Discover Tampere

About Tampere

Tampere is Finland's quietly cool second city — a former Nordic Manchester whose 19th-century textile factories and tall red-brick chimneys still define the skyline, but whose interiors have been imaginatively converted into museums, theatres, breweries, restaurants, and design hubs. The setting is genuinely beautiful: Tampere sits on the narrow isthmus between two lakes (Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi) with the Tammerkoski rapids running straight through the city centre, the brick mill buildings of Finlayson and Tampella lining its banks. The headline attractions in the converted factories include the Moomin Museum (the only museum dedicated to Tove Jansson's beloved trolls), the V1 Spy Museum, and the unsettlingly excellent Lenin Museum — set in the actual rooms where Lenin and Stalin first met in 1905. Climb the 168m Näsinneula observation tower (Finland's tallest free-standing structure when built in 1971) for views over the whole region, ride the rebuilt Näsinneula amusement rides at Särkänniemi, or follow the locals to the Rajaportin public sauna — the oldest still-operating sauna in Finland, established 1906.