Uusimaa (Swedish:Nyland) is a region along the coast in Southern Finland, with hundreds of islands, some big lakes and inland countryside. The Finnish capital Helsinki is in central Uusimaa.

Cities

Street in Ekenäs.

• Espoo (Esbo)
• Hanko (Hangö)
• Helsinki (Helsingfors)
• Hyvinkää (Hyvinge)
• Inkoo (Ingå)
• Järvenpää (Träskända)
• Kauniainen (Grankulla)
• Kerava (Kervo)
• Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt)
• Lohja (Lojo)
• Loviisa (Lovisa)
• Porvoo (Borgå)
• Raasepori (Raseborg)
• Sipoo (Sibbo)
• Siuntio (Sjundeå)
• Vantaa (Vanda)

Other destinations

Ainola at lake Tuusula, home of Jean Sibelius.

• Nuuksio National Park
• Ekenäs Archipelago National Park, see ekenasarchipelagonp at outdoors.fi
• The villas around lake Tuusula in Tuusula and Järvenpää, homes of several persons central to the Finnish culture in the early 20th century.

Talk

The coastal areas are traditionally Swedish speaking. The capital region has drawn much people from elsewhere, so the Swedish speaking are nowadays mostly a minority (3–9 % in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, about half in most other coastal municipalities). The inland is Finnish speaking.

Get in

If you are arriving in Finland by air or sea you will likely arrive in Helsinki, where the largest airport and several major harbors are located. All passenger airports in Finland except Lappeenranta have a flight to Helsinki (for many of them it is the only destination) and most longer train lines end in Helsinki. Direct buses connect Helsinki with all larger cities in Finland, and to get there from the smaller ones you would usually have to transfer just once. For other destinations in Uusimaa trains and buses usually stop on their way to Helsinki in cities along the route; it is for instance possible to get off in Porvoo if you're coming from east or in Järvenpää if you're coming from north – otherwise you would most likely need to transfer in Helsinki.

Get around

Again, Helsinki is the hub of the region and there are generally no form of public transportation bypassing the city. There are at least a couple of buses a day to every city and municipality in the region from Helsinki. Local trains take you north to places like Kerava, Järvenpää, Mäntsälä and Hyvinkää and west to Kirkkonummi, Siuntio and Raseborg.

See

• Raseborg medieval castle ruins
• Suomenlinna fortress outside Helsinki
• The old town of Porvoo
• Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa
• Finnish railway museum in Hyvinkää
• WW2 sites along the coast between Helsinki and Hanko

Do

Torsö island in Raseborg.

• Enjoy Blues music at Europe's largest blues festival Puistoblues in Järvenpää
• Take a brief tour out in the Finnish nature at Nuuksio National Park in Espoo or at the Uutela trail in Eastern Helsinki
• Have fun at Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki
• Go down into the limestone cave of Torhola in Lohja
• Go skiing at Vihti ski center
• Go on a guided fishing trip
• Take a tour in the archipelago, e.g. with s/s Runeberg from Helsinki to Porvoo or with some other boat to a recreational area in an island
• Charter a sailing boat (or rent kayaks) and cruise the archipelago
• Watch birds at Tulludden in Hankoo, the southernmost tip of mainland Finland.

Recreation areas

Uusimaa coast is relatively densely populated and large areas along the shore are privately owned, so sometimes visitors can struggle to find a place for recreational use.

In Uusimaa region the Association of recreation areas (sv: Föreningen Nylands friluftsområden, fi:Uudenmaan virkistysalueyhdistys) buys and leases scenic areas that are suitable for outdoor and recreational use. These areas are often located at the coast (as well as islands) and are free to use for camping, BBQing, canoeing, mushroom and berry picking, swimming and other activities under everyman's right (fi:jokamiehenoikeus).

The list of the areas can be found at the Association's web page (in Finnish and Swedish only).