NordenBladet – This year’s summer is so loaded with life events and work that planning just a few days off with the family of four can be quite a challenge. Everyone in the family has a hectic schedule – either a secondment, a summer camp, scheduling the kids to spend time at grandparents’ home, then again the guests coming over, a theatre evening now, a concert night then – trying to make all the plans match is rather complicated! I have been web searching for information about a place suitable for a family vacation, so that everyone of us would be excited about it and so that it would also not take more that just a few days. The customary one week „summer holiday” travel was off the table due to this and hence my thoughts soon drifted towards Finland.

Finland as a holiday destination has already been often visited. However, since the country and its people are close to the heart and since crossing the Gulf is quick and easy, it wasn’t really much of a trouble to decide. „Finland… well then… but which part of the country?”, was my next question, since I hoped that my children would find it amusing and that I might also enjoy a pleasant stay in a lovely SPA …a very common wish for many a mother, I would say… Back in January when I visited a tourism fair in Finland I returned with dozens (hundreds!) of visit cards and booklets, the majority of them introducing places of interest in Finland. So there I were, browsing the materials, and voila! – NAANTALI. Precisely what I wished for at the moment, precisely what I had been looking for.

THREE main reasons why we chose Naantali this time:

#1 Very close – Naantali is only a few hours driving from Helsinki (the distance by air is 164km and 182km via E18 road. Starting off from Estonia, Tallinn, you actually need just 4-5h to reach this destination. An enormous bonus is that you can go by car – because what I really like is taking piles of luggage with me without much concern what exactly I might or might not need. Especially when we travel with children – whoever has got children certainly knows that 80% of the total luggage is usually made up of kids’ stuff. Packing this way just takes a moment – you simply heap everything in the suitcase and the car will do the rest. Besides, with the car you can take a break whenever you please, either for a toilet stop, either for taking pictures of the beautiful landscape, either for spontaneous shopping if there is an outlet, either just out of curiosity, either for a meal – you can just stop the car and take care of everything. I choose this! No distress, no restraints, convenient schedule!

#2 Children have a lot of great activities – I trust that Naantali is a good choice for a holiday, since the surrounding tourism is designed to invite children and parents alike. The travel booklet lists all ongoing events and holiday activities (see naantalinmatkailu.fi). Furthermore, there is a theme park after the writer Tove Jansson’s beloved children’s book „The Moomins”. It is supposedly this fiction theme park, the Moomin world (see muumimaailma.fi) in Naantali that attracts the most tourists. Probably just as thrilling for the youngsters is the Adventure Island Väsk (see vaski.fi), a boat trip away, and even the journey by boat to the island is already just as great an adventure for the kids. Full day card to the Moomin world is 28 euros and attending for two days in a row is 38 euros. Väsk tickets are 24 euros for each visitor (this includes the boat trip to the island and back).

#3 Luxurious style – Naantali has a most delightful five star spa hotel „Naantali SPA”, a branch of Sunborn hotels chain (see naantalispa.fi and sunbornhotels.com). I really enjoy adding a splendid luxurious style to the simple virtues of a good night’s rest. Therefore I am often extra emphasizing the hotel selection procedure. Concerning hotels – a rather modest choice can completely ruin the chances of creating a pleasant emotional foundation. Certainly there are the exceptions where precisely the somewhat crazy conditions are a part of the very agenda of the holiday… in this case I might consider a camping site, however, I would skip a snooze in a tent, since I find this more suitable for younger holidaymakers. A beautiful hotel room creates good feelings – luxurious hotels as well as edgy airports – these two are the nuances that add extra colour to the holiday experience. This particular holiday does not include the airport pass, nevertheless, the hotel is super spectacular. Naantali SPA hotel has got the biggest swimming pools and greatest sauna world, pleasing the highest expectations of kids and grown-ups. Not to mention the magnificent restaurants and the real essence of this holiday option – the charming family rooms! By the way, finding cozy family rooms in a hotel are definitely not an easy task to solve, if you don´t quite look for the president´s suite. Most hotels offer 2+1 options… thus travelling with two kids is already a lot more tricky. I wonder what would be the choices for even larger families?!

To illustrate this advantage, I copy here some of the pictures from the hotel´s home page – for example this is what the hotel is like from the outside like and here is what you can further find behind the facade: the Deluxe double room in the main building (32m²) that I have booked for three nights along with the SPA visit. As I have understood, our room has extra beds. The price for this room for three nights is 762 euros. Family ticket for the SPA (2 grown-ups plus 2 children aged between 4 and 12 years), Sun-Fri 50 euros, Sat 65 euros (complimentary for hotel residents!).

Estella Elisheva (10yrs) ja Ivanka Shoshana (8yrs) (2x on the pictures beneath) are already overwhelmed by the „travel fever”, longing for this holiday to begin. The Moomin cartoons that had been set aside have now been newly taken into the agenda, and Ivanka Shoshana seems to already have memorized the entire district map of the Moomin world from the Muumimaailma.fi webpage. Estella on the other hand seems even more keen on the Naantali SPA water park. We will see what gives the most wow-effect once we arrive. The detailed travel plan for these 4 days is still work in progress – a few other places of interest are also an absolute must! Myself – I am also already much looking for this great holiday! A pleasant little vacation can only do you good!

We are travelling to Naantali for four days in the beginning of July, I guess I´ll be posting more on this topic once we begin this journey. We will be hoping that the weather favours us!

Stay gorgeous, my darlings!