town of Mariehamn. Since trade and shipping have always been the islands' main industry, the Maritime Museum, the Maritime Quarter, and the Museum Ship Pommern are all worth visiting to better comprehend the islands' maritime history.
Another worthy place to see is the Jankarls garden open-air museum located in Kastelholm, and here you could find out what an average island farm looked more or less back in 1890. But the real draw to Aland now is its untainted beautiful landscapes.
5) Tavastehus Castle. It's a royal medieval castle locally situated on an island. It was built sometime in the 13th-century, after the Swedish Crusade, as a stronghold in Finland. Though a defense against the invading Novgorodians, the castle also served as an administrative center and residence.
In the 1730s a heptagonal system of bastions surrounded the castle, reinforced in the 1770s, but served as a prison between 1837 and 1972. Its restoration started in the 1950s, completed in 1988.
