Travelfood

My next three articles, to honor Finnish summer, will be about my three personal favorite regions for travelling in Finland. There will be some hints about hidden gems and how to work out trips to those places. My first article will be about Somero, where we have a summer cottage. Usually Finnish summer cottages are associated with forests and lakes, but ours is not like that! We have forests and a place for swimming nearby and during autumn it is indeed enjoyable to go berry and mushroom hunting in the forests. Somero is nevertheless most known for being the best crop growing region in Finland.

So, if you wish to take a bicycle tour in the agricultural area, with silent fields by the winding road, then Somero might be your choice. In spring, the fields look fresh and green and in autumn the colors might be brown or golden. In between, during the hottest season, you might catch the brightest yellow colors you have ever seen, if you happen to do your trip during the blossoming of field mustard. One speciality of the Somero region is the cumin crop! Yes, you read correctly, the region suits well for cumin, and you might see the sun burnt plants in September just before harvesting the cumin seeds. If you buy locally baked bread in Somero, it might indeed be spiced with cumin.

One of the nicest spots in Somero is probably Häntälän notkot (in English: Häntälä hills). It is quite close to the main road between Salo and Somero. Häntälä has quite steep grass-covered hills, which has been carved deep into the soft soil by running water. It looks a bit like hills on the British countryside, so do not expect dramatic Alpine bare-rock scenery. In spring, the hills are covered by flowers and you can have a picnic up on the hill overlooking the beautiful landscape. If you are lucky, you might be surrounded by sheep or cows, because they live freely in the region during summer.

How do you reach Häntälä in Somero? If you are based in Helsinki during your holiday, you might want to rent a car or a motorcycle. Somero is 1 hrs 45 minutes from Helsinki along beautiful rural roads as soon as you drive off the motorway between Helsinki and Turku. If you wish to do the trip by bike, you may take the frequent train or the bus to Salo (right between Helsinki and Turku) and rent a bike there. From Salo it is a 25 kilometer bicycle trip (one way) north towards Somero. Häntälä is right between those. If you cycle along the main road from Salo, do not take the first Häntälä sign left (white text on black sign), but the second Häntälä sign left (white text on blue sign). You reach a school, from where there is a map with a marked path to reach the best hills. Expect a 20 minute walk along the steep hills. If you have a navigator, you might want to take one of the many smaller roads close to the main road, because they are more scenic and less trafficked. If the day is warm, and you find Nummi lake in your navigator, that is an excellent beach for a refreshing dip.

Good luck with your rural Finnish holiday!

Finland, food, Somero, travel, travel experiences