Turku, Finland’s oldest city, offers a thrilling mix of antique structures, contemporary design, excellent food, and a thriving nightlife. When you add in the lovely River Aura – Turku’s heart and soul – and a slew of laid-back cafes, it’s easy to see why an urban getaway to this colorful city is so appealing. Here are a few activities that you must do on your visit to Turku.
Visit Turku Castle
Turku Castle, one of Finland’s finest cherished pieces of national history and one of the country’s oldest buildings, was built in the late-1200s during Finland’s Swedish period.
It was originally erected to defend their region of Eastland, but throughout the next few centuries, it served as a luxury palace, administrative center, seat of government, warehouse, and finally a prison until the end of the 1800s.
The building was finally renovated in 1987 after a long delay and is now a museum.
The Knights’ Hall allows children to dress up in armour, and the castle’s halls are furnished with medieval furnishings.
Enjoy Eateries at Riverbank Dining
If you’re hungry, head to Turku’s riverbank, where the city’s best restaurants have formed a mini-dining district.
What’s more, there’s a large range of cafes and restaurants to suit all budgets and tastes.
Pinella, with its pan-fried Arctic char and gravlax, is the place to go if you want to learn about Nordic and Finnish cuisine.
Perhaps you’d like a continental option: If that’s the case, Sergio’s is an Italian bistro in an old wooden home that serves classics and spills out onto the sidewalk in the summer.
Explore Kuralan kylämäki
Kurala is a reconstructed 1950s village on the outskirts of Turku, where players dressed in period costumes act out scenes from the postwar era.
There’s a working farm here with chickens, sheep, and cows, so the kids will have a blast.
You can visit the blade-workshop sharpeners and see him work on the stone, or go for a walk with the hunting bailiff through the forest.
Visitors are encouraged to participate in activities such as butter churning, haymaking, and seed sowing (at the appropriate time of year, of course!).
There has been a town here since the Iron Age, therefore the attraction has a lot of historical value.
Enjoy Musical Art at Sibeliusmuseum
The Sibeliusmuseum in Turku is Finland’s only museum dedicated entirely to music. It’s housed in a functionalist structure created by Woldemar Baeckman, one of Finland’s most prominent postwar architects, in the 1960s. Inside, there are about 2,000 musical instruments on display, acquired from all across the world.
One of the rooms is dedicated solely to Jean Sibelius, including information on his life, compositions, and role in helping Finland carve out a sense of national identity following its time under Russian rule.
The museum also hosts Wednesday evening performances in the spring and autumn, with everything from folk to jazz on the menu.
