Finland Guide
Helsinki and the south
The southern coast of Finland is the most populated, industrialized and richest part of the country, centred around the capital, Helsinki, a city of half a million people with the friendliness of a peasant village on market day. Helsinki's innovative architecture and batch of fine museums and galleries collectively expose the roots of the national character, while at night the pubs and clubs strip it bare. It may seem the perfect prelude to exploring the rest of Finland, and in the practical sense it is, being the hub of the country's road, rail and air traffic routes. However, if you can, try to arrive in Helsinki after seeing the rest of the country, as only with some prior knowledge of Finland does the significance of the city as a symbol of Finnish self-determination become clear.
Helsinki only became the capital in 1812, after Finland had been made a Russian Grand Duchy and Tsar Alexander I had deemed the previous capital, Turku, too close to Sweden for comfort. Today Turku, facing Stockholm across the Gulf of Bothnia, handles its demotion well. Both historically and visually it's one of Finland's most enticing cities; indeed, the snootier elements of its Swedish-speaking contingent still consider Åbo (its Swedish name) the real capital, and Helsinki just an uncouth upstart.
Between Helsinki and Turku, along the entire southern coast, only small villages and a few slightly larger towns break the continuity of the forests. Beyond Turku, though, things are more interesting, with the two most southerly of the Finland-Swedish communities: Rauma, with its unique dialect and well-preserved town centre; and the likeably downbeat Pori, famous for its summer jazz festival.
Where this corner of Finland meets the sea it splinters into an enormous archipelago, which includes the curious Åland Islands – a grouping of thousands of fragments of land, only about half a dozen of which are inhabited, connected by small roadways skirting the sea.
Much of the region is most easily reached from Helsinki, from where there are frequent bus and rail services to Turku.