Based on statistics, Southwest Finland is the warmest and one of the sunniest places in Finland, so Turku, alias Åbo, is the place to be for a combined urban and beach holiday. The city has been divided into two sides: ”tois pual jokke” and ”täl pual jokke”, directly translated from the Turku dialect to ”the other side of the river” and ”this side of the river”. Both sides have a lot to offer for travellers, but to help you navigate: Marketsquare (Kauppatori) and the city center are located ”tois pual jokke” – on the other side of the river. Turku will not leave you cold. More jokes have been made of Turku than probably of all the other Finnish cities combined and everyone seems to have a strong opinion of the city. Visit Turku, the official guide for tourism in Turku region, recently published a survey”What does Turku feel like?”. The results showed that the feelings were divided into love and hate, no opinions really fell in between. 85% declared their love for Turku <3 Aurajoki – Mecca for restaurants The riverboats in Turku are one of a kind and visiting them is a must. People from Turku might not be the most talkative but if you wish to chat with a friendly local, the best chance you’ll get is at one of these riverboat restaurants. The banks of River Aura (Aurajoki) and the boats and ships you’ll find there are the essence of Summer in Turku and also the spot to go looking for good restaurants which the city has an abundance of. You can check out the Food Walk card which tempts you to try food from several different restaurants. A specialty dish for Turku is raisin sausage (rusinamakkara). Apparently raisin sausage is not quite as big of a city symbol to Turku as Black sausage (mustamakkara) is to Tampere, but you can taste this exotic, sweeter sausage at the Turku market hall. Yum. Turku <3 design Artisanry and design have long-established roots in Turku. In the olden days Turku was a busy market/trading place for artisans and later design study programs were made available to study. Turku originated Design is highly sought after and the city has a great number of boutiques selling local design items for home decor, jewellery, clothes and Varför Paris, vi har ju Åbo (Why Paris, we have Turku) canvas bags. In addition to this, Turku also has talent in designing vehicles. The new tram cars in Helsinki and Tampere have been designed in Turku. Culture and creativity go hand in hand, sometimes in a surprising context. The public transportation in the Turku region is not simply named by an acronym of the words describing it, it is called Föli. The theme of the letter F has carried onto the name of the city bicycles Fölläri and the newest addition to the public transport, the outdoor inclined elevator Funicular, nicknamed Funi. The funicular travels up and down Kakolanmäki hill. And then there is the city ferry called Föri. Locals say that with Föri you can travel from Turku to Åbo and back. In other words the ferry takes you across the river Aura (Aurajoki) which runs across Turku alias Åbo. Turku can offer you luscious green parks and sea breeze, European atmosphere and local humor. Turku is a city like no other and offers everyone something to experience on both sides of the river. Onnibus.com also has stops on both sides of the river, making traveling to and from the city easy. Book your bus tickets to lovely holiday in Turku here.
