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What to do and where to go with children during autumn break? Small Finland's travel tip map has plenty of suggestions for autumn break all around Finland, as well as many ideas for day trips. This article brings together the favorites of Small Finland's team as ideas for what to do and where to go during autumn break 2025 with children.
The article's cover image is from the Pumpkin Park in Salo.
What is Small Finland?
Small Finland is a travel website designed for families with children, offering tips for those traveling with kids in Finland. Small Finland differs from traditional travel websites because every travel tip that ends up on the site has been recommended by someone else who travels with children. The site has collected an impressive over 1000 travel tips from 2020-2025 around Finland, and only destinations and tips suitable for children have made it into the map service. Thanks to the co-developed service, it includes many unique destinations and experiences that you only hear about through other travelers. The greatest thanks for developing the service goes to hundreds of tip contributors!
Small Finland’s travel tips can be browsed on the map, which makes planning your route easy. When location is enabled on the map, you can see what places others have recommended in your area. The journey doesn’t have to be long, as wonderful places can be found almost in your backyard. Small Finland also recommends taking day trips!
Finland's Best Playgrounds
Autumn break is a great time to spend time in playgrounds and try out new play areas!
- All Helsinki playground tips can be found behind this link.
- Kerava: Aurinkomäki Park playground surprises with its uniqueness.
- Lahti; Launee Family Park is a large playground area with activities for all ages!
- Tammisaari: Lion Park right by the sea is an imaginative and unique fenced play area.
- Raasepori: Fiskars Mill Playground is a lovely complex in the middle of a charming village.
- Salo: Family Park Playground is a surprisingly large and versatile play area where you can stop by while visiting the Pumpkin Park.
- Turku: Kupittaa Adventure Park is a classic that surprises every time! The Children's Culture Center Färi operating in the adventure park also offers supervised activities during the autumn break week.
Mannerheim Park playground opened in its renovated form in summer 2024. - Tampere: Pikku Kakkonen Playground is a classic where you can see characters familiar from TV. This once wonderful playground has unfortunately seen better days.
- Pori: Pelle Hermann Playground is a large and versatile play area.
- Jyväskylä: Mäki-Matti Family Park is a great complex for small and slightly older children.
- Savonlinna: Pikku Kakkonen Playground is a classic full of characters familiar from TV.
- Kotka: Katarina Sea Park and many different playgrounds are worth visiting. Do you dare climb the Moomin house?
opened in autumn 2024.
Moomin-themed playgrounds can be found at least at Katarina Sea Park in Kotka, in Porvoo city center, in Inkoo city center, and at Keskinen Village Shop in Turku.
Ideas for Autumn Break with Children in Larger Cities
Small Finland has over 1000 reasons to travel with children in Finland! Check out more destinations and detailed information from Small Finland's map.
Helsinki: Tips for spending autumn break in Helsinki can be found in Small Helsinki!
Tampere: Police Museum, Museum Center Vapriikki, Pikku Kakkonen Playground and Pyynikki Observation Tower's café and the nature surrounding it.
Kotka: Katarina Sea Park, Sapokka Water Park (where you can see large fish swimming in the pond!), Seacenter Vellamo and Maretarium, Haukkavuori Observation Tower and Langinkoski. The Moomins have conquered Seacenter Vellamo!
Turku: Adventure Park, Turku Castle, Forum Marinum, Funicular, Aboa Vetus Ars Nova and Turku Main Library.
Read more from Small Helsinki's theme article!
Pori: Yyteri as a magnificent nature destination and Pelle Hermann Playground.
Oulu: Hupisaari City Park and North Ostrobothnia Museum.
Kuopio: Kuopio Museum and Sammakkolahti Playground.
Rovaniemi: Science Center Pilke and Angry Birds Playground
Hämeenlinna: Aulanko, Hämeenlinna and Hämeensaari playground.
Events and Activities for Autumn Break Week Around Finland
Helsinki: Autumn break week events in Helsinki can be found in Small Helsinki.
Espoo: Autumn break week activities in Espoo.
Klaukkala: Ali-Olli's Alpaca Farm in Klaukkala is open for part of the autumn break week. Entrance fee applies.
Turku: Children's Culture Center Färi at Kupittaa Adventure Park offers supervised activities during autumn break week. A small participation fee applies to some events.
Kemiönsaari: Autumn Break at Sagalund Monday to Friday 13.-17.10.2025, 10am-3pm. Small entrance fee.
Museums have plenty to do and experience with children during autumn break week too!
Small Finland has over a hundred museum tips suitable for children all around Finland!
Go swimming at a new pool or spa!
Small Finland has many new swimming location tips, also suitable for autumn, all around Finland!
Salo: Coast Garden's Pumpkin Park
A unique Halloween-themed experience is available in the fields of Halikko when Coast Garden organizes the Pumpkin Park event 10.-26.10.2025, which has already become a tradition. The park is at its most beautiful in the dark, but it's also a wonderful experience in the daylight, especially with younger children. The event ends on 26.10.2025 at 8pm with fireworks. Free admission, various pumpkin delicacies and pumpkins from the garden for sale, as well as ready-made pumpkin lanterns.
Small Finland's notes: The event fills the small streets of Halikko and parking lots, and it gets crowded, especially as dusk falls. It's good to pay careful attention to signs and use only official parking areas or free transportation from Salo city center. The event is mostly in a field, so for example boots are a good choice of footwear. The place is wonderful even during daylight hours if you want to avoid the worst crowds.
Tip for Salo: Near Salo city center you'll find Family Park Playground, which is a nice and versatile play area!
Kotka: Moomins and the World's Largest Toilet Bowl at Seacenter Vellamo
Kotka offers wonderful parks, a pleasant atmosphere, roaring rapids and history at Langinkoski, and great museum experiences at Seacenter Vellamo. The city is a nice destination even for a day trip from the capital region!
The Kymenlaakso Museum's Mikä-mikä-city exhibition at Seacenter Vellamo pleasantly surprised us and took us on an adventure and play in play-Kotka! In the museum's exhibition, people of all ages can engage in play in the city. There's a gigantic toilet bowl – which is actually a slide, permission to play with elevators and meet neighbors, sit in the town square for coffee with a possum, drive a tractor, steer a ship and build houses, just like in the adult world. But playfully. A well-executed exhibition is a ten-point experience and made truly on the terms of the little ones. It was easy to enjoy yourself here. In an adjacent space you can learn about Kymenlaakso's forest industry and operate a paper machine. The journey of drawing paper from wood to finished product is surprisingly interesting.
Courage, Love, Freedom! Moomin Adventure exhibition literally takes you into the world of Moomins and to play in Moominvalley. Peeking at the stories of Moomin characters, jumping on rocks by the shore, performing on a theater stage and visiting a tiny Moomin house. The exhibition also reveals what's in Moominmamma's handbag. A visual exhibition built around play is partly the same that was briefly on display at the National Museum before corona closures. A nice package!
Seacenter Vellamo's main exhibition is closed for new construction, but you can learn about museum ships and the history of maritime security. The exhibitions continue also to the seacenter's courtyard area, which has much to see. In the museum's outer building you can see, for example, the Kultaranta II vessel, which served Finnish presidents from Relander to Kekkonen. And best of all, you can also climb onto the roof of Seacenter Vellamo and survey Kotka's maritime landscapes and ships!
All exhibitions at Seacenter Vellamo are accessible with a single paid museum ticket, and combined tickets to museum ships are also available. Children under 18 enter the museum for free. Note that Seacenter Vellamo is closed on Mondays!
A trip to Kotka is perfect for small Moomin fans, when you combine a visit to Seacenter Vellamo's Moomin-themed exhibition with a visit to Katarina Sea Park, which has an excellent Moomin playground. Katarina Sea Park is otherwise worth visiting, as are for example Sapokka Water Park and the Langinkoski area. The city center area also has many nice playgrounds.
Tips for autumn break week offered by:
