Why Finland needs to be your next family break

They call Finland the land of 1000 lakes, and within minutes of arriving I had fallen into a green, sparkling one, which I realised, as the water seeped into my jeans, was also ice-cold. This is the Barösund region on the Finnish south coast, a stunning archipelago one hour’s drive from Helsinki.

We’d only just checked in at The Barö (thebaro.fi), a chic rural collection of 18 stilt-raised charcoal-hued cabins. With a floor-to-ceiling glass wall looking out onto the surrounding pine forest, my kids (aged nine, seven and four) were immediately drawn from our treehouse’s view to run out to pick wild blueberries and visit the lake. It was while I gingerly followed, stepping onto a moss-covered stone to cool my toes, that I tumbled into the crystal-clear lake.

The kids fell about laughing, of course — and they barely stopped beaming during our week-long Finnish break. We spent three days in this beautiful wilderness and four in Helsinki’s own cool splendour. At the Barö, it was a Famous Five-style experience. The glass wall replaced a TV and we pulled back the black-out curtains in our cabin each morning to gaze out at eagles, woodpeckers and wandering deer.

The sauna (of course there’s a sauna: Finland has 0.6 per person across its population) was next to a micro beach where the kids worked on sandcastles and built boats out of reeds. Free bikes allowed us to hunt wild berries further afield, working up an appetite for the breakfast: a small but perfect array of berries, creamy porridge, smoked fish, fruit, spreads and local ‘archipelago bread’.

We drove — yes, you need a car to explore this region — for an hour to the beaches of Hanko (visithanko.fi), Finland’s southern-most point. Action came from the Gladiator-on-water style inflatable assault course (€20 per person) at Plagen, (digikonttori.eu) and the (free) water carousel, bouncy castles, paddle boarding and mini golf.

It’s fun today but wasn’t always this way. Finland once handed the region now known as Hanko to the Soviet Union as a base. Bloody battles were fought where we picked up artisan gelato. Hanko was recaptured in the early 1940s and the war-torn city was rebuilt. Today most of the intricately decorated historic villas are B&Bs, and the marina is packed with buzzy restaurants — try Bryggan (bryggan.fi) for perfect local smoked fish.

Once the Finnish archipelago had thoroughly worked its magic and kneaded London life out of us, it was time to decamp to the Nordic urban gem of Helsinki. Usually there are two ways to tackle a city break with kids: do all the boulevards and galleries and beers and sauteed reindeer-sampling that the adults want and put up with endless moaning, or see a city’s playgrounds but none of its authenticity.

Not here. Helsinki is as bordered by water (surrounded by the Baltic sea on three sides) as it is dotted with playgrounds. There are 60 odd in the centre alone, including a traffic playground with free cycling lessons, staffed playgrounds so you can actually drink your coffee, and, on summer weekdays, even free playground lunches for kids. I say this not to give you a PhD in Helsinki playgrounds, but because it means we found families can explore the city’s rich culture with time to chill inbetween.

We all enjoyed galleries like Amos Rex (amosrex.fi/en), with its runnable undulating roofs and thought-provoking art caves underneath, and the Design Museum (designmuseum.fi) which appealed to all ages with its Finnish furniture exhibits and its Angry Birds and Lego-building demos.

The Flying Cinema (flyingcinematour.com) was an old-school pocket of touristy fun. But visiting the Children’s Town (HCM) in the Helsinki City Museum, busy with local kids enjoying its pretend cobbler, theatre, grocer and boats plus old schoolroom and ‘grandma’s house’ providing fodder for make-believe, we really felt like we were living Nordic family life. The same was true as we explored the jaw-droppingly-good Oodi public library (oodihelsinki.fi), with a whole floor of (free) video gaming and 3D printing, and another with robots delivering books around a huge children’s area including interactive soft play, dens and reading nooks.

Busy days were cushioned by our stay at the stunning new The Hotel Maria (The Hotel Maria), which felt like a cool embrace after a busy day sightseeing. From the chilled interiors — white herringbone and marble bathrooms, Nordic greys and creams throughout — everything is easy: even the curtains shut via iPad, and the loo is a robot that washes and dries you to save you the effort. The modern taupe design scheme with Art Deco Crittall accents belies the history of this new hotel (it opened at the end of 2023) as a vast set of barracks. It’s far more spacious today: rooms include cloud-like vast beds, capacious bathrooms with mirrors that turn into TVs.

Hotel Maria’s staff were very friendly — a rarity amongst reserved Finns — and its central location, a five-minute stroll to market square, was ideal. Of the four separate ‘wings’, east was the quietest, and in the subterranean spa, chi chi Finns hang out in the sauna, steam room, jacuzzis and plunge pool, as well as the loft-based gym.

Breakfast had the best croissants we’d ever tasted at a hotel buffet — and I include Paris’s best hotels in that — alongside local sweet strawberries, chocolate eclairs and reindeer, while the kids (and their breakfasting teddy bears) were treated like the royalty Finland no longer has.

We took a whole day to explore Suomenlinna (suomenlinna.fi), a fortified Unesco World Heritage Site island built by the Swedes when Finland was part of its kingdom in 1748, then battered by wars including the Crimean, Finnish civil war and WW2. Today, 800 people call the place that once defended three realms home, and an excellent local guide took us through the only submarine Finland was allowed to retain after the Second World War. It is one of Europe’s oldest operating dry docks, and has pitch-black underground tunnels where even my bolshy nine-year-old forgot to pretend he wasn’t scared.

Don’t miss lunch at the island’s Adlerfelt restaurant (adlerfelt.fi) — the chef has a genuine passion for locally-picked ingredients and puts them together with aplomb. From its caramelly-salty dark bread to Baltic herring, green Gazpacho and duck breast, all is perfectly and passionately cooked. Afterwards, the kids couldn’t get enough of the island’s toy museum (lelumuseo.fi), where glass cases full of dolls, space race games and models provided even more enjoyment than the homemade cakes (raspberry cream slice, anyone?) afterwards.

Helsinki just makes life easy for families; anyone with a buggy travels on its (reliable, regular) buses and trams for free; the airport boasts a soft play and free buggies, and the national airline, FinnAir, hands out free blueberry juice to all.

While my kids all enjoyed the city’s large Korkeasaari Zoo (korkeasaari.fi), when squabbling over whether the newborn reindeers or the fuzzy wolverines were their favourite animals, they actually concluded they were just as impressed with the communal barbecue huts, where families turned up with a hunk of meat and rustled up grilled lunches they deemed far more fun than their boring old sarnies.

The Finns are a down-to-earth, practical breed and kids are welcomed everywhere and treated just like adults. Perhaps nowhere was this clearer than during a brilliant tour of the Fazer chocolate Experience (visitfazer.com). After an interesting romp through the history of Finland’s vastly successful confectionary brand, the guide waved his arm at a vast pick-and-mix-style stand of miniature chocolates and bellowed, “go try!” My kids — with fresh memories of the meagre tasters at a famous British chocolate-maker’s tour — looked at me with eyes larger than footballs: “Does he really mean, we can eat… as much as we like?”

Fazer might have had to re-stock after this family of chocaholics left the tasting room, but Helsinki and its archipelagos also gave us the chance to replenish our stores. Nature, the freedom to roam, cutting-edge culture, and places to play for kids and adults alike, it offers the perfect city-country combo for a family-friendly holiday.

Rates at The Hotel Maria in Helsinki - a member of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ Legend Collection - start from £390 per night including taxes and breakfast for two, Hotel Maria. At The Barö, twin room rates start at €247 per night, The Baro. Find out more at visitfinland.com.