Turku – Visit the Capital of Culture in Finland
Loistokari in Turku
Prices from £390/person in a shared double room
It is easy to walk around the city centre. The market squares and the market hall are favourites with Turku residents and visitors alike. The many boutiques and department stores attract people to Turku’s shopping streets, and there are restaurants to cater for every taste. The floating River Aura boat restaurants are open all summer.
Turku is a fascinating combination of old and new. The Cathedral was inaugurated in 1300 and the handsome castle, now with an excellent museum, dates back to 1280s. The wooden, stunningly beautiful St Henrik’s Ecumenical Art Chapel is the best example of the latest Finnish church architecture.
Turku is also very near to Naantali with its narrow streets and wooden houses, the Moominworld and the relaxing Naantali Spa. So you can combine a cultural and a family holiday in Turku and its neighbourhood. Ask about hotel packages or cottage hire in the region.
Package prices:
from £390/person for 3 nights sharing a double room
from £492/person for 3 nights sharing in a single room
What is included in the price:
- Return flights from London Heathrow to Turku
- Accommodation in a city centre hotel for 3 nights including breakfast
You can also combine Turku with Helsinki, Stockholm or Tallinn, please ask for an offer.
Cultural events 2011
Turku wants to highlight the importance of culture to the well-being of people and the environment. There will be thousands of individual events during the year, and the majority of these are free.
This year’s main venue, Logomo, will present opera, art exhibitions, experimental art, public access football displays, musicals, as well as popular music. Logomo is an old engineering workshop, steeped in interesting railway history.
One of the key themes for the exhibition Fire! Fire! is the historical Great Fire of Turku in 1827. A miniature model of the city will use light and smoke effects to present how the fire took over the city, also allowing the visitor to try out the possibilities of city planning for saving the city.
Many will find it surprising that maybe the best known Finnish visual artist in the world today came from Kaarina, near Turku. Tom of Finland alias Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991) created a style that is easily recognisable and has influenced gay culture for decades. Maybe the best example of his influence is the way Freddie Mercury of Queen looked in his later years.
Only A Game? exhibition reflects the European passion for football. The exhibits include memorabilia, but also games and iPad applications to let the audience to interact. The exhibition runs until December and it is produced together with UEFA and opened by organisation’s Chairman Michel Platini.
The Middle Ages are back in town! This Medieval Market will grace the Old Great Square of Turku and its surrounding quarter on 30.6.-3.7.11. For four days, history comes alive in this authentic replica of a Medieval marketplace. A cavalcade of jesters and minstrels take visitors back in time.
