Things to do in Turku
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Pizzeria Dennis
This place doesn't look much from the outside, but within is a warren of cosy rooms adorned with Chianti bottles and strings of garlic. There's a long and innovative range of pizzas and pasta, but you're better sticking to the tried and tested combinations: there's a good reason you don't see parmesan cheese and curry sauce together more often! Enthusiastic service.
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Turun Taidemuseo
The excellent Turku Art Museum is a striking granite building with elaborately carved pilasters and conical turrets. Much of the art is modern, though the Victor Westerholm offers Finnish landscapes and Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s depictions of the Kalevala are always jaw-dropping. Gunnar Berndtson’s Kesä (Summer) is an idyllic depiction of sunny Suomi while RW Ekman’s The Muses is transcendent Romantic.
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Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum
The name 'handicrafts museum' gives little indication of how fascinating this open-air museum really is. It is made up of the only surviving 18th-century area of this medieval town - Turku has been razed by fire 30 times - and all the buildings are still in their original locations, unlike most Finnish open-air museums where the buildings are moved from elsewhere, or re-created.
Carpenters, stonemasons, jewellers and other workers built homes and shops in the area, beginning in 1779. When the great fire of 1827 destroyed most of Turku, Luostarinmäki neighbourhood was one of the few that survived.
Since 1940 it has served as a museum, but doesn't feel like one: it's more l…
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M/S Lily Cruises
Archipelago cruises are a popular activity in Turku during summer. There are day trips around the islands as well as evening dinner-and-dance cruises. Most departures are from the quay at Martinsilta bridge.
The M/S Lily cruises out to Vepsa island three times daily from mid-June to mid-August (one hour each way) and as far as Maisaari on Friday and Sunday evening (four hours total). In May and September, cruises are Friday to Sunday only. Rosita also has cruises to Bengtskär island aboard the MS Anna on scheduled Saturdays in May, June and August. The full-day return cruise includes guide fees and entry to the island.
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Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova
This pair of museums under one roof unites art and archaeology. Digging continues in the museum and along the Aurajoki, and excavations of the Convent Quarter have created an engaging display of 15th-century artefacts in the Aboa Vetus. Back in the present, Ars Nova showcases the best of contemporary art with temporary exhibitions, which peak around the Turku Biennaali, a themed show in summer in odd years. The new Oma Tila (Our Own S) is accumulating work from local artists and craftspeople, especially work produced as part of their own projects. Free guided tours offer insights into both museums.
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Museum Ships
Outside the Forum Marinum, anchored in the river, are four museum ships which you can climb aboard and poke around in, above and below deck.
The WWII mine layer Keihässalmi and the corvette Karjala give an insight into wartime conditions at sea; the beautiful three-masted barque Sigyn, originally launched from Göteborg in 1887, has well preserved cabins; and the impressive 1902 sailing ship Suomen Joutsen (Swan of Finland), which was built in France, was used by the Finnish Navy during WWII as a mother ship for submarines and as a hospital.
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SS Ukkopekka Cruises
Archipelago cruises are a popular activity in Turku during summer. There are day trips around the islands as well as evening dinner-and-dance cruises. Most departures are from the quay at Martinsilta bridge.
The historic steamship SS Ukkopekka cruises to Naantali (daily, early June to late August). The trip takes 1¾ hours and you can have lunch on board. If you'd rather party on board, there's an evening dinner-dance cruise, departing at 19:00 Monday to Saturday from mid-May to late August. The meals (starters plus buffet) are served on dry land - on the island of Loistokari.
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Turku Castle & Historical Museum
Mammoth Turku Castle & Historical Museum, near the ferry terminals, is easily Finland’s largest and possibly one of the biggest in Scandinavia. Founded in 1280 at the mouth of the Aurajoki, the castle has been growing ever since. Swedish Count Per Brahe ruled Finland from here in the 17th century, while Sweden’s deposed King Eric XIV was imprisoned in the castle’s Round Tower in the late 16th century. He was moved to several prisons including Åland’s Kastelholms Slott to prevent his discovery by rebels.
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Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum
If you only see one museum in Finland, make it this handicrafts museum. Forget the stuffy exhibits, this is a genuinely historic portion of town that has survived the near-destruction of Turku including the savage Great Fire of 1827. All of the buildings are in their original locations, unlike other open-air museums where the buildings are relocated or recreated. The area consists of artisans’ and workers’ homes with a very real sense of their lives, thanks to in-period staff.
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Forum Marinum
Set back from the river, this excellent maritime museum has a permanent exhibition in an old granary. It’s a comprehensive look at different aspects of ships and shipping, from scale models to full-size vessels. Kid-friendly highlights include the hydrocopter, WWII torpedoes and multimedia displays. The newer building opposite has regular exhibitions, as well as several vessels and a cabin from a luxury cruise-liner, as many were built in Turku.
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Sibelius Museum
Near the cathedral, Sibelius Museum displays some 350 musical instruments from across Finland and memorabilia of the famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is the most extensive musical museum in Finland. You can listen to Sibelius’ music on scratchy record or, better still, attend a Wednesday evening concert (from September to May, less often in summer) which showcases jazz, folk, rock and classical performers from around the country.
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Svenska Klubben 5th Floor Restaurant
It’s often tough to spot the menu that’s at street level and points the way up to this excellent Scandinavian (yes, we know it’s not technically Finnish) eatery. If you can, get a ‘cabinet’ (small room for groups) that is decked out in Nordic minimalism. You can nosh down on the likes of whitefish with pickled lime, or roasted duck breast sweetened with cognac cream. Three-course lunches are consistently delicious and set menus have several choices.
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M/S Rudolfina Cruises
Archipelago cruises are a popular activity in Turku during summer. There are day trips around the islands as well as evening dinner-and-dance cruises. Most departures are from the quay at Martinsilta bridge.
The M/S Rudolfina runs 90-minute lunch and dinner cruises, including a buffet meal. More leisurely are the evening cruises, departing at 19:00 from Monday to Saturday and taking three hours to Naantali Bay and back.
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Panimoravintola Koulu
This is the town’s greatest brewery pub in the town centre if not all of Finland. Set in a former school, the pub’s owners have done their homework on good brews with more than nine of their own beers plus a cheeky cider. As well as inkwells and school desks, there’s a row boat on the roof, which is disorientating after a few drinks. The restaurant upstairs is solid, but you won’t be able to leave the downstairs pub.
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Viikinkiravintola Harald
Dust off your feasting horned helmet for this Viking restaurant where subtlety is run through with a berserker’s broadsword. Food fits the theme, and while set menus (or Voyages as they’re called here) are filling three-course samplers, picking and mixing means you can indulge in barbarian ribs on a plank or tar ice cream with cognac. It’s not exactly gourmet, but it is great fun.
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Enkeliravintola
This heavenly eatery features several rooms brightly decorated with their namesake angels (enkeli means angel) in a tasteful fashion. It’s tough to escape the winged wonders with so many of the dishes named for them. Mains, all served with house-baked bread and pesto, run to roast duck and a classic roast reindeer with lingonberry sauce.
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Vaakahuoneen Paviljonki
Set a little away from town, this restaurant is worth tripping out to find. As well as an à la carte menu of snacks, pasta, pizzas and steak, there are daily buffets in summer, which include a variety of fish and several Asian options. The river-front locale can be enjoyed in spring and summer when live jazz accompanies the sunshine.
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Tomate
An ebullient Spanish restaurant washes down its meals with plenty of Iberian wine. Meals-wise they pull off classics like gazpacho and shrimp-rich paella, but make a few concessions to Finnish palates (there are simple fish dishes). The selection of three tapas dishes is best with a few cervezas (beers) on the terrace.
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Baan Thai
This is an authentic and intimate little Thai restaurant a short walk north of the kauppatori. With a fairly down-to-earth interior (the trellised grapevine is a little out of place) and no-nonsense service, the dishes are tasty, if a little mild by Southeast Asian standards. The lunch buffet during the week is a bargain.
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Trattoria Romana
Food surrounds you in this Mediterranean favourite, from the pots and pans decorating the walls and ceiling to rich flavours wafting from the kitchen. The menu has classic lasagne and a tasty chicken with goat’s cheese, but blackboard specials always bring a bit of experimentation to the intimate tables.
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Pharmacy Museum
On the riverfront, Qwensel House is Turku’s oldest, built around 1700. It houses the small Pharmacy Museum with an old laboratorium featuring medicinal herbs, 18th-century ‘Gustavian’ (Swedish) furnishings and an exhibition of bottles and other pharmacy supplies.
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Klubi
This massive complex has several speeds from the casual drinking of Kolo (‘cave’) to the DJ-fuelled nightclub of Ilta, plus regular big Finnish bands at Live. It’s part-owned by a local record label, which means it snares its fair share of local Finnish bands and visiting international acts.
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Cafe Noir [closed}
While it's far from fancy, the Noir is a Turku institution and one of the cheapest sit-down places to eat. It's very cheap, with simple but filling plates such as meatballs or spaghetti with salad at low prices; the eclectic menu also includes pizza, schnitzel, chicken curry and omelettes.
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Alvar
In this building that Aalto designed on a deadline, the low-key pub has a towering beer list that’s a magnet for local students and ale-fetishists alike. Artek-esque furniture is a nod to the designer of the building and free wi-fi makes it a lounge rather than a party.
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Sininen Juna Aschan Café
With a name meaning ‘blue train’, you’d expect to be able to sit in a converted carriage in the middle of the market, right? But this coffee institution is currently run by the Turku bakery chain, which supplies delicious buns and cakes, so it’s a tasty destination.
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