Locals recommend

Kebab-pizzeria Cente
I became very familiar with this place during the Miss Ylöjärvi Tour, when I went there to eat with the other contestants.

Teivo Trotting Centre
A place that offers great experiences, warm customer service and good food.

Seitseminen National Park
Ylöjärvi boasts a range of good outdoor opportunities. In Seitseminen National Park, for example, there are beautiful views and lots of easy, clearly signposted routes

Lake Karhejärvi
Spend a summer day on Lake Karhejärvi: rent a kayak from Karhepääsky and cycle the Posti-Hilma route.

Lake Näsijärvi’s shores and islands
Paddle among the islands of Lake Näsijärvi and spend a night in one of them, or walk on lakeside cliffs in Siivikkala to experience nature first hand. For a perfect end to your summer evening, try the public sauna on Peronsaari Island.

Kaupunkijazz (‘City Jazz’)
This is the time of year when the Town Hall square is bustling with life. Top Finnish performers crown it all.

Räikkä Sports Field
Perfect conditions for all kinds of outdoor exercises. The renovated field has been a really nice place for keeping in shape with various exercises.

Sippuran Siipibaar
Tasty wings with a sauce by Siipiweikot. In summer, it’s nice to eat on the terrace.

Floodlit jogging trail in Veittijärvi
I’m so glad we got new lights here for joggers to enjoy! I run this trail at least twice a week.

Seitseminen National Park
Wonderful nature and great outdoor opportunities.

Kuusela beach
A beautiful beach – and gorgeous lake – for sunbathing, swimming and picnicking.

UnelmaKahvila
The Parish of Ylöjärvi’s café (formerly known as Unelmatupa), where you can find all sorts of goodies and a gift shop. Run by volunteers, the proceeds from the café go to charity, i.e. missionary work.

Seitseminen
The wonderful scenery of Seitseminen National Park offers visitors great nature experiences all year round. Seitseminen is an outdoor recreation destination for the whole family that is well worth visiting, also from further away.

Haveri Holiday Village
Built in a beautiful setting by Lake Kyrösjärvi, Haveri Holiday Village provides high-quality accommodation for holidaymakers. The services of Viljakkala are also very close to Haveri.

Pikku-Ahvenisto
Pikku-Ahvenisto has an old building completed in the early 1900s that exudes an atmosphere of tradition and dignity. It can be rented for private occasions. The nearby nature trail with its campfire sites and lean-to shelters is also a great destination.

Ylöjärvi Library
Ylöjärvi Library offers excellent services and a wide range of items to borrow as well as interesting exhibitions.

Wake Valley
A great recreational destination for spending a summer day. The activities include beach volley, stand-up paddleboarding, wakeboarding, spacious saunas and outdoor tubs, and swimming in the warm-water lake. Wake Valley also has large lawn areas for enjoying summer activities alone or with others, and it offers accommodation as well.

Haveri Gold Mine
A lakeside destination rich in tradition by Lake Kyrösjärvi that boasts a restaurant and cabin village, opportunities for exercise and games, a child-friendly beach, diving, and other summer activities for holidaymakers.

Riuttaskorpi Recreational Forest
A peaceful area between Seitseminen and Helvetinjärvi National Parks where you can find varied scenery, murmuring brooks and forest ponds. I especially like the Haukijärvi cooking shelter.

Pitkäjärvi Hut in Seitseminen
This old logging hut is one of the finest of its kind in Finland. Started during the war and completed during the interwar year of 1940–1941, the building is a reminder of the age of large logging sites that gave a boost to the country’s economic growth.

Niemikylä quarries and Lamminsalmi press roll mill
Quarrying is still part of the local economy, and Kuru Grey Granite is quarried for use at the base of the Tampere tramline, for example. Niemikylä has some fine old quarries that you can visit if you first get permission from the local company, Tampereen Kovakivi Oy. The now defunct press roll mill in Lamminsalmi represents cutting-edge technology from the 1960s and 1970s, when Finnish paper machines round the world were fitted with a roll made of Kuru Grey Granite to press the hot and wet pulp. These destinations are ideal for school groups.

Kirstinkammari
A place that has something new to catch your eye wherever you look. Dating back over 100 years, this old croft and its yard have a distinctive beauty that will take your breath away. Here, even rust is the most beautiful thing in the world, and an unhinged door has its purpose.

Local food network REKO
Through REKO (Ylöjärven lähiruokarengas REKO), you can buy products such as summer berries, the best steak meats, or fresh root vegetables. The atmosphere sometimes brings to mind a European food market, but everything is guaranteed to be local.

Teivo steps
Even though Pispala in Tampere has 310 steps and Teivo 161, we can be proud of our popular stair workout spot. There’s also an outdoor gym at the top of the steps. Remember to catch your breath!

Pöheikön Pölläys Music Festival
Great performers and a one-of-a-kind festival atmosphere every year. It’s simultaneously cosy and well-organised. Also suitable for older people.

Wake Valley
A fantastic place for spending a summer day with family or friends. A unique, relaxed and international atmosphere.

Seitseminen National Park
The mind and soul rest in the magnificent scenery of Seitseminen. There are many alternative routes that can be explored by the whole family.

Moision Kuntokellari fitness centre
A small and welcoming place! You can come as you are, no one cares what you’re wearing. Great people, skilled instructors and guaranteed sweat. You’ll see results, feel refreshed and your body will thank you.

Eppu Normaali sculpture
Different lighting and seasons bring out new aspects of the Alamökki sculpture. The band has more than earned this tribute. Over their 40-plus-year career, they’ve put Ylöjärvi on the rock’n’roll map of Finland.

Siivikkala Beach
Our nearest beach where we’ve gone swimming with our son for many summers. A nice, child-friendly beach, and the best part is our own little tradition: stopping at the ice-cream stall on the beach on our way home.

Sailing on Lake Näsijärvi
One of the best inland waters in Finland for sailing. The strong winds of this ‘little sea’ guarantee good waves.

Ylöjärvi Library
Leija Library always has what you’re looking for. This piece of contemporary architecture provides access to a wealth of reading experiences.

Aku’s Factory
One of the best places in Finland for singing. A brilliant studio and highly professional staff. Everyone in this field knows Aku’s Factory.

Veittijärvi
A nearby destination just a walking distance away from the centre of Ylöjärvi. In summer 2019, nature trail boards will be installed along the lakeside path, describing the many uses of various tree species over more than one hundred years, from the treatment of scurvy to the lowering of cholesterol.

Petäjäjärvi
For those who want to see unspoilt nature, Petäjäjärvi Nature Reserve, some 10 kilometres from Kuru towards Parkano, is a perfect day-trip destination. This is the largest area of old-growth forest in Ylöjärvi, and it has many great paths, although they are no longer maintained. The extensive mosaic of forests, mires and lakes offers stunning scenery, and there’s a diverse population of birds that inhabit the wilderness.

Isoneva-Raitakulonneva
Isoneva-Raitakulonneva Nature Reserve, at the border of Ylöjärvi and Virrat, is a perfect choice for overnight trips if you’re after serenity and bog experiences. Having made your way through the bog and feasted on berries, you can spend the night in a wilderness cabin for rent by Kaakkolammi.

Teivo Esker
A beautiful walking trail, ideal for small walks.

Pimeesalmi Harbour
This gem of Lempiäniemi offers a genuine harbour ambience. A great place for eating out and enjoying live music.

Pikku-Ahvenisto
The main building of Pikku-Ahvenisto has an intriguing history, and the lakeside nature trail is ideal for nature excursions. There’s a lovely, family-friendly site by the lake for cooking sausages on a campfire.

Lake Keijärvi
Ylöjärvi’s very own lake for recreation and relaxation in the middle of the village. The best part is that people only use manpower and the forces of nature to move about the lake – not any roaring motorised devices.

Pengonpohja Church (prayer room)
Over 100 years old, this church has the cosiest atmosphere in the world during Christmas services.

Veittijärvi Sauna maintained by ice swimmers
This is the best place for ice swimming in Ylöjärvi, and I regularly take my foreign guests here. After all, sauna and ice swimming in a beautiful environment is an essential introduction to Finnish culture.

Ylöjärvi Sports Centre
A superb place for sports where you can play many ball games and go to the gym and group exercise classes at Fressi Wellness Centre.

Miss Ada
A lovely, cosy restaurant that favours local producers.

Pimeesalmi Harbour
A nice destination for trips where you can also do stand-up paddleboarding.

Ylöjärvi Church
Ylöjärvi Church is located in the middle of the village. You can come to the church just as you are.

Miss Ada Bistro & Cafe
A new intimate rendezvous for dropping in for a bite or drink and having a lovely time alone, with friends or the whole family.

Räikkä Sports Field
The renovation of Räikkä Sports Field was completed last year, and now it offers an excellent setting for exercise and competitive sports. Anyone can use the field free of charge if there are no competitions or other events for which an advance reservation has been made.

Soljanen mires
One of the few places in Finland where disabled people can also explore unspoilt Finnish mires in all seasons. An easy-to-reach destination within Seitseminen National Park that has a cooking shelter, a 700-metre-long walking bridge built over the mire, and an observation platform by Kirkas-Soljanen. An ideal destination for day trips where you can also see and hear the black-throated diver.

Lake Aurejärvi
This is where the River Kokemäenjoki begins. A lake with little vegetation that brings to mind Lapland, and a popular place for recreational fishing. Two boat launch sites, and a public beach in Suolahti.

Haukanhieta
Haukanhieta in Helvetinjärvi National Park is the starting point of an old log-driving route. This beach stretching nearly one kilometre offers unique views of the clear-watered Lake Haukkajärvi. Descending gently into the lake, the beach is also ideal for families with children. There’s a cooking shelter, campfire site and well. Signposted trails lead to, for example, Helvetinkolu.

Kovero Crown Tenant Farm
At the Kovero Farm, in Seitseminen National Park, you can see how people lived in the olden days and how wonderful traditional farm houses are.

Suojärvi Chocolate Farm
The farm shop sells treats that you won’t find anywhere else.

A drive around Lake Näsijärvi
It’s great to drive through the lovely countryside. Stop at the Murole Canal for refreshments.

Hiking route from Teivo to Julkujärvi
Running on top of the esker, this route takes you to a world of old, thick-barked pine trees and wild thyme – it’s wonderful to walk on a ridge that is part of a geological formation extending all the way from Hollola to Kankaanpää.

Kuru church boat
Church boat Kapee, anchored in the yard of Kuru Church, still retains memories of the waves from a hundred years ago, when there were no cars or asphalt roads for churchgoers to use.

Riuttaskorpi Recreational Forest
Between Seitseminen and Helvetinjärvi National Parks, you can find Riuttaskorpi, an ‘ecological stepping stone’ that offers glimpses of what it was like in a wilderness in times past.

Dynaset Offroad Areena
Finland’s best indoor motocross track. A child-friendly surface – thanks to which you can jump high even at low speeds.

Metsäkylä sandpits
The best ski slopes in Ylöjärvi – small and large slopes and high jumps. Big slopes for sledging!

Julkujärvi Outdoor Recreation Area and lean-to shelter at Pikku-Ahvenisto
Perfect for riding a bike in the forest. Good opportunities for taking breaks and playing.

Ylöjärvi Market
A true summer opening in Ylöjärvi, attracting up to 10,000 visitors to the area of Shopping Centre Elo.

Kuru Market
A popular, lively summer event with a distinctive atmosphere.

Ylöjärvi Church
Built in 1850, the beautiful Ylöjärvi Church in the centre of the town is the perfect place for taking a break from the day.

Ylöjärvenharju Outdoor Recreation Area
A beautiful esker formed during the Ice Age, suitable for both summer and winter sports. To top it off, the views are magnificent. I would especially like to recommend Pikku-Ahvenisto.

Kuusela Beach
This is a clean, peaceful beach in a great spot where I used to go as a child – and still go. In summer, there’s also a kiosk/restaurant.

Seitseminen National Park
A unique place for those who love hiking and the outdoors. You can spend the night in a cabin, wander around, connect with nature and see rare animals.