One of Finland's most enticing old quarters, this tangle of cobbled alleys and wooden warehouses is entrancing. Once a vibrant port and market, Porvoo now has craft boutiques, galleries, souvenir stores and antique shops jostling for attention on the main roads, Välikatu and Kirkkokatu. The rows of rust-red storehouses along the Porvoonjoki are a local icon: cross the old bridge for the best photos. The relatively less-touristed area is east of the cathedral; Itäinen Pitkäkatu is one of the nicest streets.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
29.02 MILES
Suomenlinna, the ‘fortress of Finland’, straddles a cluster of car-free islands connected by bridges. This Unesco World Heritage site was originally built…
29.35 MILES
Occupying a palatial 1887 neo-Renaissance building, Finland’s premier art gallery offers a crash course in the nation’s art. It houses Finnish paintings…
29.54 MILES
An unmissable stop for Finnish design aficionados, Helsinki's Design Museum has a permanent collection that looks at the roots of Finnish design in the…
29.52 MILES
Built in National Romantic art nouveau style and opened in 1916, Finland’s premier historical museum looks a bit like a Gothic church with its heavy…
29.51 MILES
One in a series of elegant, contemporary buildings in this part of town, curvaceous, metallic Kiasma, designed by Steven Holl and finished in 1998, is a…
0.23 MILES
Porvoo’s historic stone-and-timber cathedral sits atop a hill overlooking the quaint Old Town. This is where Tsar Alexander I convened the first Diet of…
29.56 MILES
Set beneath the iconic 1936 Lasipalatsi building, art museum Amos Rex opened in 2018. Sweeping staircases take you below ground to the exhibition halls…
29.06 MILES
Rambling over 4 hectares in the city centre alongside the north harbour, Töölönlahti, Helsinki's botanic gardens are filled with plants from Finland and…
Nearby attractions
0.23 MILES
Porvoo’s historic stone-and-timber cathedral sits atop a hill overlooking the quaint Old Town. This is where Tsar Alexander I convened the first Diet of…
0.27 MILES
Porvoo’s town museum occupies two buildings on the beautiful cobbled square at the heart of the Old Town. The town-hall building (Vanha Raatihuoneentori)…
3. Porvoon Nukke- ja Lelumuseo
0.3 MILES
Houses over a thousand dolls, tin toys and other childhood curiosities, making it Finland’s largest toy museum.
4. Walter Runeberg Sculpture Collection
0.49 MILES
This gallery has 150 sculptures by Walter Runeberg, the eldest son of national poet JL Runeberg. Walter Runeberg produced the town’s sculpture of his…
0.5 MILES
National poet JL Runeberg’s former home has become a museum, with a period interior including stuffed foxes and muskets that demonstrate the poet’s love…
0.66 MILES
This former tractor factory is now an exhibition space, with rotating exhibitions of contemporary art. The centrepiece is the permanent display of the…
19.55 MILES
Dominating the market square is the red-brick neo-Gothic Loviisa Church, built in 1865.
19.69 MILES
About 200m north of the town square, Loviisa Town Museum is set in an old manor house with three floors of interesting historical exhibits, particularly…