Porvoo is not a Priority if You Visit Finland in Winter
- Cat
- Jun 2, 2017
- 3 min read
If you visit Helsinki for more than a few days, you probably have Porvoo on your list of day trips. A small traditional town, Porvoo is home to several of the iconic red homes you often find in Finland. If you have a social media account, chances are you've seen the images featuring Porvoo's iconic riverbank of deep red (punamulta) buildings perched on the edge of the river.
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If you go only to see those iconic red buildings (in winter), you'll be sorely disappointed as it's not as grand as the photos make it seem. This city is definitely not a priority on our must-see list (if you are here in the wintertime).
We've received lots of advice from Finns about waiting until summer to visit places, and while most of the time we've disagreed, Porvoo is actually an exception (and so is this place).
WAIT. UNTIL. SUMMER. If you can't, at least visit a sunny day.
We went in mid-February and it was cold, rainy/snowy, and miserable. Nothing was open on a Sunday afternoon, and we felt let down. I'm sure that if we had waited until spring or summer, we would have fallen in love with this cute little town. But because we didn't listen to friends and wanted to see it as soon as we could, it was a disappointment. I wanted to love Porvoo. Truly I did. I feel icky even writing that we didn't LOVE this place. If I had only a few days in Helsinki (of Finland in general), this town would be last on my list as of this moment.
It's our fault. Friends DID ask us why in the world we'd want to visit in the winter...we now know why.
If you do visit in the summer, you can take the train or rent a car. We'd recommend renting a car so you have the freedom of going anywhere as well as seeing the countryside. In Europe, Sixt has been the best company in our experience to rent from. They are easy to deal with, don't press tons of extra insurance on you (let them know your credit card covers you and they don't push any further), and their cars are in great condition. If you are from the United States, don't rent the compact category - you'll feel like you're in a Smart Car - go with a category just above at minimum. If you are from Europe, you're used to tiny cars, so go with whatever you prefer! Click here to find a rental car with Sixt.
We did manage to get a few nice photos despite the crappy weather. Click through the gallery below.
Despite having unfavorable weather, Porvoo is a very important town in Finnish history, and one that SHOULD be visited. We plan to return on a sunny day to try to fall in love and succumb to the magical feeling we've gotten in almost every other Finnish town we've visited. We'll let you know if it happens. As of today, our opinion stands at lackluster and disappointing. Hopefully that will change!
Have you ever been let down by a city after the hype surrounding it?
If you want to know some other cities that ARE worth visiting in winter see our posts about them below!
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