Day Trips from Helsinki: Old Porvoo and Nuuksio National Park

If you want to step into a 14th-century wooden town or hike through boreal lakes and pine forests without renting a car, Helsinki's two best domestic day trips lie less than an hour east and north-west of downtown.

1. Old Porvoo (Vanha Porvoo, 50 minutes east by Bus or 3.5 hours by Boat)

Fifty kilometres east of Helsinki along the coast, Porvoo (Borgå) is Finland's second-oldest town (granted its city charter around 1380) and its best-preserved wooden townscape. Along the eastern bank of the Porvoonjoki river stands a famous row of 18th- and 19th-century wooden riverside warehouses (rantamaakasiinit), painted in traditional red ochre in the late 1700s in honour of the arrival of Swedish King Gustav III:

• What to see and taste in Old Porvoo: cross the historic wooden Old Bridge (Vanha silta) for the classic postcard photo of the red shore houses reflected in the river, climb the medieval cobblestone alleys of Jokikatu and Välikatu up to the 15th-century stone-and-brick Porvoo Cathedral (where Tsar Alexander I convened the 1809 Diet of Porvoo establishing Finland's autonomy), stop for a cylindrical almond-and-rum Runeberg torte (Runebergintorttu) at historic Café Helmi or Brunberg's chocolate shop (founded in Porvoo in 1871), and tour national poet J.L. Runeberg's preserved 1852 empire-style home.
• How to get there: coaches operated by OnniBus and Porvoon Liikenne depart every 20 to 30 minutes from the underground long-distance bus station inside the Kamppi Shopping Centre in central Helsinki, reaching Porvoo bus square in 50 minutes (tickets bought online or contactless from the driver). From May to early September, the historic steamer m/s J.L. Runeberg also sails a scenic 3.5-hour coastal archipelago route from Helsinki Market Square to Porvoo river quay.

2. Nuuksio National Park and Haltia Nature Centre (45 minutes on an HSL ABC Ticket)

Thirty-five kilometres north-west of central Helsinki, Nuuksio National Park spans 55 square kilometres of glacial valleys, primeval spruce forests, rocky cliffs and more than eighty mirror-still forest lakes (home to the nocturnal flying squirrel, the emblem of the park). To get there using a regular HSL Zone ABC ticket, take commuter train U, E or L from Helsinki Central Station for 24 minutes to Espoo station (Espoon keskus), then step onto Bus 245A for 25 minutes directly to the trailheads at Haukkalampi (for the popular 2 km Punarinnankierros, 3.7 km Haukankierros and 7.2 km Korpinkierros circular lakeside trails with free firewood grilling shelters) or to the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia.