Porvoo is an old Swedish town about a 1 hour drive from Helsinki by bus. It's beautiful and is one of the very few places which has retained its Swedish culture. Most part of the town is walk-able as it's not that big and almost all of the people there can speak Swedish as well. Very peaceful and relaxed place. The traditional food is the Pie. Once can watch all the people in a locality come together and sing at the church particularly on festive days. Lot of souvenir shops and some old taverns as well. I remember, in one of the shops there was a big world map hung on a wall and lot of pins beside it which could be used by visitors to pinpoint their location in the map where they come from. It was just a day's trip for me so I couldn't get a taste of the local lifestyle and cuisine. But overall, a fascinating experience. Especially the Swedish architecture and the landscape of the town.
So this is the southern most tip of Finland. Also a Swedish town. It's even smaller and has a lot of beaches (Approx. 10). Usually there are no tourists here because there's nothing to visit here apart from the beaches and it is a very quiet town as it is sparsely populated. Some people don't speak English. Retired people usually stay here. There are very few schools (countable in fingers) and no public transport like buses and neither there are any sort of malls. Not a lot of food outlets either. People can be usually seen traveling by their own car or bicycles. I had to walk around the whole town as I had neither of them. There's only one train station. There are mostly individual houses on either side of a road lined up with trees. Very shy people. They usually don't prefer approaching random strangers and feel scared. I remember it was very hot during the summer. Although I have no absolutely no idea what people do here to pass their time. I'm guessing it's only the beaches.
