Under the Midnight Sun

Take advantage today of your Helsinki Card – enjoy an audio city tour, use the Hop-On-Hop-Off or take the ferry to visit the fortress on the island of Suomenlinna. Helsinki is a compact city, easy to move around. Entrances to many museums are also included in your card – suggest you make an early start with so much to see!

Leaving Helsinki behind, we head in towards the eastern border of Finland to our cottages, surrounded by forest and pristine nature. This is your opportunity to experience a summer holiday, the Finnish way. The days are long, the countryside coloured in a thousand shades of green and the lakes sparkling and crystal clear.

In a perfect Finnish summer and depending on the month, the forest fills with blueberries and mushrooms. It’s a time of celebrating the bounty of nature and this is what we’ll do today – spend time in the forest picking berries and mushrooms. This is an authentic back to nature experience walking through the forest, eating berries as you go. And to round it off, sit around a camp fire with a coffee in hand.

These are days of opportunities to immerse yourself in the exquisite beauty of your surroundings – hiking, cycling, picking berries or mushrooms in the forest and swimming in crystal clear lakes. One evening meal will be a special treat – salmon glow grilled around the fire.

Today brings a very special experience – bear watching. Setting out late morning, we head to Arola to a local dairy farm. Surrounded by forest and with a great reputation for it’s cuisine, Helena and Eero’s farm is where we have the privilege of seeing brown bears in their natural habitat. After a lunch of delectable local specialities, we move into the forest to huts constructed for the purpose of watching the bears from an non intrusive and safe environment.

Waving goodbye to our countryside stay, cross Finland travelling through the countryside to the Baltic Sea to the seaside city of Turku. It’s a city of contrasts combining the medieval with the modern. Take a walk on cobblestone streets beside the Aura river where during this time of the year, the riverbanks come to life with people gathering to eat, drink and listen to music.

Set sail this morning for Mariehamn. This promises to be a picturesque cruise, passing through myriads of islands which form the archipelago of Åland Islands.

Comprising of some 6,700 islands, the Åland Islands are an autonomous region of Finland. Although part of Finland, the islanders are mainly Swedish speaking fiercely maintaining their own culture. Mariehamn is the capital, situated on the island of Fasta Åland.

Our accommodation is situated in the rural countryside – perfect for relaxing and enjoying the wonder of Scandinavia’s nature. We’ll start this part of our holiday by exploring the island on foot or by cycling – the choice is yours! With the flat landscape, not too much energy required.

More exploring today hopping across to other islands.

Day at leisure. Perhaps it’s time to try canoeing?

Next stop Stockholm. We’ll board the ferry in Mariehamn and arrive in Stockholm a couple of hours later – lots of time to enjoy the facilities on board.

Encompassing 14 islands and more than 50 bridges, this is a vibrant city bringing old and new together in perfect harmony. This morning we’ll have a sightseeing tour of Stockholm.

And to round off our memorable holiday, we’ll enjoy a farewell dinner this evening on board a cruise with live music. So prepare yourself for fun and festivities!

Or if you’re looking to add more unique to your wonderful holiday, take a Göta Canal cruise for the following six days.