Villa Mairea, Satakunta, Finland

5Architecture and food 5:00 PM Aug 8, 2018

Architects bucket list
My wife and I are architects from New Zealand so this has been on our list of buildings in the world to see. The other reviews tell you how amazing this building is, I agree totally and will not repeat. Some information instead: - plan your trip around this as well as visiting jyvaskyla to see the experimental house - book online a long way ahead, it is busy in summer. About 15 on our tour - there are not a lot of tours per day - you can’t take photos inside but that makes you really look - you can’t go upstairs but that’s because the descendants of mairea live there, so it’s not just a museum - you can walk around the gardens either before or after the tour, we took an hour taking photos of details. It is very photogenic from every angle. - we walked around before the tour which helped on the tour - 3.5 hour easy drive from Helsinki - no toilet on site or food or anything apart from being able to buy a couple of books - we then drove 3.5 hours from here on very easy road to jyvaskyla to see the experimental house for a tour - also book a long way ahead. - stayed the night in saynatsalo town hall - beautiful Aalto building - check opening hours of places as they open and shut at different times and often closed weekends - we did 2 day car hire from Helsinki with night in saynatsalo then saw all Aalto there and drove back to Helsinki - get a gps! - quite a trip but so well worth it for you architects out there - we have visited many architects buildings around the world and these salt buildings would be in the top 5 - do it

5Dhuds 5:00 PM Aug 1, 2015

Worth the drive from Helsinki
Very inspiring Alvar Aalto design inside and out and priceless artwork. Be sure to make advance reservations on Web. And be sure to stay at A. Ahlstrom in Noormarkku for a night