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Kultaranta
The Finnish president’s summer residence is an elaborate stone castle on Luonnonmaa island, its tower visible from Naantali harbour. Designed by Lars Sonck, it was built in 1916 and is surrounded by beautiful, extensive rose gardens. Although the castles interior is closed to the p
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Chicory Museum
Of Jakobstad’s eclectic collection of small private museums, our favourite is the Chicory Museum, based in a 19th-century chicory factory 3km north of town, where the herb was processed into the coffee substitute ‘Kaffino’. The factory was built by local entrepreneur/maverick Wilhe
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Turkansaari
Set across two river islands on the scenic Oulujoki, this open-air museum is a collection of wooden buildings of various traditional types, from loggers’ cabins to stables, and includes a handsome traditional farmhouse. The 1694 church is an original from this former trading settle
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Stundars Handicraft Village
In the attractive village of Solf (Finnish: Sulva), about 15km south of Vaasa, is this fine open-air museum and crafts centre. Its 60 traditional wooden buildings were moved here from surrounding villages and include crofts, cottages and cowsheds, a pottery, windmills and a schoolh
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Keski
Adjacent to the Alvar Aalto Museo and designed by him, this worthwhile attractions main exhibition is an overview of rural life from prehistoric times onwards. There’s an ancient sledge-runner dated to 4000 BC, and displays on hunting, fishing and logging, giving a good feel for tr
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Santa Claus Post Office
This receives over half a million letters each year from children all over the world. You can browse a selection of the letters, which range from rather mercenary requests for thousands of euros of electronic goods to heart-rending pleas for parents to recover from cancer. Your po
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Raseborg Castle
Looming on a high rock overlooking a grassy sward, the late 14th-century Raseborg Castle was strategically crucial in the 15th century, when it protected the trading town of Tuna, and Karl Knutsson Bonde, the exiled king of Sweden, held his court here. By the mid-16th century, Rase
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Stone Age Village
On the road to Orrdals Klint near Långbergsöda is a Stone Age walking trail starting from a clearly marked car park. It’s more of a stroll than a hike, taking you past two excavated settlements and then to a fully reconstructed Stone Age Village , with sealskin-covered huts. In sum
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Paateri
Between Vuonislahti and Vuonisjärvi, Paateri was the home and workshop of Eva Ryynänen (1915–2001), Finland’s most respected wood sculptor – as well as her greatest work, Paateri Wilderness Church (1991). Carved flowers and animals adorn the beams; the great tree-root altar is fram
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Neljän Tuulen Tupa
On Little Pine Island, 1.5km east of the town centre (now connected by a bridge), is the House of the Four Winds, where locals snuck swigs of ‘hard tea’ (alcohol) during the Finnish prohibition (1919–32). Disturbed by the merrymaking, Field Marshal CGE Mannerheim, who had his summe
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Vanha Kirkko
Helsinki’s most venerable church is this white wood beauty, designed by CL Engel. Opposite the church is a memorial to Elias Lönnrot , compiler of the Kalevala epic, depicting the author flanked by his most famous character, ‘steady old Väinämöinen’.
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Santas Grotto
Santa sees visitors year-round in this impressive grotto, where a huge clock mechanism (it slows the earth’s rotation so that Santa can visit the whole world’s children on Christmas night) eerily surrounds those queuing for an audience. The portly saint is quite a linguist, and an
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Bengtskär’s Lighthouse
Towering 52m above the waves 25km offshore from Hanko, the Nordic countries tallest lighthouse was built in 1906 to protect ships from the perilous archipelago waters. It was damaged extensively during the Continuation War by the departing Red Army, but has been refurbished. There
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Sibelius Museum
Johan Julius Christian (Jean) Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna in 1865 and went to school here, but surprisingly the town makes little fuss about this fact. His childhood home has been converted into a small museum which contains photographs, letters, his upright piano and some fam
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Lampivaara
Five kilometres above Luosto, this amethyst mine focuses on small-scale production for jewellery, using low-impact mining methods. There are guided tours (English available) on the hour, and you get to have a dig around for your own piece of amethyst. The mine is a 30-minute walk f
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Pielpajärven Kirkko
This erämaakirkko (wilderness church) is accessible by a marked walking track (7.5km one way) from the parking area at Siida. If you have a vehicle there’s another trailhead beyond here from where its 4.3km. In winter you’ll need snowshoes. The area has for centuries been an import
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Nousiainen Church
Nousiainen, 25km north of Turku, makes a good day trip for the Nousiainen church . It’s a noteworthy medieval church because it’s the first resting place of St Henry, an Englishman and Swedish-consecrated bishop who was the first to bring Christianity to the Finns (with a little ac
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Sammallahdenmäki
The Unesco World Heritage–listed Bronze Age burial complex Sammallahdenmäki dates back more than 3500 years. Thirty-six stone burial cairns of different shapes and sizes are spread over a kilometre of forest. The two biggest are kirkonlattia (church floor), a monumental quadrangle
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Kultamuseo
This gold museum has several parts. Nearest the entrance are replica buildings from American goldfields; the nearby smoke sauna and octagonal hut are less flashy but original. Rockhounds will enjoy the gemstone and mineral exhibition, but the highlight is the main museum, which cov
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Lusto
Dedicated to Finnish forests and forestry, Lusto is a good visit, with plenty of English information. Displays cover hunting, cottage culture and global forest resources; another section has a kid-pleasing range of machinery and chainsaws. More peaceable is the lakescape from the E
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