Finland: Helsinki, the Lakeland, Tampere and Turku

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Helsinki

   Helsinki Airport to your hotel in central Helsinki

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Helsinki
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Helsinki Airport (HEL), about 20 km north of the city, at any time today; a driver meets you in the arrivals hall and takes you to the hotel, a short walk from the Esplanadi park and the harbour. In June and July the light lasts until close to midnight, so even a late arrival leaves time to walk down to the Market Square and the South Harbour, where the ferries leave for the islands. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing on the week: how the days are paced, what to bring for the sauna evenings and the lake boats, and where the drives fall. Then we walk to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, a first taste of Finnish summer food: new potatoes with dill, smoked or cured salmon, rye bread and berries.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Helsinki Airport (HEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the 6 pm briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Suomenlinna and an evening sauna

   Helsinki: ferry to Suomenlinna, the city centre on foot, then a seafront sauna

   • En traversier
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Helsinki
   Détail du jour 2

   We take an early city ferry from the Market Square to Suomenlinna, about 15 minutes across the harbour, so we are on the islands before the day-trippers and the cruise-ship groups. The sea fortress was begun by the Swedish crown in 1748, spreads over six linked islands and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1991; about 800 people still live inside its walls. A local guide walks us along the ramparts, the dry dock and the King's Gate, and we have lunch on the island. Back in town after lunch, your guide leads a short walk through Senate Square and the white Lutheran Cathedral, along the Esplanadi, and out to the Temppeliaukio Church, cut into solid rock. The late afternoon is yours. In the evening a short transfer takes us to a public seafront sauna, where you move between the heat and a dip in the Baltic in the evening light.

   Compris

   • City ferry to Suomenlinna and back
   • Guided walk of Suomenlinna with a local guide
   • Lunch on Suomenlinna
   • Walk through Senate Square, the Cathedral, the Esplanadi and the Temppeliaukio Church
   • Evening session at a public seafront sauna, with towels

   Activités en option

   • Design Museum or Ateneum art museum in the free afternoon

   Option plus facile : Skip the city walk after Suomenlinna and take the afternoon at your hotel, then join the group for the transfer to the sauna.

   Option plus active : Hire a city bike in the free afternoon and ride the shore path out to Lauttasaari.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free

   Activité : About 6 km on foot over the day, with cobbles and grassy slopes on Suomenlinna. Bring swimwear for the sauna; a sea dip is your choice.

   

3. Jour 3 : Porvoo, then east into the Lakeland

   Helsinki to Porvoo, then north-east to Savonlinna

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Savonlinna
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Helsinki at 8:30 am and drive about 45 minutes east to Porvoo, one of Finland's oldest towns, before the tour coaches arrive. Your guide starts on the old bridge over the Porvoo river, the best view of the waterfront shore houses, then climbs through the Old Town of wooden houses to the stone cathedral on the hill. Porvoo was home to J. L. Runeberg, Finland's national poet, whose house is now a museum. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Porvoo, with time for a Runeberg tart from a cafe. Then we head north-east into the Lakeland, about 290 km and three and a half hours through forest and farmland, with a coffee stop halfway. Today runs slightly over our four-hour driving cap because the Lakeland starts well inland; the Porvoo stop splits the day into two stretches. We reach Savonlinna in the late afternoon. The town sits on islands in Lake Saimaa, and the evening is free to walk the harbour, where old lake steamers tie up below the market.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of Porvoo Old Town and the cathedral hill
   • Sit-down lunch in Porvoo
   • Drive to Savonlinna with your guide

   Activités en option

   • Savonlinna Opera Festival performance in Olavinlinna Castle (July only; tickets sell out, so book when you book the trip)

   Option plus facile : Skip the climb to the cathedral hill and wait for the group at a riverside cafe by the old bridge; on the drive we add a second short leg-stretch stop for anyone who asks.

   Option plus active : Walk the riverside path on the far bank of the Porvoo river before lunch for the view back across to the Old Town.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Savonlinna

   Activité : The longest drive of the trip, about 4.25 hours in two stretches, broken by three hours in Porvoo and a coffee stop.

4. Jour 4 : Olavinlinna and a day on Lake Saimaa

   Savonlinna to Olavinlinna Castle, then Oravi and a boat into Linnansaari National Park

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Oravi
   Détail du jour 4

   We are at Olavinlinna Castle when it opens, before the groups. Founded in 1475 to guard the eastern border of the Swedish realm, it stands on a rock island in the strait, with three round towers and walls rising straight out of the water. A guided tour takes us up through the towers and halls; in July the courtyard is set up for the opera festival. Afterwards there is time at the lakeside market for a lörtsy, the local fried pastry, before a short drive north-west to Oravi, a small village on Saimaa. Lunch is in Oravi, then a boat takes us into Linnansaari National Park, a maze of wooded islands and open water. We walk a marked trail on the main island to a rocky lookout over the lake, and keep watch from the boat for the Saimaa ringed seal, a rare freshwater seal found only in this lake. Tonight is a lakeside cottage stay with a wood-heated sauna, a swim off the jetty and dinner together.

   Compris

   • Guided tour of Olavinlinna Castle
   • Lunch in Oravi
   • Boat trip into Linnansaari National Park and a guided walk on the main island
   • Lakeside sauna at the cottage
   • Dinner at the cottage stay

   Option plus facile : Stay on the boat or by the shore on Linnansaari instead of walking up to the lookout.

   Option plus active : Paddle a canoe or kayak among the islands near Oravi in the evening light, with a local guide.

   Activité : Tonight is a lakeside cottage or lodge stay, not a town hotel: your own cabin or lodge room with a private bathroom, a shared wood-heated sauna by the water, and dinner at the property. About 4 km on forest trails with some rock steps on Linnansaari. Seals are wild and not seen every day.

   

5. Jour 5 : Across the lakes to Tampere

   Oravi to Varkaus and Jyväskylä, then west to Tampere

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Tampere
   Détail du jour 5

   The morning is slow: a last swim or a paddle from the jetty, coffee by the water, and breakfast at the cottage. We leave at about 10 am and drive west through the heart of the Lakeland, about 330 km and four hours in all, with long causeways and bridges between lakes. The main stop is Jyväskylä, a lakeside university town where the architect Alvar Aalto worked for much of his life and left many buildings; we have a sit-down lunch by the lake and a short walk past his university campus before the last stretch of about two hours to Tampere. Tampere sits on a narrow isthmus between two big lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, joined by the Tammerkoski rapids that once powered the city's cotton and paper mills. We reach the hotel in the late afternoon, and the evening is free to walk the rapids and the brick mill quarter, which is full of restaurants and bars.

   Compris

   • Drive through the Lakeland with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Jyväskylä and a short walk past Alvar Aalto's university buildings

   Option plus facile : Stay by the lake in Jyväskylä over a longer lunch instead of the walk past the Aalto buildings; we also make a coffee stop near Varkaus to break the first stretch.

   Option plus active : Climb the steps of the Harju ridge above Jyväskylä during the lunch break for the view over the town and the lake.

   Temps libre : Morning at the cottage and evening free in Tampere

   Activité : About 4 hours of driving, split by lunch in Jyväskylä into stretches of about two hours each.

6. Jour 6 : Tampere: the rapids, a lake cruise and a smoke sauna

   Tampere on foot, a lake boat on Pyhäjärvi, then a lakeside smoke sauna

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Tampere
   Détail du jour 6

   We start at 9:30 am on foot with a local guide: the Tammerkoski rapids, the red-brick Finlayson mill area, where Finland's first large factory rose in the 1820s, and the new arena deck built over the railway beside the station. Then we climb the Pyynikki ridge, a forested esker between the two lakes, to the old observation tower, whose cafe is known across Finland for its sugar doughnuts. In the early afternoon a summer lake boat takes us out on Pyhäjärvi to a nearby island for a walk and a coffee before the boat back. The rest of the afternoon is free: the Moomin Museum, the Vapriikki museum centre or simply the lakeshore. Tampere calls itself the sauna capital of the world, and in the evening we go to a lakeside smoke sauna, the oldest kind, heated for hours without a chimney and aired before you go in. The heat is soft and deep, the lake is a few steps away, and a simple sauna supper follows.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of Tampere with a local guide: the Tammerkoski rapids, Finlayson and the Pyynikki ridge
   • Pyynikki observation tower
   • Lake boat on Pyhäjärvi and an island walk
   • Evening at a lakeside smoke sauna, with towels and a sauna supper

   Activités en option

   • Moomin Museum
   • Vapriikki museum centre
   • Näsinneula observation tower

   Option plus facile : Take a taxi up to the Pyynikki tower and meet the group there; skip the island walk and stay on the boat deck.

   Option plus active : Walk back from Pyynikki along the ridge trails to the city, about 4 km through pine forest.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : About 6 km on foot, with a climb onto the Pyynikki ridge. Smoke saunas run on set days; we confirm the evening when we set your dates.

   

7. Jour 7 : Turku and the archipelago road

   Tampere to Turku, then out along the archipelago road to Nagu and back

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Turku
   Détail du jour 7

   We leave Tampere at 8:30 am for the two-hour drive south-west to Turku, Finland's oldest city and its capital until 1812. First is Turku Castle at the mouth of the Aura River, begun around 1280, where a guided visit takes us through the stone halls and the Renaissance rooms added by Duke John. Lunch is in the Market Hall, opened in 1896, at the counters selling fish, cheese and Finnish rye. In the afternoon we drive out along the start of the Archipelago Trail, the road that hops from island to island across the Archipelago Sea: over the bridges to Parainen, then onto a short free road ferry to Nagu, a village of red boathouses and a summer harbour. There is time to walk, swim or sit on the harbour with a coffee before we drive back over the islands in the long evening light. The farewell dinner is in Turku, near the river.

   Compris

   • Drive from Tampere to Turku with your guide
   • Guided visit to Turku Castle
   • Lunch at the Turku Market Hall
   • The archipelago road to Parainen and Nagu, with the road ferry
   • Farewell dinner in Turku

   Option plus facile : Stay in Turku for the afternoon instead of the archipelago drive: the riverbanks and the Cathedral area are flat and close to the hotel.

   Option plus active : Rent a bike in Nagu and ride the quiet island roads for an hour before the drive back.

   Activité : About 3.5 hours of driving in three stretches, the longest about two hours. We plan Turku Castle on a day it is open, confirmed when we set your dates.

   

8. Jour 8 : Turku Cathedral and home

   Turku Cathedral and the Aura riverbanks, then Helsinki Airport

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   A last morning in Turku. At 9 am we walk to Turku Cathedral, the national shrine of the Finnish Lutheran church, consecrated in 1300 and rebuilt in brick after the great fire of 1827 that burned most of the city. Inside are medieval chapels and the tomb of Karin Månsdotter, the fisherman's daughter who became queen of Sweden. From the cathedral we stroll the Aura riverbanks, past the moored ships and the old Cathedral Park, which in summer is where the whole city seems to sit outside. We leave Turku at about 11 am for the drive of about two and a quarter hours east to Helsinki Airport, with a stop for coffee on the way, arriving around 1:45 pm. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you are staying on in Helsinki, we drop you in the city centre instead, about 30 minutes further on.

   Compris

   • Turku Cathedral with your guide
   • Walk along the Aura River
   • Drop-off at Helsinki Airport (HEL) or central Helsinki

   Option plus facile : If your flight leaves before about 3:30 pm, we leave Turku straight after breakfast.

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm from Helsinki Airport.

   

Faune et météo : June to August brings long days, with light until close to midnight around midsummer and daytime temperatures usually around 18 to 25 C; lakes warm enough to swim from late June, and mosquitoes are at their peak in the Lakeland in July. The Saimaa ringed seal lives only in Lake Saimaa and is not seen on every boat trip.

• Helsinki2 nuits
• Savonlinna1 nuit
• Oravi1 nuit
• Tampere2 nuits
• Turku1 nuit