Europe
Finland
About
The world’s happiest country also disc golfs more than anywhere else on this planet. The land of the midnight sun in summer, you’ll find plenty of saunas with forests and lakes as far as the eye can see.
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Why Visit?
Finland is disc golf utopia. Where else can you play some of the world’s premium courses concentrated among beautiful Scandinavian landscapes. Aside from more than 1100 disc golf courses to choose from, you’ll see why outdoor adventures generally are a way of life year-round in Suomi. There are four major regions of Finland to explore starting with the Greater Helsinki area, the coast and the archipelago regions, Lakeland and up and above the Arctic Circle in Lapland. Getting around Finland is easy by train but getting to some of the must-play disc golf courses will likely require a car because, like many great courses around the world, they’re usually in places hard to reach by buses or trains. The land of a thousand lakes won’t disappoint. In summer join the locals for a lake dip to cool off then enjoy a sauna afterwards. Sample some of the local produce, from Roach Buns in the Aland Islands to Reindeer stew in Lapland. The country is mostly flat so it’s perfect for cycling and has many hiking trails in Finland’s national parks to tackle as well.
Things to Do
Helsinki is the perfect place to start a Finnish journey with its clean modern but cool vibes as you navigate easily around the central city. Head out onto the water for a sea tour to explore. The Finns have great random sculptures, try the Sibelius Monument celebrating the Finnish composer or the urinating statue Bad Bad Boy, which you can see if you’re heading down to the Port to catch a cruise ferry across the Baltic Sea. And there’s the massive sea fortress in Helsinki, Suomenlinna that’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the coast and the archipelagos, the Swedish-speaking autonomous region Aland Islands has the world’s largest disc golf park with plenty of cycling and trails and great kayaking. The Kotka-Hamina archipelago has sea kayaking circuits that run between uninhabited islands or explore the ancient fishing village of Porvoo with its iconic red merchant houses. There are millions of saunas in Finland, most apartments and houses have them but why not try the world’s largest smoke sauna, built underground in the old fishing village of Herrankukkaro. No one ever said the Finns were boring and every year the Air Guitar World Championships are held in Oulu to celebrate the masters of invisible instruments. The Futuro House was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in the late 60s and remnants of them are found all over the world. You can see the the very first prototype of these UFO saucer-like homes in Espoo - Finland’s second largest city behind the capital Helsinki. Further north you can explore the medieval castle Olavinlinna or St Olaf’s castle where open air opera is staged during the summer months from June-August. Lapland is a winter wonderland that becomes popular for chasing the Northern Lights or staying in glass igloos where you can watch the lights from your room. In summer, it means you can play disc golf for almost the entire day with the midnight sun. In Rovaniemi, you can visit Santa Claus’s main post office in the Arctic Circle which receives thousands of letters every year as long as they’re addressed to ‘Santa’.
Where to Play
Let’s begin with some staggering statistics. In a country of 5.6 million people, roughly 4% of the population play disc golf and according to the Finns, almost everyone lives 6km or nearly four miles from a course. They’re mad for disc golf with the highest ratio of courses to people in the world. No surprises the Finns feature among the top professional players in both the mens and womens divisions. So, it’s a safe bet you’re going to be playing some of the world’s best disc golf while you’re travelling through Finland and most of the good courses are in the bottom half of the country.
We'll highlight four amazing Finnish courses that are the country’s best and feature on the world’s top list too. The consistently ranked number one course in Finland is Kippis Pro DiscGolfPark in Heinola. Reviews online gush over this course. 'Disc Golf Heaven' according to one review, while many say it earns its ranking and then some. This course has multiple layouts, a kids course and great teepads as well as good signage. A private Sipoo course, Sibbe Disc Golf isn’t far out of Helsinki and ranks as number two in the country, and among the world’s best. It requires booking and a fee with reviews citing a well-maintained property, multiple layouts, great views and plenty of facilities on site or nearby including a disc shop, cafe and restaurant. The largest city in the Lakeland area of Finland is Kuopio and where you’ll find the scenic Puijo Disc Golf which has part open, part forested and some elevation changes to test your game. Finally, a course that featured in the first Professional World Disc Golf Championships to be held outside the United States, Tampere Disc Golf. It’s a mostly forested course, with small elevation changes and has a large stocked disc golf store on site.
