For our first trip to Finland, we decided to focus on the southern part of the country. We made Helsinki our homebase for the week and spent our time exploring the city and some of the surrounding islands as well as taking day trips via train to nearby cities of interest.

If you’re looking for day trips from Helsinki, Finland, that are easily accessible via public transportation, I would recommend:

• Tampere, about a 90-minute train ride each way
• Turku, about a 2-hour train ride each way
• Porvoo, we opted to take a boat to Porvoo and then a bus back to Helsinki

Here are some highlights from each place.

Top Three Day Trips from Helsinki, Finland

Day Trip to Tampere, Finland

We found Tampere to be very low-key and only spent about half of a day exploring a few key spots in this city.

We had great weather during our trip so we explored the city on foot, starting with a walk to the Pyynikki Observation Tower and Cafe. The entrance to the tower is very small and can become easily crowded, which made it hard for us to figure out how to buy our ticket to take the elevator to the tower’s observation deck. We ended up purchasing it at the cafe, rode to the top, and enjoyed the views of the surrounding area before returning to the cafe for their famous doughnuts (or ‘munkki’ in Finnish).

We really enjoyed walking some of the wooded paths around the tower afterward.

If you’re interested in history, I’d recommend a brief stop at the Lenin Museum, which is located at the spot where Lenin and Stalin first met in 1905. Apparently Lenin led several meetings here before returning to Russia to lead the Bolshevik revolution.

After our week in the Baltic States – where we learned a great deal more about the history of the Soviet Union – this stop furthered our knowledge and provided some insight into Finland’s occupation by the Soviets and then relatively neutral stance toward the USSR (up until 2022) via videos, placards, and artifacts.

We wrapped up our time at a few key stops downtown, grabbing lunch at the Tampere Market Hall before walking around the Tampere Old Church and along the Tammerkoski Falls.

Our last stop was the Tampere Cathedral, which is relatively unadorned but has some beautiful stained glass windows, on our walk back to the train station.

Day Trip to Turku, Finland

We really enjoyed our day in Turku, which was founded at the end of the 13th century, making it Finland’s oldest city. I was surprised to learn it was actually the country’s capital until 1812! 

Thanks to more good weather, we primarily explored Turku on foot. One exception was our brief (two-minute) ride on the Fori, which is a free mini-ferry that has helped passengers cross the Aura River since 1904.

Our main historical stop in this city was Turku Castle, where we learned about the city’s medieval past as well as more recent history.

I liked that the historical information followed along with the timeline of physical renovations to the buildings. I did not like that the audio guide cut out once we roamed too far from the WiFi router, leaving us to the limited information on the placards. We still spent about two hours at this site.

As with Tampere, we walked back to the main section of the city for a delicious lunch at the Turku Market Hall before wandering the Market Square and making a quick stop to see the ‘Lutheranized’ Turku Cathedral.

I read mixed reviews about Turku when I was choosing our day trips, but I really enjoyed the city. If we’d had more time, I would have investigated traveling to nearby Nantaali as well.

Day Trip to Porvoo, Finland

My favorite day trip was to Porvoo, which is one of only six medieval towns in Finland and the second oldest town in the country. First mentioned in historical documents in the 14th century, Porvoo is known for its well-preserved old town, cobblestone streets, and colorful wooden houses.

We decided to take a boat to Porvoo, which we boarded from Market Square in Helsinki around 9 a.m. It was a lovely, relaxing ride – we sat outside, and I enjoyed coffee and breakfast pastries along the way.

The ship docked a short walk from Porvoo’s Old Town where we spent several hours walking along the water for views of the iconic red wooden houses before crossing the bridges and climbing up to Porvoo Cathedral.

In addition to popping in a few local shops, we enjoyed sampling chocolate truffles at Brunberg’s, Finland’s oldest chocolate factory (founded in 1871).

We also enjoyed a delicious and leisurely lunch at the acclaimed Fryysarinranta, where we sampled several local delicacies, including fish and Porvoo snails.

For dessert, we headed to Porvoon Paahtimo, which is a coffee shop and roastery housed in a former warehouse. We ordered the cylindrical rum and almond flavored Runeberg cake, which originated in Porvoo, and enjoyed it as well as views over the water until we needed to head to the square to catch our 45-minute bus ride back to Helsinki.

Tip: If you’re taking the bus, arrive early as it was very confusing finding the correct bus stop despite having pre-purchased our tickets and the bus drivers were not helpful.

While there are many day trip options out of Helsinki, we found Tampere, Turku, and Porvoo to be easily accessible for our relatively relaxed schedule. Each one offered insights into different aspects and eras of Finland’s history, and we enjoyed great local cuisine in each place.

If there are other Helsinki day trips you recommend, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!