Would you like to see a colony of nesting herons? Or discover ancient glacial potholes known as “devil’s churns”? This book describes 200 fascinating natural sites that can be seen in Helsinki. The featured areas include well-known attractions like the internationally valuable wetlands of Vanhankaupunginlahti Bay, the extensive forests of Helsinki’s own Central Park, the wooded island of Seurasaari with its open-air museum, and the historic islands of Suomenlinna. But the book also spotlights many less widely-known natural areas that are well worth discovering. Most of the featured sites are very easy to visit.
Helsinki is blessed with varied natural features from rocky shores to grassy meadows, wetlands, leafy woodlands, ancient forests and moody marshes. Many areas have splendid scenery and a rich variety of flora and fauna.
This book aims to help readers discover the great diversity of Helsinki’s easily accessible urban nature. Natural treasures large and small can be found even within a stone’s throw of the city centre. The sites highlighted in the book include almost all of Helsinki’s existing or proposed nature reserves, listed natural monuments, sites of geological interest, parks and other attractive green areas.