Näsi, Porvoo — Area Guide & Where to Stay

This is where Porvoo keeps its sights. Porvoon tuomiokirkko crowns the quarter from the slope of Iso Linnamäki, and the lanes below gather Vanha raatihuone with the Porvoon museo inside it, the poet's house of Runebergin koti, and the doll and toy collection of Porvoon nukke- ja lelumuseo. Walter Runebergin sculptures stand near.

The Vapaudenpatsas monument and the wooden Holmin talo round out a quarter that carries far more of Porvoo's heritage than any other corner of Uusimaa.

The old town grew here. Porvoo took shape on this south-western slope below Iso Linnamäki, where merchants raised their wharves on the river and the medieval church that became Porvoon tuomiokirkko rose over the lanes that still wind through the quarter. The poet Runeberg lived here.

His house, kept as Runebergin koti, and the burghers' Vanha raatihuone fix the centuries that made Näsi the historic heart of Porvoo and the most storied corner of this river town in southern Finland.

Näsi holds the south-western core of Porvoo. The cobbled lanes climb the slope from the riverside up to the ridge of Iso Linnamäki, the high ground that anchors this oldest quarter of Uusimaa above the water. The cathedral crowns it.

From the heights of Näsi the rooftops fall away toward the river and the newer quarters of Porvoo such as Stadshagen, all part of the old river town in southern Finland.