Where to stay in Naantali
The right area depends on your trip. Here's who each one suits — pick the place, then the hotel.
Naantali draws more visitors than most towns its size, and its stock of beds runs from harbour hotels to guest rooms in the old wooden streets of Varsinais-Suomi. The old town around the Naantalin kirkko and the Naantalin luostari suits visitors who want the abbey, the harbour and the shops within an easy walk of their door. It is the prime base.
Families with children often choose rooms near the Muumimaailma theme park on its island, the town's great draw for the young, within reach of the harbour front. Beyond the centre, summer cottages and guesthouses stand around the wider municipality, a quiet base for touring the country of south-western Finland by car. Rooms cluster near the water.
Some visitors instead sleep in the nearby cities of the region and come in to Naantali for the day, drawn by the abbey and the museums of the Naantalin museo and the Naantalin taidehuone. Book well ahead in summer, when the harbour town fills and rooms go early.
Things to do in Naantali
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Haartmanin talo Heritage main house
- Naantalin museo cultural history museum
- Naantalin taidehuone contemporary art gallery and meeting space
Churches & Religious Sites
2- Naantalin luostari Heritage formey abbey
- Naantalin kirkko Heritage
Stadiums & Sports
1- Maijamäen liikuntahalli
Parks & Gardens
1- Muumimaailma theme park
worth knowingacross 4 categories in Naantali
About Naantali
What is Naantali known for?
Naantali is known for its medieval abbey and the Moomin theme park, a town of Varsinais-Suomi in south-western Finland. The Naantalin luostari grew here as a Bridgettine abbey, and the town's Naantalin kirkko was its great convent church, the heart of the old settlement. Two ages draw the visitors.
Children come for the Muumimaailma theme park on its island, while the Naantalin museo and the gallery of the Naantalin taidehuone keep the cultural life of this corner of south-western Finland.
What are the main landmarks in Naantali?
The Naantalin luostari is the founding landmark of Naantali, the Bridgettine abbey around which the town first grew in this part of Varsinais-Suomi. Its church still stands. The medieval Naantalin kirkko served the convent and crowns the old town, while the Muumimaailma theme park draws children to its island and the Haartmanin talo keeps an old town house of the harbour.
Museums fill the streets too. The Naantalin museo holds the cultural history of the town and the Naantalin taidehuone shows art in this corner of south-western Finland.
What is the history of Naantali?
Naantali's history begins with a medieval abbey. The town was chartered in 1443, growing up around the Naantalin luostari, a Bridgettine house whose monks and nuns drew pilgrims and trade to this shore of Varsinais-Suomi. Faith built the town.
Still crowning the old streets, the convent's great church, the Naantalin kirkko, is the surviving heart of the abbey that gave the place its name and its purpose in the south-west of Finland. Reformation reshaped the centuries that followed. The abbey closed but the harbour and the old wooden quarter lived on, gathering the merchant houses such as the Haartmanin talo and the collections the Naantalin museo now holds.
A new age of visitors came in the modern era. The Muumimaailma theme park rose on its island to draw families from across the land, and the Naantalin taidehuone joined the cultural life of the streets, the town settling into its modern shape as a harbour and abbey town of south-western Finland.
Where is Naantali?
Naantali lies on the coast of Varsinais-Suomi, in south-western Finland, where the mainland breaks into islands and sounds. The old town gathers on the harbour, the Muumimaailma theme park sitting on its own island just offshore, while the wider municipality spreads across the water and the shore. Sea shapes the town.
Above the harbour the Naantalin luostari and the Naantalin kirkko crown the old streets, and the islands run out beyond, the broken coastal reach of this corner of south-western Finland.
What is the climate of Naantali?
Naantali has a mild maritime climate, tempered through the year by the surrounding sea of the coast. Winters are cold but softened by the water, the harbour and the sounds of Varsinais-Suomi freezing late and the snow lighter than the inland from autumn into a slow spring thaw. Summers are mild and long-lit.
The northern daylight warms the old town and the islands around Naantali through a generous season, before the cold returns to settle over this corner of south-western Finland.
How do you get to Naantali?
Naantali is reached by road along the coast of Varsinais-Suomi. The main roads carry most of the traffic to the harbour and the old town below the Naantalin luostari, and visitors come by car or bus from the nearby cities of the region. The capital is near.
Buses link Naantali to the larger centres of south-western Finland, and travellers from farther afield reach the region through its cities and ferry ports before the short coastal drive to the harbour town.
Where Naantali sits
Boundaries © geoBoundaries (CC BY) & Wikidata (CC0); water & neighbours: Natural Earth.