Visit Finland – 11 Things to Do in Finland in Spring

Finland in Spring: Spring is short in Finland, characterized by light winds, clear weather and sunshine during the daytime, with little rainfall (although you may still get the occasional dusting of snow or sleet). On a clear night the temperature can still fall below zero (and in Lapland, well below zero) but on a sunny day the temperature rises rapidly – often to as high as 20 degrees (in the South, that is). Spring in Finland begins in early April in the Åland Islands and the southwestern archipelago and later in April elsewhere, except for northernmost Lapland, where it does not begin until early May. In southern Finland there is often snow on the ground at the beginning of April, with only a few crocuses poking their heads through the bare patches. Open areas lose their snow cover within two to three weeks of the beginning of spring, whereas on average the snow in the forest smelts about two weeks later. The lakes usually become ice-free later in April in southwestern Finland, in May in the interior and in June in Lapland. The water is still cold, but if you are brave, then you might fancy taking a quick dip after your sauna. 

One of the highlights of Spring all across Finland is the Finnish festival of Vappu on May 1 – a time of frenzied celebrations across the country. Be warned: this is one day when Finns are NOT their usual sober and hardworking selves. If you prefer peace and quiet, Spring is a good time to rent a cottage in the countryside. The forests quickly become carpeted with anemones and other wildflowers and you can pretty much see the grass growing and the trees bursting into leaf.

BUT – dress warm! Summer it isn’t!

11 Things to Do in Finland in Spring

1. Vappu! Party time! (Put May 1st in your Calendar)

2. Ihana Helsinki Festival – Stroll around Helsinki in the Spring sunshine. Eat, Shop, Sight-see. Enjoy!

3. Helsinki Spring Light Chamber Music Festival

4. April Jazz Festival – Espoo

5. Inari Reindeer Racing Championship (end of March / early April)

6. Spring skiing in Lapland – while the snows still there!

7. Spend Spring in a Cottage in the Forest – and perhaps go fishing

9. Tampere Biennale (held once every two years in April)

9. Tampere Dance Current Contemporary Dance Festival

10. Finlandia-Ajo – Held at the Vermo Racetrack, Helsinki, this is Finlands biggest horse-racing (trotting) event

11. Restaurant Day in May: Anyone can open a pop up restaurants, cafés and bars for a day. Enjoy the food carnival and explore ad-hoc restaurants in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere.

 

In Finland, Vappu (Walpurgis day) is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Midsummer (Juhannus). Vappu sees large carnival-style festivals held in the streets of Finland’s towns and cities. From the 17th Century forward the tradition pf a spring carnival was revived by the university students and from student circles expanded to include more or less everyone in Finland. This video shows Finnish students celebrating Vappu. The songs are 17th Century. The celebration, which begins on the evening of 30 April and continues to 1 May, typically centres on copious consumption of sima, sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. Student traditions, particularly those of the engineering students, are one of the main characteristics of Vappu. Many lukio (university-preparatory high school) alumni (who are thus traditionally assumed to be university bound), wear a cap. Traditionally, 1 May is celebrated by a picnic in a park (Kaivopuisto or Kaisaniemi in the case of Helsinki). For most, the picnic is enjoyed with friends on a blanket with good food and sparkling wine. Some people, however, arrange extremely lavish picnics with pavilions, white tablecloths, silver candelabras, classical music and extravagant food. The picnic usually starts early in the morning, where some of the previous night’s party-goers continue their celebrations undaunted by lack of sleep.

Late Night Shopping in Helsinki is fun, but the Ihana Helsinki (Wonderful Helsinki) City Festival taking place in Spring (in May) is just as much fun – and is a floral tribute to spring and Helsinki. The Festival has various programs, events and promotions with everyone enjoying the best of Helsinki. The Festival took place for the first time in 2012 and is now planned for every Spring. With many stores and shopping centres hosting special events, its a great time to go shopping as well as enjoying the sights, museums, cafes and everything else Helsinki has to offer.

Held annually in May, the Spring Light Chamber Music Festival in Helsinki celebrates the light of spring with a selection of the world’s most beautiful classical music performed by both outstanding Finnish and Internationally celebrated artists.Many of the performances are held in the Helsinki Rock Church, one of the best known monuments of Finnish architecture, known for its excellent acoustics and the home for Helsinki Spring Light Chamber Music concerts. In addition to the Helsinki Spring Light Chamber Music Festival, performances of the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonics and the Sibelius Academy have also discovered the unique feeling of this Church as a performance venue. The Festival takes place from late April into early May. The Artistic Director of the Helsinki Spring Light Chamber Music Festival is the notable young pianist Anastasia Injushina, with additional assistance provided by the distinguished pianist-conductor Ralf Gothóni.

 

The Espoo April Jazz festival rhythms take over Espoo every April. Espoo is part of the Helsinki area so getting there is easy – its the biggest annual Jazz Festival in the capital area (its been held every year from 1987). The Espoo Jazz Festival includes International stars, Finnish masters, record release shows, clubs. jazz clinics – all sorts of surprises. If you enjoy Jazz, or if you’re in Helsinki in late April / early May, this is a great musical festival. If you’ve never really listened to Jazz before, the Espoo April Jazz Festival is a great way to start.

Every year, several reindeer races take place in the Lapland, with the most important being the Inari reindeer race, which takes place at the end of the March in Inari. The best reindeer and reindeer drivers gather to compete for the Champion Reindeer Racing title. The jockeys harness themselves behind their reindeer with only their skis separating them from the cold, hard snow, reaching speeds of up to 60 kilometres an hour. Its a unique experience, but little known even within Finland. But hey, who do YOU know who can say they’ve been to the World Reindeer Racing Championships!

If you’re heading for Lapland in the spring, you are going at the most popular time. Lakes are frozen right through to April and the snow situation definitely at its best. Snow often thaws in Lapland as late as the beginning of May, so the temperatures also rarely raise above zero. Lapland’s cross-country skiing trail networks are in their best skiing condition in the springtime. You will enjoy guaranteed snow with plenty of sunshine and a wide variety of good trails at various degrees of ease or difficulty depending on your preferences, the longest of which are nearly 300 kilometres. If you haven’t got your own skiing equipment, well equipped equipment hire services can be found at every holiday resort. The local activity companies also arrange guided cross-country skiing trips for skiers of all levels. You can depart on a long skiing trek lasting a number of days, stay overnight in cabins and even eat around the campfire under a lean-to shelter. Or you can just ski for a few hours and take a lovely break with hot drinks at the ski trail cafés. The down-hill skiing is just as good!

How often do you fall asleep to the sound of silence or do your morning routines in a lakeside cottage listening to birds twittering? Cabins and cottages are an essential element in Finnish life. Forgetting the daily grind is inevitable in retreats amid Finland’s greatest resource: its rugged natural beauty. Hike through the forest as the trees turn green, go mountain biking, pick mushrooms and berries, then finish your day by heating up the lakeside sauna (sweating out the stress in a sauna, with regular cooling dips in the lake, is the ultimate way to purify both body and mind, and these sessions can go on for hours) or getting snug in front of the fireplace: rest and revitalisation are guaranteed. April is also the start of the fishing season in Finland, and large brown trout abound in Finland’s many rivers. Or just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. Whatever your preference, Finland’s lakeside cottages are the ideal way to get away from modern life, breathe freely and simply listen to the silence. Nowadays, luxury cottages are available throughout the country and are an extremely popular way to spend holidays. However, many people also prefer a more traditional approach, seeking smaller cabins that offer the bare minimum of amenities and are usually located further off the beaten track – and these are just as easily available.

The  Tampere Biennale is an inter-artistic festival that primarily introduces contemporary classical music by Finnish composers. The concert venues include the Tampere Hall and the Old Customs House Hall. Finnish electronic music can also be heard in concerts at the Planetarium and Klubi. In addition, the festival offers memorable experiences for friends of contemporary dance and the visual arts as well as ensuring entertainment for the younger visitors.  The festival was born in 1986 out of the need to showcase music from living Finnish composers and encourage the audience to get acquainted with new music. Over the years, the Tampere Biennale has developed into one of the most prestigious contemporary music events held in Finland. The festival is held every two years, with the next Biennale being in spring 2014.

The Tampere Dance Current contemporary dance festival has been organized since 1997. Every    year for six days in April the festival introduces the most interesting pieces and artists of the Finnish contemporary dance scene from both established and up-and-coming choreographers and dance artists. The festival program includes dance, dance videos, panel discussions and other events. The performances take place at the Hällä Stage and also at other venues around the city.  One of the main events are performances by MD, the Dance Theatre company funded by the Finnish government and the City of Tampere. 

Dance Theatre MD is a Tampere-based professional dance group, whose home theatre is the Hämeenkadun Hällä stage. MD Dance Theatre’s repertoire is focused on diverse contemporary dance with high level of choreography. MD’s dancers perform dazzling visual works making dance performances fun for the whole family. In addition to domestic performances, MD Dance Theatre performs regularly overseas. Over the years since its founding in 1997, Dance Theatre MD has achieved a strong position as the flag-bearer of contemporary dance in Tampere and the Tampere region.

Finlandia-Ajo (“The Finlandia Race”) is an annual Group One harness event that takes place at the Vermo Racetrack in Helsinki, Finland.The competition started in 1980 and is regarded as Finland’s biggest trotting event. It is raced over a one mile (1,609 meters) track. Finlandia-Ajo is part of the European Grand Circuit and the overall purse for the 2009 event was €190,000, equaling approximately US$247,000. The Vermo racetrack is easily accessible by car, commuter services or by bus, with organized transportation and commuter services available. Children sixteen and under are admitted free and there is entertainment available for young children. All in all, if you enjoy a day at the races and you’re in Helsinki when Finlandia-Ajo is run, this makes for an entertaining day out.

The idea is really rather simple. On Restaurant Day, anyone can set up a restaurant, coffee shop or bar, for just one day, without having to apply for official permits. This means ordinary people get to play chefs and sommeliers – and results in a whole lot of fun and food and meeting people. Restaurant Day enthusiasts sell food that they have prepared themselves in locations as creative as the food they serve  –and restaurants pop up inside people’s homes and backyards, on the streets or in parks – almost anywhere in fact. On Restaurant Days (there are four per year – in February, May, August and November each year so really, it’s not just in Spring) thousands of fun loving people organize amazing one-day restaurants and thousands more eat at them. When the first Restaurant Day was held in May 2011,  40 pop-ups appeared. In 2012, 680 temporary restaurants took part with about half in Helsinki and the rest scattered around Finland. The latest festival of culinary delights involved more than 1,500 pop-up restaurants in Finland. Inclusivity is key Restaurant Day’s success, but participation is not confined to enthusiastic amateurs. On the second Restaurant Day, chefs from Chez Dominique, Helsinki’s only Michelin two-star restaurant, took a day off from their usual duties. “They just decided to go barbecuing hamburgers in the park and giving them away for free,” said Timo Santala, one of the organizers of Restaurant Day. “It was Michelin-star hamburgers in a park.”

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