Serena Water Amusement Park and other Finland Things to Do Tips

Tropical Serena Indoor Aqua Park (water park), the biggest in Europe! The fully heated bathing areas cover an area of 2.000 square meters.

Serena is a tropically warm aqua park all year round. There are terraced pools, whirlpools, water slides (including a new kind of water slide called Black Hole with lighting effects and sound effects!), a wave pool, a 140 m long River Ride, saunas inside caves, a cave restaurant and a large outdoor section there.

The outdoor section includes mat slides, rubber tyre slides, the Dead Sea salted pool and tube slides.

The inside water park is the biggest in Europe. It is a wonderful place both for children and for adults. You will enjoy it!

There are ski slopes named Ski Serena in the area, too.

Remember also Serena Villas and Hotel Korpilampi for accommodation!

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Phone: + 358 (0)9 8870 550
Address: Tornimaentie 10, Espoo
Directions: Serena is located in Espoo only 20 kilometers from Helsinki. So it is easy to get there by bus, too. You find bus timetables at Serena website http://www.serena.fi (also in English).
Website: http://www.serena.fi/index.php?lang=en_EN, http://www.korpilampi.com

Kaunissaari (literally Beautiful Island) Island is a traditional, small but still lively fisherman village near the city of Kotka in Southern Finland.

Boats from Sapokka Harbour (in front of Maretarium Aquarium, Kotka) about 2-3 times a day in the summer. Tickets are sold on boats. There may be quite windy on the sea (even if a day may be warm). So take warm clothes with you.

On the island you find a very small museum, a restaurant (good fish dishes) and accommodation. Remember to taste extremely delicious salmon pastries which are sold at a kiosk near the museum.

Other very interesting islands near the city of Kotka are Tammio (only one permanent inhabitant!), Ulkotammio and Haapasaari (10 inhabitants, 25 kilometers from Kotka). For timetables see the link below, please.

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Directions: City of Kotka
Website: http://www.kotka.fi, http://www.kotka.fi/index.asp?link=2026

The wooden church of Kerimaki
Kerimaki church is the biggest wooden church in the whole world: 45 meters long, 42 meters wide and 37 meters high. There are over 3,000 seats in the church. All together there can be 5,000 people at one time in the church. The church was built in 1844-1847.

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Directions: Kerimaki is in Eastern Finland near the city of Savonlinna.
Website: http://www.kolumbus.fi/kerisrk/kirkkotietoja.htm

Bengtskar Lighthouse is the highest (52 meters) lighthouse in the Nordic countries. It was built in 1906 and it is the first lighthouse museum in Finland.

You can stay overnight in the old home of the lighthouse keeper! All rooms have a sea view. Price 55-100 euros per night including breakfast and sauna. You don`t have to stay overnight there. You can also have a one-day trip.

Bengtskar is the most southern inhabited place in Finland. The nearest village is Rosala, about 18 kilometers north of Bengtskar. There is Rosala Viking Centre there. Take a ferry from Kasnas to Bengtskar and on the way you can visit Rosala Viking Centre.

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Phone: +358 (0)50 5287 410
Address: 25950 Rosala
Directions: Bengtskar Lighthouse is situated 25 kilometers southwest of Hanko. The nearest village is Rosala, about 18 kilometers north of Bengtskar. Boats from the harbour of Hanko (a city quite near to Helsinki) or from Kasnas.
Website: http://www.bengtskar.fi, http://www.bengtskar.com, http://www.rosita.fi, http://www.hk-service.fi, http://www.kasnas.com
Other Contact: info@bengtskar.fi

Hameenlinna Castle (Hame Castle) is a Medieval Royal Castle built in the end of the 13th century. The castle served as a prison 1837-1972.

Nowadays it is a museum on the shore of Lake Vanajavesi in the city of Hameenlinna.

Guided tours in Finnish, English, Swedish and German.

Open daily in summer, usually from 10 am to 6 pm.

Also a museum shop and a summer cafe.

Cruises on Lake Vanajavesi - see the castle from a boat!

It is easy to travel to Hameenlinna by train from Helsinki or Tampere or by boat from Tampere.

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Phone: +358 (0)3 675 6820
Address: Kustaa III:n katu 6
Directions: In the city of Hameenlinna
Website: http://www.nba.fi/en/hame_castle, http://www.hameenlinna.fi/english, http://www.finnishsilverline.com

Finland is a paradise for all nature lovers. The archipelago of Turku is said to be the most beautiful one in the whole world. Lakes, forests and fells are very exciting, too. There are many beautiful national parks in Finland.

There are four different seasons and an unbelievable wonderful nature in Finland, especially in Lapland (Lappi, Lappland, Laponie, Lapponia): the midnight sun (nightless days during summer, in Nuorgam between May 15th and July 28th), the northern lights (Aurora borealis), beautiful fells (i.e. arctic treeless mountains), 200 000 reindeer etc.

There are 187 888 lakes (60 000 of them are big ones), 179 584 islands, 5 100 rapids and 450 600 summer cottages in Finland! Saimaa is the biggest lake district of Europe.

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Website: http://www.luontoon.fi/default.asp?Section=4973, http://www.metsa.fi/english, http://www.tte.ch/finland/act/#77, http://www.tte.ch/finland/lapland/

Finland is the land of green forests and swamps. Finland is a paradise for all nature lovers!

There are four different seasons and an unbelievable wonderful nature in Finland, especially in Lapland (Lappi, Lappland, Laponie, Lapponia): the midnight sun (nightless days during summer, in Nuorgam between May 15th and July 28th), the northern lights (Aurora borealis), beautiful fells (i.e. arctic treeless mountains), 200 000 reindeer etc.

There are 187 888 lakes (60 000 of them are big ones), 179 584 islands and 5 100 rapids in Finland! Saimaa is the biggest lake district of Europe.

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Directions: National parks and other forest areas
Website: http://www.luontoon.fi/default.asp?Section=4973, http://www.metsa.fi/english, http://www.tte.ch/finland/act/#77, http://www.valkeala.fi/luonto.html

There are four different seasons and an unbelievable wonderful nature in Finland, especially in Lapland (Lappi, Lappland, Laponie, Lapponia): the midnight sun (nightless days during summer, in Nuorgam between May 15th and July 28th), the northern lights (Aurora borealis), beautiful fells (i.e. arctic treeless mountains), 200 000 reindeer etc.

There are 187 888 lakes (60 000 of them are big ones), 179 584 islands and 5 100 rapids in Finland! Saimaa is the biggest lake district of Europe.

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Website: http://www.metsa.fi/english, http://www.luontoon.fi/default.asp?Section=4973, http://www.tte.ch/finland/lapland/, http://www.valkeala.fi/luonto.html

There are extremely good packaged tours in Finland (also tours from Helsinki to Lapland, for one day or for a longer time). There are also nice city tours guided in 10 languages in Helsinki. For the first time in the whole world they have daily city tours in Latin, too.

Photo: Cathedral (Lutheran) by C.L. Engel (1778-1840) in Helsinki, completed in 1852.

For more details about Helsinki see my VT Helsinki Page, please.

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Website: http://www.smt.fi, http://www.helsinkiexpert.fi, http://sites.google.com/site/finlandtravelclub/guiding---tours

1. Linnanmäki Amusement Park (Helsinki): http://www.linnanmaki.fi

2. Suomenlinna Island Fortress, the island fortress no visitor to Helsinki should miss, the biggest sea fortress in Scandinavia, founded in 1748 on the islands of the coast of Helsinki (boats from the Market Square), included in the list of UNESCO´s World Heritage Sites, many museums, beaches for swimming, restaurants and cafes, a wonderful "Suomenlinna Experience" multi-image show, also guided tours (Helsinki): http://www.suomenlinna.fi

3. Korkeasaari Zoo, one of the most northerly zoos in the world with animals from arctic tundra to Amazonia, several rare species, established in 1889 (Helsinki): http://www.hel.fi/zoo/index_eng.html

4. Särkänniemi Amusement Park (Tampere): http://www.sarkanniemi.fi

5. Uspenski Cathedral, an Orthodox cathedral, a brick building in Byzantine-Slavonic style, built in 1868 (Helsinki)

6. Temppeliaukio Church - a Lutheran church inside the rocks, bold modern construction (Helsinki)

7. Kiasma - The Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki): http://www.kiasma.fi

8. Aqua Park Serena - the biggest indoor water park in Europe (Espoo): http://www.serena.fi

9. The biggest snow castle in the world (Kemi): http://www.snowcastle.net

10. Heureka - The Finnish Science Centre, the most famous science centre in Scandinavia, planetarium, omnimax type cinema, action centre (Vantaa near Helsinki): http://www.heureka.fi

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Website: http://www.linnanmaki.fi, http://www.suomenlinna.fi, http://www.korkeasaari.fi/index_eng.html, http://www.sarkanniemi.fi, http://www.kiasma.fi