Turku

Introduction

Turku sits on Finland's southwestern coast, where the River Aura meets the sea. As the regional capital of Southwest Finland, it anchors one of the country's larger urban areas, trailing only Helsinki and Tampere in size.

Before you go

Turku is Finland's oldest city, and it grew up around trade on the banks of the Aura River, with its castle, cathedral and Christmas Peace tradition all dating back to the Middle Ages. It later served as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland and remains the seat of the country's archdiocese, though a devastating fire in the 1800s destroyed most of the old town and pushed many institutions to Helsinki. The Swedish name for the city is Åbo, and both Finnish and Swedish are part of everyday life here.

As a major academic town with two universities and several applied-science institutions, Turku has a young, lively feel, and the student population supports plenty of restaurants, live music clubs and nightlife. The city is bilingual, with a Swedish-speaking community of its own, and the local Finnish dialect carries influences from Swedish and Estonian. Some residents still bristle at Helsinki having taken over as capital, and people from elsewhere in Finland sometimes stereotype Turku locals as reserved, but a coffee at the Market Square and a chat with the locals tends to dispel that impression.

Getting there

Turku is well connected to the rest of Finland by rail and road, and ferries are the main option if you are arriving from the west, from Åland or Sweden. Those ferries carry cars, and there are also flights from across the Baltic Sea and from some more distant places if you are in a hurry. Turku is also a good yachting destination for those already on the Baltic Sea or ready to make a longer voyage.

• By plane: Turku Airport (TKU) sits north of the city centre and is compact, with two terminals for check-in. There are typically daily flights from Mariehamn, Stockholm and Copenhagen, plus a few more distant locations such as Gdańsk or Riga, though these tend to change as budget airlines come and go. Domestic Finnair flights from Helsinki have been discontinued and replaced by coaches. Bus line 1 departs the airport and goes via the centre to the Port of Turku, with several hotels along the route; tickets are available on board by contactless card or cash, children under 7 travel free when accompanied by an adult, and free transfers for two hours are included. The day's last bus waits as long as 15 minutes if necessary, and the last buses operate only to Kauppatori, not to the harbour.
• Via Helsinki-Vantaa (HEL): A common option is to fly to the internationally well connected Helsinki Airport and continue by train (with a transfer in Helsinki centre) or coach. There is an almost hourly coach connection from Helsinki Airport to the Turku bus station, sold on the Matkahuolto platform regardless of operator, and coach services operate around the clock, though there may be a gap of two hours between services in the small hours. The trip takes between 2 hr 15 min and 2 hr 55 min depending on whether the service calls in towns on the way. Onnibus is typically a bit cheaper but leaves from Helsinki's central bus station rather than the airport; their buses are red double-deckers with free Wi-Fi but little legroom, and they have special restrictions on children, pets and luggage, so book online in advance for a cheaper price.
• By train: Links between Turku and the rest of the country (except Satakunta) are frequent and excellent, from Helsinki (close to hourly) and Tampere, with services also from Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Oulu. There is an overnight car and sleeper train connection from Rovaniemi in Lapland, usually with a transfer in Tampere. Some services have a restaurant car (a café/pub with sandwiches etc., mostly no real dining, although simple meals may be available), most others a cart with drinks and snacks, and the IC2 services have a family car with space for prams, a playing corner upstairs and an accessible toilet doubling as family room. From western Europe you can travel by train to Stockholm and take a ferry cruise from there, a scenic option, and most European railway companies offer discounts for the ferry connection. VR, the state-owned railway company, operates the trains, and Turku has three railway stations: the central railway station in the north, Kupittaa in the east and Turku harbour in the west. The former two have ticket vending machines, waiting room, toilets and service for the disabled on advance request; VR has no service desk in Turku, and there are no local or regional trains as of the 2020s. Trains from the direction of Helsinki stop at Kupittaa before arriving at the central station, while trains from Tampere don't pass the former, and some trains continue onward to the harbour, handy if you are connecting to a passenger ferry towards Stockholm or Mariehamn.
• By bus: Long-distance services usually terminate at the Turku bus station at the northern edge of the city centre, within walking distance of the central railway station and Kauppatori. Matkahuolto abandoned the station building, but facilities are open again (R kiosk, timetable displays, café, hamburgers and snacks), while Matkahuolto with ticket sale and freight still uses the freight terminal across Läntinen pitkäkatu. The bus station has good local bus connections, although it is not the hub for them, and stops for local and regional lines are at a few different places on or around the station, so note where your bus stops. Some coach lines arriving at the station continue to the Port of Turku if needed; tell that when buying your ticket and when boarding. Normal coach connections from Kamppi in Helsinki leave for Turku more or less every half an hour during the day and every hour or two during the night, and coming via Tallinn there may be a coach directly from the port, mostly via Kamppi. Direct connections and connections with transfer are available from Helsinki-Vantaa airport, and all these connections are either express or special express, though there may also be a few hard-to-find "regular" connections.

Getting around

Kauppatori, the market square, is the practical midpoint of Turku: most sights, restaurants and central businesses lie within a kilometre of it, and nearly all buses pass by or terminate nearby. Walking covers the vast majority of what you will want to see, and the banks of the River Aura make for a pleasant stroll between Turku Cathedral and Turku Castle, or upstream towards countryside. The city's tourist agency runs guided walking tours, and self-guided leaflets such as the Sculpture walk, ArchitecTour, Romantic Turku and Stepping it up are available, with maps from the main library on Linnankatu or the tourist information; a Citynomadi app map is also available for smartphones.

A bike is the quickest and most flexible way to get around, with generally good cycleways, though in the central business district you may have to know the routes, join car traffic or wheel your bike. Some central routes along the river, around the campuses and through the business district are brushed and salted in winter, but elsewhere maintenance is less reliable. Main biking routes are signposted, and regional routes run out to Ruissalo, Naantali, Lieto, Piikkiö, Paimio and Kakskerta. Bikes can be loaded onto local and Föli regional buses at the driver's discretion. Fölläri bike sharing, run with Donkey Republic, uses an app with Bluetooth and GPS and has stations around the city; bikes are not equipped for winter use. Several local shops rent bikes, including electric-assisted ones, and others offer servicing. Bike theft and vandalism occur, so lock your bike to something, especially near the river.

Local buses are the main public transport, with a route network of frequent trunk lines through the centre plus complementing lines, so transfers and short walks between stops are common. Central stops are spread along Eerikinkatu and Aurakatu, while regional buses mostly leave from Puutori or the bus station. Pay with a contactless debit or credit card, the Föli app, or cash from the driver; single tickets include unlimited transfers for two hours, and a 24-hour ticket becomes worthwhile if you travel in more than two such periods. Bus line 1 links the airport with the centre and the Port of Turku, and line 20 serves the central railway station, while lines 3 and 3A connect Kupittaa station. Turku has no tram or metro; rail is for arriving and leaving rather than getting around, with the central station, Kupittaa and the harbour stop, and no VR service desk in the city, so buy tickets in advance or from a machine.

Where to stay

Turku's accommodation spreads from the River Aura to the islands and the ring of suburbs, so your choice often comes down to whether you want to be in the middle of things or somewhere quieter. Campers and caravanners head for Ruissalo Camping at the outermost tip of Ruissalo island, reachable by bus, with a beach, sauna, convenience store, hot showers, laundry, mini-golf, volleyball and a café-restaurant; it opens June–August. On the river itself, Hostel Borea occupies the former steamship Bore, permanently moored on the Aura beside Forum Marinum and near Turku Castle, with small cabins, most with private shower and toilet, plus linen, towels, breakfast in the ship's buffet restaurant, luggage storage, laundry and free Wi-Fi — though there are lots of narrow stairs and it is not suitable for disabled guests. Other budget options include the Bridgettine Convent Guest House, run by Catholic Sisters in a central but quiet location with basic, clean en suite rooms, free Wi-Fi, secure parking and a continental breakfast; Guesthouse Tapuli, a small place between the university and Kupittaa park with a daily sauna and a self-service kitchen; Hotel Harriet, offering modern hotel and hostel-quality rooms in the centre; Hesehotelli, above a Hesburger restaurant next to the bus station, with air conditioning, fridges and free Wi-Fi; the Interpoint Hostel, run by the YWCA and the cheapest place to sleep in town, consisting of mattresses on the floor and one shower; Linnasmäki, in peaceful Räntämäki outside the centre, with a swimming pool, sauna, hiking routes, bike rental and a mix of hotel, hostel, family rooms and apartments; and Bed & Breakfast Tuure, a cosy non-smoking guest house three blocks from the Market Square with shared showers, a kitchen, computers, Wi-Fi, washing machine and a plentiful breakfast.

Mid-range choices cluster around the centre and the station. Centro Hotel is a modern, family-owned place in an inner courtyard; Omena Hotel has no reception staff and no breakfast but is considerably cheaper, with online booking and a door code; Park Hotel is one of Finland's oldest boutique hotels, in an Art Nouveau building from 1902 by Puolala park; Scandic Hotel Plaza offers a restaurant, sauna, a 24-hour gym and borrowable bikes; Best Western Hotel Seaport is a family-owned basic hotel in an old customs house at the port; Sokos Hotel Seurahuone leans business-oriented with a Spanish-style restaurant; Holiday Inn Turku and Cumulus Turku are moderately priced business hotels; and Hotel Helmi, next to the bus station in a former Shell petrol station, is a small, good-value no-frills option whose café sells takeaway breakfast, lunch and snacks. For a splurge, the Radisson Blu Marina Palace on Linnankatu overlooks the River Aura, has two restaurants including Grill it! Marina, a fully equipped gym and a guest quay; Sokos Hotel Wiklund sits in the Wiklund department store by Kauppatori and often comes with ferry packages; and Scandic Julia is known for clean, comfortable rooms, friendly service, a quality breakfast and perhaps the best brunch in town. Spa hotels lie further out: Spa Hotel Caribia, by the student village behind the universities, has Caribbean-style spa facilities and is popular with families, with the pink duck-pig statue Posankka nearby, while Ruissalo Spa sits by the sea on scenic Ruissalo island, with pools and sea swimming, a golf course and a guest harbour.

Food & drink

Turku and the rest of Finland Proper share a western-influenced Finnish cuisine with features drawn especially from Sweden, Denmark and Germany, shaped by long traditions of farming and fishing. Herring, the regional fish, has been central to the area's cooking for centuries and is eaten all year round – salted, fried, grilled and smoked – alongside perch, whitefish and pike. Two specialities are worth seeking out: the famous raisin sausage, which you can buy for instance from the Market Hall, and skärgårdslimpa, a sweet malt bread from the archipelago. For dessert, take a good cup of coffee with pulla or with Piispanmunkki ("Bishop's Doughnut"), as the local name for the traditional North German pastry Berliner goes.

At lunchtime, most restaurants offer lunch deals, and there are also lunch restaurants and cafés that serve only at midday, including student cafés and workplace canteens that are affordable for outsiders too; at student cafeterias, time your visit to avoid the queues. The department stores Wiklund and Stockman have family-friendly cafés. Pizzerias in the centre are frequently cheap kebab-pizzerias offering kebab, falafel and pizza, and the suburbs have plenty of this kind of eatery as well. Hesburger, the dominant Finnish hamburger chain, was founded in Turku and is still based here and run by the family that started it, so you will find several around the Kauppatori area; you can also order through their mobile app if you are in a hurry. A few grill kiosks remain for a smaller quick meal, primarily sausage, hot dog, makkaraperunat, lihapiirakka or hamburger.

What to see and do

When to go

Summer is the most comfortable time to be outdoors in Turku. The warm period runs from late May to early September, when day temperatures are typically mild and pleasant, making this the best stretch of the year for exploring the city on foot.

Winters are snowy and can turn bitterly cold, with frequent snowfall and temperatures that mostly stay well below freezing. In a good winter you can walk, ski and skate on the river ice, and skiing tracks are laid around the suburbs. Even in a lesser winter there is usually a shorter track at Impivaara and skating at Parkin kenttä, Kupittaa park and most suburbs for at least part of the season. Slush is possible in the city itself; if you head somewhat inland by local bus, you will usually find real snow.

Three days in Turku

Day one: Start by getting your bearings along the River Aura, the waterway that runs through the heart of Turku and gives the city much of its character. Wander the riverside and take in the Market Square, known locally as Kauppatori, where you can sample the everyday life of the city. As you walk, keep in mind that Turku is one of Finland's oldest cities, with roots stretching back to the Middle Ages, and that it served as the Grand Duchy's centre in centuries past. If you arrive by air, Turku Airport (TKU) is your gateway, though some travellers come via Helsinki and Vantaa instead.

• River Aura and the Market Square (Kauppatori)
• Turku Airport (TKU) for arrivals

Day two: Use the city as a base for exploring Southwest Finland and the wider region. The River Aura continues to shape the city's rhythm, and the Baltic Sea is never far away. Ferries and ships connect Turku with Sweden, and services also link to Mariehamn, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gdańsk and Riga, making the port a natural hub for onward travel. If you prefer to stay on land, domestic Finnair flights and bus services through Matkahuolto can take you towards Helsinki, Tampere or other Finnish destinations.

• Port connections to Sweden, Mariehamn, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gdańsk and Riga
• Domestic Finnair flights and Matkahuolto bus services

Day three: Round off your stay by reflecting on the layers of history that make Turku distinctive. The city's story weaves together Finnish and Swedish influences, and it is here that the Christmas Peace has long been proclaimed. Whether you arrived via Helsinki Airport (HEL) or through Turku itself, the mix of old and new along the Aura River leaves a lasting impression. Take a final stroll by the water before you continue your journey, whether onward to Helsinki, Tampere or across the Baltic Sea.

• Christmas Peace tradition
• Finnish and Swedish heritage
• Onward travel to Helsinki, Tampere or across the Baltic Sea