Nuuksio National Park is a wonderful nature resort in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Read more about Nuuksio’s history and visit the Hawk Nest for outdoor activities.
The National Park in Nuuksio was formed in 1994 after an initiative of the local scout clubs. They had already long before visited the park on their scout trips and the common concern was that the are would at some point be subjected to heavy building pressure as the Helsinki metropolitan area was growing rapidly at the time.
Origins
The Nuuksio area was shaped in the turmoils of the last ice age some 10 000 years ago. Some archeologists assert that Nuuksio was one of the first settlements in whole of Finland, with traces of settlement beside the actual National Park are leading back to some 9000 years.
Recent history
The Nuuksio area was traditionally seen as unsuitable for farming because of its occasionally swampy terrain and uneven terrain. In addition, the thick forests were hard to penetrate and only a few settlements were build in the area as well as some summer cabins for the Helsinki elite. Nowadays there are some 3000 permanent residents in the whole area and some of the summer cabins survive to this day.
In the 1940s and 1950s the area was subjected to some forestry activity and a handful of loggers’ cabins were built to accommodate the men working in the area. Some of these logdes also survive to this day, and two of them, Oravankolo and Tikankolo, are being rented by Natura Viva for recreational purposes. For an authentic time in the forest book a cabin from us.
Today
The Nuuksio National Park is an abnormal nature site as it’s located right beside the largest urban settlement in Finland, the Helsinki metropolitan area, home to over 1 million people. Nuuksio is very easy to reach by car or by public transport from Helsinki. The National Park hosts over 300 000 visitors annually.
