Enjoy the silence of Finland!

What is silence?

For me Finland means silence. Finland is silent compared to many always buzzing countries and cities around the globe.

Silence has also many stages. Silence can be sitting on a café in Helsinki and hearing only the other people talking. Silence can be very deep like inside a forest where are only me and the nature.

If you you would ask me where to find absolute silence and relaxation I’d say you should visit Finland. In Finland there are only 5,4 million people and 80 % of Finland consists of lakes and forest. Finland has been nominated as the safest country in the world for travelers (by World Economic Forum) and is known for the silence.

Here are my 5 tips for finding silence

1. Hire a cabin

I would warmly recommend you to hire a cabin in Finland. It should be located by a lake or by the sea and it should prefrably include a fireplace inside the cabin and a sauna.

Traditional Finnish summer cabin

We Finns spend our time in the summer in the cabins because there we can be closer to the nature and enjoy the silence and slow pace of life.

At the cabin you can enjoy the silence just by sitting on the pier and listening to the nature sounds. It might be quite silent: you can hear are the waves slowly hitting the shore and birds singing somewhere distant. Absolutely calming!

The cabin experience is the ultimate Finnish silence experience!

2. Get naked!

It’s the ultimate place for relaxation and silence – depending on your sauna fellows of course. To get the Finnish sauna experience note that in Finland we go to sauna naked! Yes you heard me right, naked! The best sauna experience would be in the cabin especially if you can go to the sauna alone and just listen the water hitting the rocks in the sauna stove.

3. Forest for total mind relaxation

There are many places also close to the capital of Helsinki to go to enjoy nature. Within 30 minutes by car from Helsinki there are many forest areas but the most popular one is Nuuksio national park. There you can go wandering the easy paths through the forest.

What I love to do in the summer is to go to the forest to pick up bilberries and mushrooms and just enjoy the silence. In Finland we have a law called “jokamiehenoikeus” which includes that everybody has the right to pick up berries and mushrooms in the forest.

4. Swimming in the lakes or in the sea

At the summer cabin I love to take long swims in the lake and watch the sun setting. It is very calming when I can only hear the water breaking and sometimes hear a bird called ‘kuikka’ (loon) singing.

Ready for your evening swim? 😉

Near Helsinki there are a lot of small beaching to go swimming. If you want to seek for silence go to a smaller beach and in the evening so that the most of the sunbathers have already left.

5. Perfect country for wellness

Wellness comes from words wellbeing and fitness. Wellness is multidimensional and combines together fitness, nutrition, mental dimension and activity of mind.  I see that wellness and Finland go hand in hand.

In Finland you can find pure ingredients from the nature like fish, berries and mushrooms. Mental activities like meditation in the forest is a peace for mind. Walking or even running through the forest paths combined with the silence of the nature combines a lot of things in wellness. Shortly put: if you love wellness come to Finland!

Please comment and ask, I’m eager to share more of Finland with you!