Porvoo

The town is famed for its many wooden buildings, picturesquely perched by the Porvoo River Finnish Porvoonjoki, Swedish Borgå å. These are concentrated in the old city Fin: Vanha Porvoo, Swedish Borgå, a few hundred meters northwest of the modern city centre, and on a fine summer day a stroll around them is very delightful indeed. For the best view of the iconic red warehouses, cross the river and walk along the park on the other side.

Porvoo Cathedral

A heavy, squat, white stone building, this church wins no awards for architectural innovation, but it's among the oldest and largest in Finland, with parts dating back to the 11st century. Predating the Reformation, it was originally a Catholic church, but was somewhat crudely converted into a Protestant one later on by removing icons and painting over murals. The building was burned down four times between 1300 and 1700, and took a direct hit from a bomb in 1914 — miraculously, the bomb fell through the roof, but did not explode. The roof was burned by an arsonist in 2006, but the damage was repaired and it's now open again, with some of the Catholic-era murals restored in the process.

History and art museum in the heart of the Old Town, housed in the former City Hall 1760. The Diet of Porvoo was held here, and today it showcases artifacts from peasant life and a collection of old photographs.