Before dark winter days will come, you should enjoy the last sunny day and go on a trip to Porvoo. In this blog post, I’ll try to make you fall in love with this beautiful tiny town. Just look at these red wooden barns!

Porvoo’s famous red wooden barns.

Red houses, huh? They are the most famous spot in the city. Inside of many of them, you can find restaurants, bars, and shops. It’s a must on your Instagram story.

Don’t forget to use an Instagram filter 😊.  ©Shreya Sood

Let’s start from the beginning. To get from Helsinki to Porvoo, you need around 1 hour by car or bus. My friends and I took an Onnibus from Kamppi for 4/5 Euros. To get a cheaper price, you should buy tickets a month in advance. If you’re lucky, you’ll pay only 1 Euro.

We walked around the city for the most time of the day. Especially long, we stayed in the old town area. Porvoo is surprisingly compact, you can reach every destination by feet and I promise, you won’t get lost at any time. Our group thought that it’s going to be difficult to find the mentioned wooden barns, but it was actually the first thing we saw from the bus.

Walking around Porvoo. ©Shreya Sood

In Porvoo, there are many gorgeous traditional Finnish houses and an old cathedral. There is also a cute pink town hall, which was transformed into a museum. Moreover, the house of the famous Finnish poet – called Runeberg – is located there. It’s open to tourists.

The old town hall in the center of Porvoo. Currently serves as a museum.

There are many small streets in the city. Follow them to find hidden wooden barns.

Panorama of Porvoo. You can see the cathedral on the right side in the back.

Another and one of my favorite traditional houses in Porvoo.

On some of the house walls, you can find colorful paintings. In many windows, there are Moomin figures and small decorations.

Porvoo is also very known for its sweets. You can eat there Runeberg’s cake all year long and visit a Brunberg candy store. I got from Porvoo a bunch of sweets from Brunberg (raspberry-flavored chocolate bar, candies, rice chocolate bars) and a Moomin-themed gift-wrapping paper.

Runeberg’s cake. The legend says that Runeberg liked this dessert so much that he used to eat it every day for breakfast.

Moomin-themed gift-wrapping paper found in a souvenir shop.

See you soon in Porvoo!

Katarzyna Wojdalska
Functional Materials 
Aalto study options 
Contact email: aaltosquad(at)aalto.fi