Vaakaranta 7, 20100 Turku
Location
On the north bank of the Aura, downstream of the cathedral, where the river widens and the working quay begins.
Getting here
Arriving in Turku
From the airport
Turku airport is about eight kilometres north. The city bus from the terminal reaches the market square in twenty-five minutes, and from there it's a ten-minute walk down to the water. A taxi takes fifteen minutes and usually costs less than people expect.
From the harbour
Ferries from Stockholm and Mariehamn dock at the mouth of the river, three kilometres downstream. The harbour bus runs to the centre, or you can walk the whole way along the bank in forty minutes and see the shipyards on the way.
From the railway station
It's fifteen minutes on foot, mostly downhill, and trains from Helsinki take under two hours. Turn left out of the station, cross the river at the second bridge and keep the water on your right.
By car
The hotel has no car park. The public garage on the next block is open through the night, with the first hour free on Sundays, and street parking on Vaakaranta is metered until 18:00 and hard to find in summer.
The street
What is on the quay
Vaakaranta is a short street of warehouses, most of them now put to other uses. Two are still stores, and one is a boatyard that pulls hulls out of the water in October and puts them back in May, with a sound that carries. The lime trees along the bank were planted after the war.
The river path runs from the door in both directions. Upstream it passes the old steamships moored on the south bank and goes under four bridges to reach the cathedral in twenty minutes, while downstream it goes by the shipyard cranes and finishes at the castle.
In winter the river freezes from the banks inward, and the small ferry keeps a channel open across the middle. In one form or another it has run free of charge since the 1880s.
The little ferry, two bridges upstreamNearby
Within a walk
- The cathedral20 minutes upstream
- Market square10 minutes
- Market hall12 minutes
- Turku castle25 minutes downstream
- Railway station15 minutes
- The art museum14 minutes, uphill
The market hall is worth the walk on a weekday morning, with fish, rye, cheese from the archipelago islands and coffee counters that have stayed in the same families for a century. It closes early on Saturday and is shut on Sunday.
Boats for the archipelago leave from the quay below the castle between June and August. The nearest islands are an hour out, so check the last ferry back before you go.
Seasons
Summer
In late June it stays light until midnight, the terrace is open, the river is full of small boats and the city is at its busiest. Book well ahead for July.
Autumn
The lime trees turn in the first week of October and the boats come out of the water. It's the quietest month and, we think, the best one to be here.
Winter
The days are short, the river is iced over most years, and the sauna does the work it was built for. Snow is cleared from the quay before breakfast.
Spring
A slow season. The ice goes in late March or April, the birches come into leaf in May, and the terrace opens on the first evening that allows it.