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Geonivora
Region

Southwest Finland

Located in Finland Coordinates: 60°30′00″ N 22°15′00″ E

Map showing the location of Southwest Finland Southwest Finland
Location in Finland
Population
481,403
481.4K
Elevation
36 m
above sea level
Local time
UTC+02:00
Europe/Helsinki · UTC+02:00
Places inside
26
listed under Southwest Finland
When to go
June–August
See the climate
Airports
TKU Turku Airport2 km
POR Pori Airport110 km

About Southwest Finland

Southwest Finland is a region. Location: Finland. Population: 481,403. The best months to visit are June–August. The nearest airport is Turku Airport (2 km).

Travel notes for Southwest Finland

From Wikivoyage

Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomen maakunta, Egentliga Finland) is a region in Western Finland with a population of 480,000. It is the south-west corner of Finland, including much of the archipelago but not the Åland Islands.

Understand+

The name "Finland" was in medieval times applied only to this part of the country, hence the region's present name. This was the gateway for Western culture and a central part of medieval Sweden. Turku remained the biggest town in Finland until the late 19th century, long after Helsinki had become capital. Turku is still a one-night cruise away from Stockholm and yachts from Sweden, Helsinki, and Turku are common in the archipelago.

Some people in the archipelago and on the coast still make their living from the sea, with fishing and seafaring traditions very much alive, while inland areas are more focused on agriculture. The soil is very fertile because it is an ancient seabed. Much of Finland's grain and sugar beets come from here. In the archipelago, with smaller fields, labour-intense crops such as tomatoes, salad and early potato dominate.

Talk:

The southern coast and most of the archipelago are mainly Swedish-speaking, while the inland, the western coast and the northern parts of the archipelago are Finnish.

Get in+

Turku is well connected with the rest of Finland. You can get in by direct trains from Helsinki, Tampere and by sleeping cars from Lapland. However, if you are travelling along the Bothnian coast, by E8 or otherwise, coach or car should be your transportation of choice. Turku and nearby Naantali have cruise ferry connections from Sweden. Turku airport has flights mainly from Helsinki, Mariehamn and Stockholm, but also regular flights from the odd airport in the rest of Europe, often including Riga and Gdansk.

Turku is the hub of most connections. You can get off the train in Salo or Loimaa, coaches other than special express ones have stops along the way and minor ferries from Åland have their destinations closer (see Archipelago Sea#Get in), but mostly you need to transfer in Turku – and you probably want to stay there for at least some time, regardless of where you are heading.

Coming with own yacht is reasonably common: along the coast, from Stockholm Archipelago via Åland, directly from Gotland or from Hiiumaa or Haapsalu in Estonia. The outer archipelago is hard to navigate, so you may want to use the main fairways even if you don't need to clear customs or immigration. From the south (the open sea), Mariehamn, Utö and Hanko are the main entry points. See Boating on the Baltic Sea, Boating in Finland and Archipelago Sea.

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0 · abridged

Climate of Southwest Finland

Best months for sightseeing

Best months for sightseeing: June–August.

This month · November

A cold month

Day 3° · Night -1° · Rain 74 mm

Hottest month
July (day 21°)
Coldest month
February (night -9°)
Wettest month
August (75 mm)
Driest month
May (34 mm)

Bars: average monthly low and high temperature. Below: precipitation. Monthly averages for 1970–2000 at about 18 km resolution, adjusted for elevation. Highlighted months are mild and relatively dry. Source: WorldClim 2.1 (CC BY 4.0).

Show values as a table
Climate of Southwest Finland
Month JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Average high (°C)-2°-2°2°7°15°20°21°20°14°9°3°0°
Average low (°C)-7°-9°-5°-1°5°10°12°11°7°3°-1°-5°
Precipitation (mm)513741393447737566737464

Other places to visit in this season: June July August

How to get to Southwest Finland

The nearest airport is Turku Airport (TKU), 2 km to the northeast as the crow flies. The nearest large city is Tallinn, 183 km to the southeast.

Airports

  • Turku Airport (TKU) Turku 2 kmnortheast
  • Pori Airport (POR) Pori 110 kmnorth
  • Tampere-Pirkkala Airport (TMP) Tampere / Pirkkala 126 kmnortheast

Nearby large cities

  • Tallinn Population: 394K 183 kmsoutheast
  • Stockholm Population: 1.5M 268 kmsouthwest
  • Sollentuna Population: 139.6K 268 kmsouthwest
  • Västerås Population: 127.8K 332 kmwest
  • Umeå Population: 130.2K 385 kmnorth

Straight-line distances; road distances are longer. Airport data: OurAirports.

Places in Southwest Finland

26 places
  1. 1 Särkilahti 111

Bar: population relative to the most populous place in this list.

Countries & regions5

Cities & villages1

Mountains & nature2

Lakes, rivers & coasts17

Largest cities and towns

Nature and heritage in Southwest Finland

Sources & licences

Data last updated: