Where to stay in Marttila
The right area depends on your trip. Here's who each one suits — pick the place, then the hotel.
Marttila carries very little lodging, a small wayside municipality of Varsinais-Suomi strung along the old Hämeen Härkätie. The village centre by the Marttilan kirkko holds what few rooms there are, near the shops and the parish church, and it suits visitors who want a quiet base on the historic road through south-western Finland. Beds are scarce here.
Out across the farmland of the parish, holiday cottages and farm rooms stand among the fields, near the line of the Huovintie and the wayside monuments, a base for travellers who come for the old roads and the country churches by car. Cottages are simple. The Marttilan sakaristo, the second track of the Huovintie and the monument to the last peacetime execution lie within easy reach.
Many travellers instead sleep in the city of Turku to the west, which holds the bulk of the beds, and drive out along the ox road to Marttila for the day. Book any room ahead, for the village keeps no busy season and the beds run few in the farm country.
About Marttila
What is Marttila known for?
Marttila is known for the old Hämeen Härkätie, the historic ox road that ran from Turku to Hämeenlinna and still threads the municipality of Varsinais-Suomi in south-western Finland. The road made the village. The Marttilan kirkko marks the centre, its old Marttilan sakaristo standing with it, while a second historic track, the Huovintie, crosses the parish.
A road town through and through. The monument to the last peacetime execution in Finland keeps a darker memory of this corner of south-western Finland.
What are the main landmarks in Marttila?
The Hämeen Härkätie is the great landmark of Marttila, the historic ox road from Turku to Hämeenlinna that runs through the municipality of Varsinais-Suomi. Roads and church mark the place. The Marttilan kirkko stands at the centre with its old Marttilan sakaristo, the second track of the Huovintie crosses the parish, and the monument to the last peacetime execution in Finland and the heritage ground at Mäntsälä carry the older history of this corner of south-western Finland.
What is the history of Marttila?
Marttila grew as a wayside parish on the old roads of south-western Finland. The historic Hämeen Härkätie, the ox road from Turku to Hämeenlinna, ran through the district and carried the traffic that gave the village its life, while a second old track, the Huovintie, crossed the parish, and the older marks of settlement lingered at Mäntsälä. Roads shaped the place.
The parish gathered its life around the Marttilan kirkko, whose old Marttilan sakaristo survives from an earlier church on the same ground in this corner of Varsinais-Suomi. The village kept its memories along the road. Among them stands the monument to the last peacetime execution in Finland, a grim marker of the parish past, and Marttila held to the slow rhythm of a farming and wayside community.
The roads carried the centuries. Through the years the municipality stayed small and rural, and Marttila settled into its modern role as a wayside municipality of Varsinais-Suomi, its old ox road, its church and its monuments strung across the farmland of south-western Finland.
Where is Marttila?
Marttila lies in the farm country of inland Varsinais-Suomi, in south-western Finland, east of the city of Turku. Fields, low woods and the lines of the old roads fill the municipality, the village centre gathered by the Marttilan kirkko while the farmland spreads out on every side. The land is low and gentle.
The old Hämeen Härkätie and the Huovintie run across the parish, threading the fields and woods of this quiet corner of south-western Finland.
What is the climate of Marttila?
Marttila has a cool inland climate, set by its place in the farm country of Varsinais-Suomi. Winters are cold and snowy, the frost and snow lying over the fields and the old roads of the parish around the Marttilan kirkko from the late autumn until the spring thaw. Summers are warm and bright.
The long northern daylight ripens the grain across the level fields of this corner of south-western Finland through the short growing season, the mild summers before the cold returns to the inland country.
How do you get to Marttila?
Marttila is reached by road across the inland country of Varsinais-Suomi, east of the city of Turku. The roads follow much the same line as the old Hämeen Härkätie, carrying most traffic to the village centre by the Marttilan kirkko, and visitors come by car or bus across the farmland of south-western Finland. There is no station in the town.
Travellers from farther afield reach the region through Turku, which holds the nearest rail and air links, before driving the last stretch east along the ox road to Marttila.
Where Marttila sits
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