Raahe
©
Raahe

Raahe

Gulf of Bothnia coastal city with a preserved wooden old town and shipbuilding port history.

Raahe is a small coastal city on the Gulf of Bothnia, about 75 km south of Oulu. Count Pehr Brahe founded the town in 1649, and its history as a trading and shipbuilding port is still visible in the old town quarter — one of the best-preserved wooden town centres in Finland. The old streets and 19th-century timber houses have been carefully maintained and still function as a lived-in neighbourhood, centred on the market square of Pekkatori.

The Raahe Museum, housed in an old warehouse, contains an unusual collection of maritime artefacts including what is believed to be the oldest surviving diving suit in the world — an 18th-century leather contraption donated by a local sea captain. Out in the Kummatti suburb, the Matti Lepistö sculpture garden is one of Finland's odder pieces of folk art, with more than 200 concrete and metal figures crowded into one steelworker's back yard.

The Rautaruukki steelworks dominate the modern economy. The town is not a major tourist destination, but the old wooden town and the sea breezes of the Bothnian coast make a stop worthwhile if you're travelling the west coast route.

Guide

Eating Out

Choices are limited but solid for a town of this size. Ravintola Raahen Hovi, in a 19th-century timber house just off Pekkatori, is the place for a proper sit-down meal — Finnish classics with a Lappish lean, reindeer fillet, perch from the gulf, the obligatory salmon soup.

Pakkahuoneenkatu has two or three cafes between the museum and the square; Café Sofia is the local pick for buns and cinnamon rolls. Pizzeria Berlusconi is the de facto pizza-and-kebab option for a cheap evening meal — every Finnish town has one, and the name is no joke.

In summer, the Old Raahe outdoor market by Pekkatori sells local fish, new potatoes, summer berries and pulla.

Guide

Getting There

Raahe is on Finland's western coastal route, 75 km south of Oulu and about 130 km north of Kokkola. The drive on the E8 takes around an hour from either direction.

There is no longer a passenger railway station in Raahe itself — the line that serves the town is used only for freight to and from the steelworks. The nearest stations with passenger services are Vihanti and Oulainen, both with a connecting bus to Raahe. Long-distance bus services run several times a day from Oulu and Kokkola.

The nearest commercial airport is at Oulu, which has direct flights from Helsinki. Once in town, the old quarter is fully walkable.

Guide

Things to Do

Raahe is a small town and the sights cluster in the well-preserved wooden old quarter — Vanha Raahe — around the central market square. The Raahe Museum, the Pekkatori square, a walk along the seafront and the eccentric Matti Lepistö sculpture garden cover most of what is here.

Guide

When to Go

Late May through August is the season. Daylight in midsummer lasts past 11pm and the temperatures are mild — 18 to 22°C on a warm day. The seafront and the old town look their best in this period; cafes set up tables outside and the harbour fills with leisure boats.

September has dark blue skies, autumn colour in the inland forests and very few tourists. October to April are cold and increasingly dark — Raahe gets only a few hours of low sunlight in December, and the harbour ice closes the port. Snow lies from late November into April. The midwinter trip rewards travellers who want frozen seascapes, snow-laden timber houses and the occasional faint aurora — but most of the museums and small attractions are closed.

The Raahe Blues festival in late July is the main event of the calendar, drawing visitors from across northern Finland and Sweden.