Almost forty national parks in Finland occupy about 2.5 percent of the country's area and are evenly distributed throughout its territory. The very first appeared as objects on the map in 1956, and the last specially protected area was declared Teiyo and South Konnevesi in 2014.
General information
Protected areas here represent a single space in which flora and fauna are preserved in their original form. They create the illusion of being in a wild forest, and there are no settlements or places where people live. But in each park there are hiking trails of various lengths, usually having difficulty levels from the simplest to those intended only for experienced tourists.
All national parks in Finland:
- Open for independent visits throughout the year.
- They offer free admission to their territory.
- Equipped with convenient access roads - highways or dirt roads.
- They provide guests with parking lots, often showers, always toilets, food waste and garbage collection facilities.
- Information stands with detailed and useful information and schematic maps.
Park workers take care of rolling paths in winter, removing branches from hiking trails, arranging places for the night. You can cook food on the barbecue equipment, and replenish the supply of drinking water at the springs.
The guest has the right
Once in any national park in Finland, visitors can legally:
- Enjoy the gifts of the forest, pick berries or mushrooms.
- Set up a tent in any place convenient for you.
- Fishing with a line without obtaining a special license if the age of the visitor is from 18 to 65 years old. In some cases, the owners of private lakes can notify about special fishing conditions with special posters on the banks, but, as a rule, no prohibitions apply to fishing with a fishing rod.
Choosing a direction
Each national park in Finland has its own thematic focus and any traveler can choose for themselves special roads and attractions.
Fans of hiking on mountain trails are recommended to visit Repovesi, 130 km from Helsinki. In the protected area, there are hiking trails on the rocks, and guests are offered to observe the surroundings from the twenty-meter tower of Elving.
The main object of interest in Linnansaari is the critically endangered Saimaa ringed seals. Here you can go by kayak to the places where these rare mammals lie, and by seaplane you can fly around the territory of the reserve and admire Lake Saimaa from a height. A special boat leaves for the national park on the island from late May to mid-August.
In a nature reserve near Turku, in a beautiful bog, there is a museum dedicated to cranes, and paths made of solid logs help to move around the park.
