Top-rated places to visit in Ostrobothnia, Finland

3.5 Tropiclandia (104 reviews)
- Good place in hot weather
Water Parks

Good place, but little bit oldish. Outside pool area was small compared to some other spas in Finland. Weird same corridor for women and men. Why not access to sea although it is so near. See more..
4.0 Bock’s Corner Brewery (101 reviews)
- Pure excelency in food & service
Tuesday: 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Spent 2-3 hours Breweries

Independent brewery in Bock´s corner, Brewery pub with assorted own brews on tap. Gastropub with rustic food made of the best seasonal product from local farmers, Lunch, Ala carte, Beer shop an Saturdays Haymarket where you can buy straight from farmers. See more..
3.5 Wasaline (77 reviews)
- Fastest way between Sweden and Finland
Spent More than 3 hours Ferries

Wasaline operates the ferry route between Vaasa, Finland and Umeå, Sweden. Onboard our modern ferry Aurora Botnia you'll find delicious food and beverages, gifts to bring home, as well as passenger lounges and cabins for resting. The short distance of only 3.5 hours makes this route suitable for both day cruises and fast travelling between Finland and Sweden. See more..
4.5 Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site (48 reviews)
- Finland's longest bridge, Natural World Heritage Site and Visitor Center
Tuesday: 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM Spent More than 3 hours Islands • Nature & Wildlife Areas • Geologic Formations

The unique Kvarken Archipelago is Finland's only Natural World Heritage Site on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Together with Sweden's High Coast, the Kvarken Archipelago is the best place in the world to experience and understand the land uplift phenomenon caused by the last Ice Age. In the Kvarken archipelago, you can experience the fresh nature, the idyllic villages and the breathtaking land uplift scenery. Located next to Finland's longest bridge, the World Heritage Gateway is the starting point of your visit! At the gateway you get to know the World Heritage Site and get tips of the sights in the Kvarken archipelago. See more..
4.5 Pohjanmaan Museo - Osterbottens Museum (38 reviews)
- Excellant
Tuesday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Spent < 1 hour Speciality Museums

A wonderful exhibit of the history of Vasa and its people , also the archipelago and local area , local animals and fish etc. local artists work as well . Really good films about how the ice started melting 18,000 yrs ago . Lovely place if your interested in history of Vasa . See more..
4.0 Raippaluodon Silta (32 reviews)
- The bridge and Benny’s café
Spent < 1 hour Bridges

We liked the bridge and had a salmon sandwich at Berny’s Cafe. At 2 o’clock we took a boat trip which lasted 2 hours and it was beautiful. We bought the tickets at Berny’s cafe. I really recommend this boat trip. See more..
4.5 Terranova (29 reviews)
- A must-see museum
Tuesday: 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM Speciality Museums

If you have time only for one museum, this is it. Terranova presents the Kvarken archipelago, which was chosen in 2006 to become Finland's first natural heritage site on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. It shows the development of the Earth and the land uplift phenomenon which has formed the natural environment in the Kvarken region. It presents all the animals living here. In the same building are also other exhibitions belonging to the Ostrobothnian Museum: the history of Vaasa, art and antique exhibitions. So it is easy to spend many hours here. And everything with the same entrance fee. See more..
3.5 Stromso (26 reviews)
- Everything goes well as in Stromso!
Historic Sites

Famous location because of a TV program that is popular for people who likes to learn practical hand works! See more..
3.5 Vanhan Vaasan rauniot (26 reviews)
- Nice ruins
Points of Interest & Landmarks

Nice ruins with lots of good spots for pictures. Sadly the biggest ruin was fenced off and thus not accessible. Furthermore, there wasn't too much to see. It's free though so as long as you keep your expectations low, it's a good spot to visit. See more..
4.5 Ulrika Eleonora Church (23 reviews)
- Beautiful wooden church
Spent < 1 hour Points of Interest & Landmarks

A really beautiful old wooden church in nice surroundings in the heart of Kristiinankaupunki, well worth a visit. See more..
4.5 Kyrö Distillery Company (22 reviews)
- Best wedding reception, tour, and tasting ever!!!
Tuesday: Spent 1-2 hours Distilleries • Visitor Centers • Bars & Clubs

Kyrö Distillery is located in an old dairy in the peculiar village of Isokyrö. Join a distillery tour, enjoy a tasting and try the unique cocktails made out of our rye products. Kyrö kitchen serves local delicacies. See opening hours and details: visit.kyrodistillery.com You can also visit us virtually: virtualtour.kyrodistillery.com/fi/index.html See more..
4.5 Meteoriihi (20 reviews)
- If you want to feel small
Spent 1-2 hours Observatories & Planetariums • Educational sites

The area is used to show the real scale of our solar system, with the Sun at the center (a lamp post with 70cm diameter) and planets shown at real sizes (a pea-sized Earth is over 20m away). This, once comprehended, makes you feel how little we are even in context of our "little" planetar system. The old observatory was unfortunately closed but it didn't matter for me then. See more..
4.5 Saltkaret (19 reviews)
- Visit to Saltkaret,
Lookouts • Observation Decks & Towers • Scenic Walking Areas

small walk from parking place approx 800m. We had 2,5half year old toddler with us. She walked nearly all the way :) very nice place to visit See more..
4.5 Vaasa Car & Motor Museum (19 reviews)
- Intetesting
Speciality Museums

Nice local museum. Three floors of interesting stuff. Exhibition is big but could be more informative. Worth to visit. See more..
4.5 Stundars Museum (17 reviews)
- Different and delightful
Speciality Museums

Come and experience life as it may have been at the turn of the 20th century in the countryside in Ostrobothnia. Stundars open air museum consists of seventy buildnings that have all been relocated from villages in Korsholm and the Vaasa region. There is a country shop, a village school and a farmhouse as wess as many artisans' workshops and crofters' cottages. See more..
4.0 Kaupungintalo - City Hall (17 reviews)
- Free art exhibition
Points of Interest & Landmarks

This beautiful City Hall was built in 1883. It is hard to visit unless you attend a concert, a meeting or a congress. We managed to see the main staircase when we tried to find the Art Hall in the same building. The entrance to that was on the other side of the building. The art exhibition showed stunning black and white images of Africa's nature. See more..
4.0 Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art (17 reviews)
- A modern art museum
Speciality Museums

This is a small museum for Modern Art. They don't have own collection, so take in other artist's collction to show them for art lovers. The museum building is nice. See more..
4.5 Mustasaaren kirkko (13 reviews)
- Beautiful Chirch with interesting background
Spent < 1 hour Churches & Cathedrals

Amazingly peaceful to walk around! It was beautiful morning when we visited and everyone enjoyed the walk. See more..
4.5 Tikanoja Art Museum (10 reviews)
- Small and nice
Art Galleries • Art Museums

Really small museum but in 3 floors. NIce personell and very blanced and good exhibitions. In city center. See more..
4.0 Lebellska köpmansgården (9 reviews)
- House with impressive details
Speciality Museums • History Museums

Historical business man's house showcasing lifestyle of that age. Includes very impressive wall papers, painted ceilings and furniture. House is also full of old items. Staff was very helpful and gave short introduction to house. We got paper guide that described all the details. Ticket price is affordable and museum is small. This is absolutely worth of short visit if you like history. In the yard there are couple of barns. One is eroded by salt which have made walls like soft pulp. Next to museum is cafe which has nice small yard to sip tea or coffee. See more..
4.5 Tourist Information - Kristiinankaupunki (8 reviews)
- Not open on saturday
Spent < 1 hour Visitor Centers

Kristinestad (fi: Kristiinankaupunki) is an idyllic town in western Finland, next to the sea. Our tourist office is located in the yellow house Corner, next to the market place. Welcome! We offer brochures, maps and other information about Kristinestad. Bikes for rent. You can use our computer or the free wifi-connection. See more..
4.5 Aava Kertun Kotitila (7 reviews)
- wonderful place for kids
Spent 1-2 hours Farms • Ranches

On the idyllic farm Aava Kertun kotitila in Sodra Vallgrund, Kvarken archipelago, the visitor has the opportunity to experience an authentic Finnish farm environment, and meet many different animals. See more..
4.0 Carlsro Museum (7 reviews)
- Quirky and interesting
Speciality Museums

This is quite a quirky and interesting place to visit. It is an old grand summer residence. Lots of history to the house and many rooms also have some further themes with lots of paraphernalia, such as distilling, shoe-making, optician, goldsmith and jewellery making. It is quite a mix of stuff but fascinating. Some very good and varied paintings also. There was a very friendly and knowledgeable person working there who gave us a brief history of the house and previous owners. He was full of information and provided a refreshing change to some of the other museums in the area! For a reasonable price you can hire a rowing boat to take out on the lake. Bring some lunch with you! See more..
4.5 Kuddnas Museum (6 reviews)
- Authentic, charming and telling so many stories
Speciality Museums

A museum of the famous wrtier Zacharias Topelius See more..
4.5 Savipaja Murray (6 reviews)
- Savipajan upea miljöö
Spent 1-2 hours Speciality & Gift Shops

Aivan ihana Savipaja kodin yhteydessä. Ihania purnukoita ,joita olisi tehnyt mieli ostaa koko suvulle viemisiksi.p
Keväinen puutarhamiljöö ja ihana ympäristö. Maltan tuskin odottaa ,miltä täälä näyttää kesäaikana.
Suosittelen lämpimästi. See more..
4.5 Ojberget (6 reviews)
- nice old hill for sking and going to court
Ski & Snowboard Areas

nice old hill for sking and going to court, why in the hell is the supremcourt called a hill. bla bla bla bla See more..
3.5 Kasarmintori ja ortodoksinen kirkko (6 reviews)
- A gimpse of Vaasa history
Churches & Cathedrals

This historical church is located in place that used to be and island on the sea only a few hundreds years ago! See more..
4.5 Bjorko-Panike Hiking Trail (5 reviews)
- Nice rice walking trail
Hiking Trails

Nice view of the World heritage site of Kvarken. Not the easiest trail, but if you have proper shoes it will work out fine. If you take the longest route, you need somebody to assist you with a boat. Nice area for photographing. See more..
4.0 Söderfjärdenin Meteoriihi (5 reviews)
- Unique place
Spent 1-2 hours Historic Sites • Points of Interest & Landmarks • Observation Decks & Towers • Educational sites

Meteorite crater south of Vaasa. Meteoriihi center nice but run by volunteers, limited opening hours. Lots of birds, especially cranes in autumn. See more..
4.5 Bragen ulkoilmamuseo (5 reviews)
- Tour in museum
Speciality Museums

Great way to explore life in old times. Worth to pay extra for guided tour. Great way to spend little over an hour in History of old time farm life. See more..
4.0 Edvinin Taidepuisto Ja Korsukyla (5 reviews)
- Amazing amateur sculptures along 1 km jogging trail
Monuments & Statues

A nice walk with a smile. A small car park at beginning of trail. Follow the path with light posts. Welded sculptures and wood carved ones in man size. Animals and humans in various shapes. See more..
4.0 Hietasaaren uimaranta (5 reviews)
- Nice beach
Beaches

Good swimming during hot summer days. Parking places limited, Had to walk a few hundred meters. Lot of families See more..
4.5 Salgrund Pilot Station (4 reviews)
- We loved Sälgrund!
Lighthouses

I just love this island! We took the 10 min short boat trip from Kaskinen to the island of Sälgrund. There is no regular boat traffic there, but a fairly cheap boat taxi that you can ask to bring you there whenever you want to go. A short walk through the forest and there was the majestic lighthouse and a yard with old wooden huts and the old pilot station. We did not spend the night, but you can stay there in a very authentic old house, and it is relatively cheap. So we are definitely returning for that another time. Also the big sauna of the island is fabulous. Amazing views over the cliffs to the open sea. The couple who runs the place is very friendly, and they were very helpful during our visit. See more..
5.0 The Maritime Museum (4 reviews)
- A dash of history in Kristiinankaupunki
Spent 1-2 hours Speciality Museums

When we arrived at the museum, it was already 3PM but the museum staff informed us that we can still visit the museum. The ticket price was very cheap, €4 for adult & €1 for children. Two best part about the museum were the collections and also the guide. Our guide was very enthusiast when he gave us the tour (not sure if he's a tour guide, but surely his explanation let us entertained for the next 1 hour). We asked many things and he explained a complete history of Kristiinankaupunki in the old days as water front city in the medieval time. It's located in top of library building. See more..
4.5 Vaasan kirkko (4 reviews)
- Beautiful church
Churches & Cathedrals

Vaasa Church is a neo-Gothic building built in 1862. One of three altarpieces is made by Albert Edelfelt, one of the most famous Finnish painter. We were lucky to hear the great acoustics of this church. Somebody was playing the organ on our visit. See more..
4.0 Sundom (4 reviews)
- go back in time and visit the site of a direct meteorite hit
Points of Interest & Landmarks

just across the bridge from vaasa. enjoy rural area with a small skiing place, watch the site of a meteorite hit providing very good farmland. climb the watchtower to oversee the area of the hit and experience some of the vicinity on foot, bike, or skis. See more..
5.0 Isonkyron Vanha Kirkko (3 reviews)
- Historical church, beautiful views
Churches & Cathedrals

A great local church filled with rich history. In the summer they offer tours in English! Definitely worth a pit stop on a road trip. See more..
4.5 Onkilahti Playground (3 reviews)
- Monipuolinen leikkipuisto
Playgrounds

Leikkipuisto on todella iso ja avara, jossa löytyy tekemistä monen ikäiselle. Ihan pienille on oma pieni kiipeilyalue liukumäkineen ja isommille oma haastavampi kiipeilyteline monen tasoisine reitteineen. Puistosta löytyy pöytiä ja isoja nurmialueita eväiden nauttimista varten. Lisäksi siellä on alueet kuntoiluun ja lentopallon pelaamiseen, sekä hiekkakenttä mm. jalkapallon pelaamiseen.
Leikkipuisto on todella iso ja avara, jossa löytyy tekemistä monen ikäiselle. Ihan pienille on oma pieni kiipeilyalue liukumäkineen ja isommille oma haastavampi kiipeilyteline monen tasoisine reitteineen. Puistosta löytyy pöytiä ja isoja nurmialueita eväiden nauttimista varten. Lisäksi siellä on alueet kuntoiluun ja lentopallon pelaamiseen, sekä hiekkakenttä mm. jalkapallon pelaamiseen. See more..
4.0 HopLop Vaasa (3 reviews)
- Todella hyvä mesta.
Tuesday: 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM Spent More than 3 hours Playgrounds

Paras HopLop missä ollaan käyty. Paikka oli siisti eikä siellä ollut ruuhkaa. Iso plussa myös ravintolalle että saa myös muuta kun rasvakeittimen kautta tulevaa safkaa.
Paras HopLop missä ollaan käyty. Paikka oli siisti eikä siellä ollut ruuhkaa. Iso plussa myös ravintolalle että saa myös muuta kun rasvakeittimen kautta tulevaa safkaa. See more..
3.5 Huutoniemen kirkko (3 reviews)
- Not a typical church
Churches & Cathedrals

Huutoniemi church is a Lutheran church built in the 60's and mostly out of concrete. It's not pretty but impressive in other ways. See more..
4.5 Kimo Bruk (2 reviews)
- Mysiga kimo bruk
History Museums
Välskött och mysigt! Väl värt en promenad i området! Fint renoverat och fullt utrustat kök. Många bröllop ordnas här varje sommar! See more..
5.0 Kenkä Pihlaja (2 reviews)
- Uskomaton kenkätaivas Pohjanmaalla
Tuesday: 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM Spent 1-2 hours Speciality & Gift Shops

Big shoestore for the whole family. Over 1000m² with all kinds of shoes, handbags, travelbags and accessories. Summershoes, wintershoes, sportshoes, workshoes and almost all shoes you can think of. See more..
4.0 Swingeling (2 reviews)
- Nice indoor play centre!
Game & Entertainment Centers

We visited Swingeling in July so it was very quiet, however I can imagine it's a lot busier in winter. Tidy and clean, with a nice little food menu for both adults and kids. The place is not very big, but right in front of the eating area (where I assume most parents like to sit ) is a climbing/slide structure which can make it hard to see to the very back - just something to keep in mind in case you're supervising several kids. There is a designated play area for toddlers. Free parking. Lockers available for bags etc if you need. As with most play centres you must wear socks. My kids (2 and 5) had lots of fun! See more..
4.0 Napue Battle Memorial 1714 (2 reviews)
- Sobering History
Points of Interest & Landmarks • Monuments & Statues

The memorial is a gigantic rock with the Finnish Lion on it, but the tale told by the signs is one of horror as Sweden and Russia battled over Finland. See more..
3.5 Granösund Fishing Village (2 reviews)
- A hidden gem of local history
Speciality Museums • History Museums

The Granösund Fishing Village Museum (also known as Granösundin saaristolaismuseo, Granösundin kalastajakylä or Granösunds fiskeläge) is open at 12 noon - 5 p.m. from Wednesday to Sunday in the summer 2018, although some web pages claim that it is open only at weekends. Drive to Raippaluotto (the road 724), turn to Norra Vallgrund (the road 7242) and follow signs with the text "Granösunds fiskeläge". So you find the museum, which is situated in Bullerås (address Bulleråsvägen 320), Södra Vallgrund, next to the small swimming beach of Bullerås. The museum provides a view of life in coastal Ostrobothnia in the days, when the majority of the population depended upon fishing, seal hunting, farming and handicraft for its livelihood. The museum consists of about ten buildings: a dwelling cottage, boathouses, a fishermen's sauna, a net-shed, a barn and a loft storehouse. The museum also has a large collection of fishing and hunting tools, e.g. an unusual boat from the year 1864. I could say that this museum is a hidden gem. We asked if they have many visitors. They answered that they have had at least one visitor every day! I am happy that we visited this interesting and earthy museum! See more..
5.0 Laihian kotiseutumuseo (1 review)
- Charming Outdoor Museum
History Museums
Very well kept outdoor and indoor museum with old buildings and plenty of tools and household items from the old days. Has also a small cafe, absolutely worth a visit with the family See more..
3.0 Björkö Church (1 review)
- What a lovely little church
Churches & Cathedrals

If you're visiting the Kvarken Archipelago in Björkö then take few minutes to stop at the Bjorko Church. It's a really nice small church built in 1859. It's open a summer time from 9-16 See more..
5.0 Pirttikylä Church (1 review)
Churches & Cathedrals
See more..
5.0 Pulleromäen ratsastustalli (1 review)
Horseback Riding Tours

See more..
5.0 Westcoast Sportfishing (1 review)
- Mahtava kalareissu
Tuesday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Fishing Charters & Tours

Oman kalakaluston puutteen vuoksi olen käyttänyt palveluita jo yli kymmenen kertaa. Ikinä en ole pettynyt. Hienot maisemat, hienot kalat, hyvää ruokaa ja eritoten loistava asiakaspalvelu! See more..