Help Me Decide: Archipelago vs Lakeland in Summer
Looking for some advice on an upcoming Summer 2025 trip. My wife and I are visiting Finland for the first time with our two kids (3 and 6) and after we spend a couple of nights in Helsinki getting our bearings we want to spend 4 nights in a cabin and get the Mokki experience. We found two places we really like but in totally different regions. I’ll just refer to them as:
1) Archipelago: Seaside cabin about 20 minutes drive from Naantali
2) Lakeland: Lakeside cabin about 20 min north of Heinola
My question is— where would you stay as a first time visitor to Finland? What would be the better experience? Both places are on the water, have saunas, etc. Both places are within a 2-2.5 hour drive from Helsinki (we don’t want a huge drive with 2 kids).
I am leaning towards the Archipelago cabin as it offers the opportunity to see Naantali and also Turku but I am so unfamiliar with what Finland has to offer I wanted to ask what you all think.
For background, we grew up in the US state of Minnesota where everyone goes “Up North” to their cabins and lake houses in the summer to relax. In fact, many of the photos I see of the lakes in Finland remind me very much of Minnesota. Also, we don’t need a million tourist attractions or activities… just nice scenery, access to the water and some peace and quiet. Thanks for any input.