Porvoo's old town is one of the best-preserved wooden town centres in Finland, a network of narrow cobblestone streets lined with low ochre, red, and yellow wooden houses dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The whole area can be walked in an hour at a stroll, but the pleasure is in the details: the herb gardens behind low fences, the painted timber facades, the occasional glimpse of the Cathedral tower at the end of a lane.
The old town sits on a slight ridge above the river, with the Cathedral at its highest point. Walking down toward the water brings you to the old market square, where a few stalls still operate in summer, and then to the riverbank with its famous red warehouses.