NYT names Finland’s Turku as top post-pandemic travel destination

The list was put together based on reader suggestions for places that delighted, inspired and comforted them during the bleak, pandemic-disrupted year. Turku was nominated due to its proximity to nature and its long-established pulsating lifeline, River Aura.

“I fell in love with the city on my first day,” said the nominator, doctoral student Avanti Chajed. “I was walking across a bridge over the Aura River – it was sunny, and the schools hadn’t quite started yet, so there were people all along the grassy areas on the riverbank. I remember thinking, ‘I want to live here forever’.”

News of the nomination was welcomed with delight and as token of hope that better times lay ahead in Turku.

“It’s a heart-warming feeling to look forward to the future,” Lotta Bäck, the head of international marketing at Visit Turku, stated to YLE. “Turku has been through somewhat of a makeover in the past years, and we have a booming restaurant industry, as well as a wonderful archipelago for visitors wanting to explore the nature surrounding our city.”