Tours in Finland

Start in Helsinki, on the waterfront near the Market Square, where the ferries slide in and out between the islands and gulls watch over every sandwich. The city is easy on the feet. Walk up to the white cathedral above Senate Square, wander the Design District's side streets, and take the short boat to Suomenlinna if the weather is kind. In summer, people stay out far too late because it never quite gets dark. In winter they find a sauna and do not apologise for it.

Finland is bigger than it looks on a map, and most of it is trees and water. Go north into Lapland and the land flattens into fells and quiet. Reindeer, huskies and the northern lights are the famous draws, though the real pleasure is the silence. Head to the Lakeland and you get thousands of shorelines, cabins with a jetty and a smoke sauna, and a pace that makes you slow down. Tampere has its old red-brick mills and lakes on either side. Turku sits on a river by the Archipelago Sea, and Porvoo has its row of red wooden storehouses along the water.

Helsinki also has a habit worth using: the ferry. Tallinn is a short crossing away, and our one tour here takes you over for the day. You arrive at the foot of a walled medieval Old Town, climb up to Toompea for the views over the rooftops, and step inside the onion-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Then you get free time to wander cobbled lanes on your own, before the boat carries you back to Helsinki.

If you want something we do not list yet, such as Rovaniemi, Suomenlinna, a Lakeland cruise or a proper sauna evening, ask. A local guide can often build it around you.