Finland Guide
Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Lapland
Vaasa
There's little reason to visit VAASA, although it's a useful stopover if you're travelling along the coast and has good travel connections with Oulu to the north and Pori to the south; there's also a little-advertised but very useful cross-country rail line connecting Vaasa directly with Jyväskylä. The lifeblood of the town is its harbour, through which the produce of southern Ostrobothnia's wheat fields is exported and the lucrative tourist traffic from Sweden arrives. Years of steady income have given the town a staid, commercial countenance, and its wide avenues (the old centre was obliterated by fire a century ago) are lined with shipping offices, consulates and a plethora of boozing venues aimed at Swedes from Umeå, who come here to get smashed.