By rail
Turku station, ~2 h from Helsinki
Europe · Finland
Turku, Finland
Finland's oldest city and its archipelago
Getting there
By air
Turku (TKU), ~8 km
Best time to visit
June to August — summer
Don't miss
Turku Castle
Turku Cathedral
The Aura river
The Market Hall
Things to do
Turku Castle
The riverside
The archipelago
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Ninara · CC BY 2.0
What to pack
Layers
A quieter corner
The Archipelago Trail's island ferries
Questions travellers ask
How long is the train from Helsinki to Turku?
About 2 h to Turku station. If you fly in, Turku's airport (TKU) is about 8 km away.
What should I know about Turku?
It is Finland's oldest city. See Turku Castle, Turku Cathedral, the Aura river and the Market Hall.
Where should I eat in Turku?
On one of the restaurant boats along the river.
How can I explore the archipelago from Turku?
Hop on the Archipelago Trail's island ferries. Come between June and August, and bring layers.
About Turku
- Coastal
- Riverside
Where it is
Turku is a city on the south-west coast of Finland, at the mouth of the Aura river, facing the Archipelago Sea and its thousands of islands stretching towards Åland.
History
Turku is Finland's oldest city, growing around a trading place on the Aura where Turku Castle was established in the 1280s and the cathedral was built in the 13th century. It was the country's main city under Swedish rule and briefly its official capital under Russia, until the capital moved to Helsinki in 1812, and the Great Fire of 1827 destroyed a large part of the town.
People
Turku is bilingual, with a Finnish-speaking majority and a long-established Swedish-speaking community, and it has both the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi, one of Finland's two Swedish-language universities. Life in summer moves to the riverside and the cottages of the archipelago.
Known for
- Turku Castle
- Turku Cathedral
- The Aura riverside
- The Archipelago Trail
- The Declaration of Christmas Peace
Did you know?
Every Christmas Eve the Declaration of Christmas Peace is read out in Turku's Old Great Square, a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, and it is broadcast across Finland.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.