Experience the best of Turku

Turku grew up around the Aura River in the thirteenth century and was Finland's capital until 1812. Turku Castle, a stone fortress on the harbour, dates from that era and is now a museum. The cathedral, the mother church of Finland's Lutherans, stands on the riverbank, and the Luostarinmäki quarter keeps wooden houses that survived the great fire of 1827 as a craft museum.

River boats double as restaurants beside the Aura, and the three-masted training ship Suomen Joutsen is moored near the mouth. One museum is built over excavated medieval streets. Out in the Archipelago Sea, thousands of islands and skerries are linked by ferries and bridges along the Archipelago Trail. Ruissalo island, west of the centre, has old oaks and a botanical garden, and Naantali has a wooden old town and harbour.

The market hall sells smoked and pickled Baltic herring, and the local archipelago bread is a dark, sweet-sour loaf. Terraces along the river fill on long summer evenings. On Christmas Eve, the proclamation of the Christmas Peace is read in the old market square, a tradition kept for centuries.