Lonely Planet Finland

Mara Vorhees

Description

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Finland is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Shop for the best in Scandinavian design, fizz across Lapland behind a team of huskies, and warm up in a traditional sauna - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Finland and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Finland: Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, music, architecture, landscapes, wildlife, the Sami, Finnish culture, Finnish design Covers Helsinki, Turku & the South Coast, Aland Archipelago, Tampere, Pirkanmaa & Hame, the Lakeland, Karelia, West Coast, Oulu, Kainuu & Koillismaa, Lapland, and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Finland is our most comprehensive guide to the country, and is designed to immerse you in the culture and help you discover the best sights and get off the beaten track. Looking for wider coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Scandinavia guide for a comprehensive look at all the region has to offer. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Sujets

• Finland
• Finlande

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781787018891
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 40 Mo

Extrait

Finland

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Finland
Finland's Top 15
Need to Know
What's New
If You Like...
Month by Month
Itineraries
The Great Outdoors
Travel with Children
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Helsinki
Neighbourhoods At A Glance
Suomenlinna
Sights
Activities
Tours
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Turku & the South Coast
Turku
Naantali
Turku Archipelago
Pargas
Nagu
Korpo
Houtskar
Inio
Kustavi
The South Coast: West of Helsinki
Kimito Island & Archipelago National Park
Hanko
Raseborg
Fiskars
Lohja
The South Coast: East of Helsinki
Porvoo
Loviisa
Kotka
Hamina
Aland Archipelago
Fasta Aland
Mariehamn
Jomala
Hammarland
Eckero
Geta
Saltvik
Sund
Vardo
Finstrom
Lemland
Lumparland
Northern & Southern Archipelagos
Northern Archipelago
Southern Archipelago
Tampere, Pirkanmaa & Hame
Tampere
Sights
Activities
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Pirkanmaa
Ruovesi
Helvetinjarvi National Park
Keuruu
Mantta
Hame
Iittala
Hameenlinna
Lahti
Lakeland
Savonlinna
Punkaharju
The Seal Lakes
Sulkava
Mikkeli
New Valamo
Jyvaskyla
Around Jyvaskyla
Kuopio
Karelia
South Karelia
Lappeenranta
Imatra
North Karelia
Joensuu
Ilomantsi
Hattuvaara
Lake Pielinen
Koli National Park
Paalasmaa Island
Vuonislahti
Lieksa
Patvinsuo National Park
Ruunaa Recreation Area
Nurmijarvi District
Nurmes
West Coast
Uusikaupunki
Rauma
Pori
Around Pori
Kristinestad
Narpes
Seinajoki
Vaasa
Around Vaasa
Jakobstad
Around Jakobstad
Kokkola
Kalajoki
Oulu, Kainuu & Koillismaa
Oulu
Around Oulu
Kajaani
Sotkamo
Kuhmo
Hossa
Kuusamo & Ruka
Juuma
Karhunkierros Trek & Oulanka National Park
Lapland
Southern Lapland
Kemi
Tornio
Rovaniemi
Around Rovaniemi
Kemijarvi
Pyha-Luosto
Fell Lapland
Yllas
Levi
Muonio
Hetta
Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park
Kilpisjarvi
Northern Lapland
Sodankyla
Saariselka
Around Saariselka
Saariselka Wilderness & Urho Kekkonen National Park
Ivalo
Nellim
Inari
Lemmenjoki National Park
Inari to Norway

Understand

Understand Finland
Finland Today
History
The Sami
Lifestyle & Culture
Finnish Design
The Arts
Food & Drink

Survive

Directory A-Z
Accommodation
Customs Regulations
Electricity
Food
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
LGBT Travellers
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Taxes & Refunds
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Volunteering
Work
Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Finland

Inspired design, technology and epicurean scenes meet epic stretches of wilderness here in Europe's deep north, where summer's endless light balances winter’s eerie frozen magic.


Call of the Wild
The Finland you encounter will depend on the season of your visit, but whatever the month, there’s something pure in the Finnish air and spirit that’s vital and exciting. With towering forests speckled by picture-perfect lakes, as if an artist had flicked a blue-dipped paintbrush at the map, Suomi offers some of Europe’s best hiking, kayaking and canoeing. A fabulous network of national parks has well-marked routes and regularly spaced huts for overnighting, and you can observe bears and elk deep in the forests on nature-watching trips.

Summer Days
Finland’s short but sparkling sunny season sees the country burst into life. Finns seem to want to suck every last golden drop out of the summer in the hope that it will sustain them through the long, dark winter months, and there’s an explosion of good cheer and optimism. With surprisingly high temperatures for these latitudes, summer is a time for music festivals, art exhibitions, lake cruises, midnight sunshine on convivial beer terraces, idyllic days at remote waterside cottages and bountiful market produce.

After the Snowfall
Winter has its own charm as snow blankets the pines and lakes freeze over. The best way to banish the frosty subzero temperatures is to get active. Skiing is great through to May. Other pursuits include chartering a team of dogs, a posse of reindeer, or a snowmobile for a trek across snowy solitudes, lit by a beautiful, pale winter sun; catching the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) after your wood-fired sauna; drilling a hole for ice fishing; and spending a night in a glittering, iridescent ice hotel.

City Lights
Finland isn't just vast expanses of pristine wilderness. Vibrant cities stock the country's southern areas, headlined by the capital, Helsinki, an electrifying urban space with world-renowned design and music scenes. Embraced by the Baltic, it’s a spectacular ensemble of modern and stately architecture, island restaurants and stylish and quirky bars. And the ‘new Suomi’ epicurean scene is flourishing, with locally foraged flavours to the fore. Beyond Helsinki, Tampere and Turku in particular are lively, engaging cities with spirited university-student populations.

Tuomiokirkko | JOAQUIN OSSORIO CASTILLO / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


By Catherine Le Nevez, Writer
What captivates me most about Finland is its extremes. The country is a study in contrasts, from lush, berry-filled forests to snowy, frozen winterscapes, traditional Sámi handicrafts to experimental design, vast wilderness to vibrant cities, time-honoured industry to cutting-edge tech, searing summers to vivifying winters, steaming saunas to bracing lakes, midnight sunlight to enveloping darkness, and skies that transform from expansive blackness to light shows of unearthly neon greens, pinks, purples and reds as the aurora borealis dances overhead. Finland is a paradox of perpetual change and abiding timelessness. It's an extraordinary place.
For more information, see Our Writers .
Finland's Top 15

Traditional Sauna
These days most Finns have saunas at home, but some public ones remain. They smell of old pine, tar shampoo and long tradition, with birch whisks and no-nonsense scrubdowns available as extras. Weathered Finnish faces cool down on the street outside, loins wrapped in a towel and hand wrapped around a cold beer. Helsinki and Tampere are the best places for this, while Kuopio’s old-style smoke sauna takes a day to prepare and offers a more rural experience, with a lake to jump into right alongside.

A lakeside sauna, Tampere | JANNE SKINNARLA - PHOTOJANSKI / 500PX ©


Top Experiences
Design Shopping, Helsinki
Functional, elegant, outrageous or wacky: the choice is yours. The capital’s decidedly nonmainstream chic is best explored by browsing the vast variety of design shops that spatter its centre. Whether examining iconic 20th-century Finnish forms in the flagship emporia of brands such as Iittala, Marimekko and Artek, or tracking down the cutting-edge and just plain weird in the creative Punavuori backstreets in the heart of its Design District, you’re sure to find something you didn’t know you needed, but just can’t do without. And yes, they can arrange shipping.

Classic Marimekko designs | EQROY / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
National Park Hiking, Northern Finland
Finland’s great swaths of protected forests and fells make it one of Europe’s prime hiking destinations. Head to the Karhunkierros near Kuusamo for a striking terrain of hills and sharp ravines that is prettiest in autumn. The Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland is one of Europe’s great wildernesses, while the spectacular gorge of the Kevo Strict Nature Reserve and the fell scenery of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park are other great northern options. A network of camping huts makes itinerary planning easy and they're good spots to meet intrepid Finns.

MIKKO KARJALAINEN / ALAMY ©


Top Experiences
On the Water, Lakeland
The Lakeland seems to have more water than land, so it’d be a crime not to get out on it. You can take three days to paddle the family-friendly Oravareitti (Squirrel Route), or head out into Kolovesi and Linnansaari national parks to meet freshwater seals. Tired arms? Historic lake boats still ply what were once important transport arteries; depart from any town on short cruises, or make a day of it and go from Savonlinna right up to Kuopio or across Finland’s largest lake, Saimaa, to Lappeenranta.

Savonlinna | RNDMS / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Cycling, Åland Archipelago
Paradisiacal Åland is best explored by bicycle – you’ll appreciate its understated attractions all the more if you’ve used pedal power to reach them. Bridges and ferries link many of its 6000 islands, and well-signposted routes take you off ‘main roads’ down winding lanes and forestry tracks. En route you can pick wild strawberries, wander castle ruins, sunbathe on a slab of red granite, visit a medieval church, quench your thirst at a cider orchard, or climb a lookout tower to gaze at the glittering sea.

LONEROC / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Bear-Watching, Eastern Finland
Old Honeypaws, the brown bear (Ursus arctos), is the national animal of Finland. Around 1000 of these powerful creatures live in the northeast, coming and going with impunity across the Finnish–Russian border. Operators run bear hides close to the frontier, where you can sit a silent night’s vigil as bruins snuffle out elk carcasses and carefully hidden chunks of salmon. The best time to see them is between mid-April and August, with a slight gap in July when the bears have mating rather than meals in mind.

SERGEY URYADNIKOV / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Sledding & Snowmobiling, Lapland
Fizzing across Lapland behind a team of huskies under the low winter sun is tough to beat. Short jaunts are great, but ove