Kaarina

The municipality is named after the Katariina church that in turn is named after Catherine of Alexandria (Saint Catherine of the Wheel).

From a rural community, Kaarina has grown to 32,000 inhabitants and has been a town since 1993. Many of the inhabitants work in Turku. Though officially monolingual, Kaarina has a growing Swedish minority of about 5%, with its own primary school.

The former main village of Kaarina (Nummi) has been part of Turku since 1939. The present municipality of Kaarina has a few distinct centres. Kuusisto was annexed to Kaarina in 1946 and Piikkiö in 2009. Littoinen was the biggest settlement in the 1960s, with some industry and a train station (on the Turku–Helsinki railway, now out of use). The modern centre is where the road to the archipelago (Saaristotie, Skärgårdsvägen) used to start, by the then main road to Helsinki.

The remains of a 12th-century church were found in Ravattula in 2013. This is the oldest known church in Finland. The Kaarina parish is mentioned 1309 and the wooden predecessor of the Katariina church was taken into use in 1351.

Tourist Information, Lautakunnankatu 4 (City Offices, street level), ☏ +358 2 588-4010. Mon 09:00–17:00, Tue–Thu 09:00–16:00, Fri 09:00–15:45. (updated Feb 2017)

Kaarina is well connected to Turku. The former main road from Helsinki (now regional road 110) passes by Kaarina centre. The motorway from Helsinki (highway 1) also goes through Kaarina, but at a distance from the centre. Highway 10 (from Hämeenlinna) passes through the northern parts of the municipality (by Auranlaakso). E18 deviates from highway 1 in Piikkiö and follows the Turku bypass (highway 40) to Naantali, passing by Auranlaakso and Ravattula in northern Kaarina.

Kaarinantie leads from highway 10 (Hämeentie) in the north through Auranlaakso, west of Littoinen and over the Helsinki highways. It then becomes Saaristotie, which continues southwards, passing east of the centre and over the island Kuusisto, and leads to Pargas and farther out in the archipelago. The other main roads for getting around in Kaarina are highway 110 (Uudenmaantie) and Pyhän Katariinan tie, the latter leading westward from the centre.

The Turku guide map includes Kaarina, with map layers for bus lines, biking routes etc.

By bus:

Most coaches from Helsinki to Turku (even many express ones) leave the motorway in Kaarina and use road 110 for driving into Turku, stopping at "Krossi", "Paraisten tienhaara" and "Piispanristi", the former on Kaarinantie, the latter two on Uudenmaantie by Kaarina centre and by the border to Turku, respectively. See Matkahuolto.

Kaarina takes part in the Turku region "Föli" bus cooperation, which means bus tickets are treated as if Kaarina were part of the same municipality as Turku, Raisio, Naantali, Rusko and Lieto. Most regional buses (such as to Pargas, Kimito and Salo – look for line numbers or a "Föli" sign) can be used with the same tickets as long as you board and get off in the Föli area. A single ticket with two hours unlimited transfer costs about €4/2, see Turku#By bus.