Oulu Finland
17
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Ponant (8 Cruises)
Regent Seven Seas Cruises (7 Cruises)
Silversea Cruises (2 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Away from the centre, about 3 or 4 kilometres depending on the berth. Shuttles, taxis or rental bicycles cover the distance in minutes, and lines generally arrange a transfer to the edge of the market square.
The market square, the beating heart of the city, open to the water and lined with former salt and tar warehouses converted into shops and restaurants. At its centre stands the Toripolliisi, the plump statue of a market policeman that has become the city's mascot.
In the 1901 market hall: hot-smoked salmon, kalakukko — rye bread stuffed with fish — and reindeer meat, to eat there or take away. The stalls overflow with berries in summer and chanterelles late in the season.
The oldest part of Oulu, an island linked to the Kauppatori by a footbridge, where shipwrights and tar workers lived in softly coloured wooden houses. Artists and craftspeople occupy them today, with studios and cafés hidden behind the lilacs.
Half an hour walking its quiet lanes, and it is worth every minute, especially under the slanting northern sun that flatters the façades. The contrast with the modern blocks across the channel sums Oulu up.
The Tietomaa science centre, the first of its kind in Finland, housed in a former power station, with interactive exhibits and an observation tower. It is also the ideal family outing.
Yes, and proudly so: several hundred kilometres of separated paths, used summer and winter, snow included. You see more bicycles than cars downtown. The route to Nallikari beach follows the water almost without a break.
Yes, Nallikari: a kilometre of fine sand facing the Gulf of Bothnia, half an hour by bicycle from the centre or a few minutes by vehicle. In summer Finnish families swim there in bracing water. Few cruise calls offer a genuine Nordic beach this accessible.
Pine tar: the city was once its world capital, as the old warehouses on the harbour recall. Today it has become a centre of innovation where wireless technologies are developed, for some 200,000 residents.
Rye bread, leipäjuusto — the squeaky grilled cheese — or cloudberry jam, the golden bog berry Quebecers know as plaquebière. It is all at the market before you head back to the ship.
