Top Finland hotels
Sauna (The Finnish Sauna Society) Helsinki
6 Reviews We deliberately chose a hotel with a swimming pool in Helsinki and were shocked to find the pool only opened around 2 hours per day. This is because the pool is part of the sauna experience. Finnish...
See All 197 Local Customs in Helsinki
Musta Makkara Tampere
4 Reviews If you ask anyone in Tampere which one is the most typical local food, the answer would be mustamakkara. This sausage (similar to black pudding, but thinner) consists of pork, pig blood, crushed rye...
See All 25 Local Customs in Tampere
No tipping in Finland (but you can leave small change) Helsinki
7 Reviews I don't actually agree with the no tipping custom. Finnish people might not tip very often, but when they do tip, they show that they liked the food, the place and the service - just like anywhere...
See All 197 Local Customs in Helsinki
Vappu (1st. of May) Helsinki
6 Reviews This is to tell you a little bit about a Finnish tradition called Vappu (the 1st of May). We have big Vappu celebrations over here with dancing in the streets, lots of balloons and funny masks etc....
See All 197 Local Customs in Helsinki
Washing carpets at the beach Helsinki
3 Reviews When you tell people that the Finns still wash their carpets by hand, many do not believe this to be true. However, the tradition continues and in several water front places around the city, the...
See All 197 Local Customs in Helsinki
Sponsored Links
All around the country woul notice how differnt bus stations will look from region to region or even from districts inside regions. This is the bus station on the main road coming from Jyväskylä just across the town of Kihnö, just +-20km from Parkano.
Many people like to make personal decoration to their houses in the country side. Mailboxes with different shapes and inside little wooden houses, small sculptures in the front yards, or just small things like this plastic bird on a pole in front of the main road and the entrance road... Like an welcome good sign.
This is one of the houses on the Parmansgatan square right in front of the new red brick church. In centre city of Kristinestad you still can find lots of this little wood houses painted in all different colours. Along with snow this makes very nice and interesting streets to photograph.
Everybody knows what sauna is and most of us have probably had the chance to be in one.But going to a real Finnish sauna was a true adventure. We had been told by our friends that if we wanted to do it "Finnish style" we must jump into a lake after staying in sauna for a few moments, and we should repeat the whole procedure several times. On that day in Tampere the temperature was about 12 degress C with the icy wind blowing so no wonder we put on thick pullovers and jackets. The sight of the lake made us feel even colder. After changing into our swimming costumes we entered the sauna. About ten people - men, women and children were sitting in the room full of steam on wooden benches. I took the seat on the lowest level since the temperature here was a few degrees lower than above, but it was still almost 100 degrees C. Luckily we had been warned to take off all metal things. After about...
Before our trip to Finland I read somewhere that traditional Finnish coffee is served with cheese. The combination then seemed rather indigestible to me. While in Rovaniemi I asked our charming landlady if they drink coffee this way. She only smiled and on the next day she prepared some traditional Finnish dishes. We had reindeer meat ( very tasty), rieska (barley bread), kariala pirakka (special buns with rice) and some kind of cheese (rennet?) served with cloudberries for the dessert. It was the first time I had eaten cloudberries - their taste, a bit bitter, came as a surprise, so I didn't take much notice of the cheese. But then Aino-Leena said: 'now put the cheese into your coffee (of course without cloudberries) and you'll have it in the traditional Finnish style'. So we did it and it wasn't bad at all!
This is some kind of traditional Finnish game. Something like bowling in the forest with wooden tools, I am not sure exactly about this game, but one thing for sure, the more you drink the better and funny this game is.If you want to know more, check Sasa Molkky page.
Another peculiar world championships event- the Air Guitar Championships in Oulu! The Championships is part of Oulu Music Video festival. The first time it was organised was in 1996 and since then, it has grown every year. The national competition winners from various countries will directly go to the final, others who wish to show their talent can take part in the qualifying round in 45 Special Club on the night before the final.The Air Guitar World Championships attracts 15000 to 20000 visitors, which is a lot for Oulu, and it's heaps of fun! Definitely a must-see event, if you happen to be in Oulu in late August!
Legend says that if a girl puts seven different flowers under her pillow in midsummer night she will dream of her future husband. Of course we had to try this and here you can see Bea counting the flowers she had picked. I am not going to tell you who I dreamt of that night tho ;)
Finland doe's not have too many international beers, there are few special local beers from local breweries that I mentioned in cities pages. The most common beers here are lapin Kulta and Koff. But my favourite is Olvi.
Finland is the land of the sauna and the Finns are a nation of sauna-enthusiasts.The sauna has a long history and close relatives in other cultures: the Russian banya, the Native American sweat lodge or inipi, the Turkish hamam, even the Japanese onsen. In Finland it has at least a thousand years of history.The traditional sauna is a wooden building where the bathers sit on benches splashing water on the hot stones of the stove and gently beating themselves with leafy birch whisks.It is used for bathing as well as for mental and physical relaxation. Many Finns cannot manage without a sauna... "There they sat, side by side, amidst the steam and enjoyed the pleasure of the flesh. Antti was musing: "D'you think there might be a sauna in heaven? "Couse there must be," said Jussi."
Hotel Kamp Helsinki
16 Reviews and 332 Opinions Located on Pohjoisesplanadi, in the heart of Helsinki, Hotel Kämp is one of the city's most...
Sokos Hotel Ilves Tampere
5 Reviews and 59 Opinions I stayed at Sokos Hotel Ilves for one night in July 2011 and had a very pleasant stay in this 4 star...
Radisson Blu Marina Palace Hotel Turku Turku
4 Reviews and 125 Opinions We had never stayed in Radison hotels before, because they are allways more expensive than any other...
Reviews and photos of Finland attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Finland sightseeing.
More Cities in Finland
More Regions in Finland
Q: Right - here's the brief. I've got a maximum of three days, and am going to pick up a car from either Helsinki or Tampere....
A: go to the koli national park. thats not too far so you can get to see something in 3 days, and its one of the most beautiful landscapes in finland.
Read 2 Replies
Sponsored Links
