Day trip places

Where to go

This is a list of places I recommend visiting as a day trip from Espoo (or Helsinki). All the photos are mine, so you can check out my Flickr for more.

There are a couple of links at the bottom of the page that might be helpful as well.

Nuuksio

The most obvious destination. Can be accessed by car, bicycle or (they say) there are some busses. By car, there are several parking places. Nuuksio is a huge forest with nice gravel roads and some trails. There are laavus and fire places.

Keep in mind, that it is only allowed to ride your bike on those gravel roads, so no XC riding there.

Haltia

Can be accessed by some busses, there is something called "The Finnish Nature Centre" - though I have no idea what it is. Since Nuuksio trails are all connected, you can go anywhere from this place - and you probably will want to since there might be too many people there (by Finnish standards).

Pirttimäki

Another access point to the Nuuksio national park is near the Bodom lake. It is slightly less popular, so might be more suitable for those who want to avoid the crowds. There is also a summer cafe, which I've never been to.

Salmi

An access point from the north. Has a big parking lot, which is convenient, really not popular and for a reason - it takes quite some time to get there, though if you pass Pirttimäki and follow the road to the 120 highway - you will be rewarded by a nice driving on a windy road through the forest.

There are several grilling spots there and since there are not so many people, they are mostly free.

Meiko

Way less accessible than Nuuksio. This is a park around a lake in Kirkonummi. The parking lot is not big, but I've never had any issues with it. There are several marked routes, the best one imho, goes around the lake.

It is not a national park, so there are no restrictions (as far as I know) to ride a bike, but I've never tried. There are several streams that are fun to watch when the snow melts, especially if you're 7 (at least mentally).

Porkkala

Not that big area for hiking, but has a nice (one of the nicest I'd say) view of the sea. Can be accessed by car or by bike, if you're into longer rides.

Though it has a couple of fire places, I've never seen them free (except for the winter, when the weather was just awful). But it is a great place for a small hike if you're not into long walks, but want some good views.

Liesjärvi

Also a national park. It is a big one, though not so well-connected as Nuuksio. There are two interesting spots: a narrow path between two lakes and a historical farm that you can visit.

It is quite far away from Espoo, though still a viable day trip option.

There are several parking places, they are not far from the main road, but you will have to drive on some gravel roads. May pretend to be on a WRC stage as well.

Ruotsejärvi

This is a small area with a manual ferry, that is quite an interesting thing. Another part of it is a long boardwalk across the swamp.

The ferry will take you to a peninsula with a nice laavu on it.

It only worth visiting if you want to use that ferry, otherwise there are way better places that are way closer.

Palakoski

Back to Uusimaa. This area is pretty diverse - there are hills, a river with a rapids (hence the name), a lake and a swamp.

I have no idea how to get to this place other than by car (or by bike, though I've never tried it). The last stretch of the road is not paved and quite deserted, so, rather fun. I'm not aware of grilling places in the area, but there's a small parking lot.

Sipoonkorpi

Another national park in the Helsinki region. It also has a lot of entrances, but I've only been to one, marked above. I'd say it is less interesting than Nuuksio, but has more camping facilities.

For some reason, I can't find any summer picture, so here it the wintery one.

Luckily, you can ride there (at least I've tried and it was fine)

It is good place if you're living in the eastern part of Helsinki or Vantaa. From Espoo, I'd say there are better places to go.

Kopparnäs-Störsvik

A small area to the West from Espoo. To be fair, I was not expecting much, so it was fine. But it's not as good as Porkkala (comparing since it is also located on the coast).

So there is a path along the sea shore, some unidentified (by me) ruins.

The good part - it is totally not popular. There were exactly zero people there.

Resources

There are several online resources that might help you as well.

UUVI - a great website to find your next destination. Uusimaa only.

LUONTOON - this one has way more data, but the UI is not as good as UUVI.