I visited the ‘happiest country in the world’ where nostalgic series is set | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

With the cleanest air in the world, island communities so safe that no-one needs to lock their doors, summers where the sun never sets and more saunas than cars, there’s much more to Finland than Lapland and Santa Claus. However, their culture of understated modesty means the Finns would never brag about all the reasons their lake and forest-filled wonderland has been declared the “happiest country in the world”.

Instead, I’m spilling the beans myself and revealing all about the mid-summer journey I took to Europe’s most underrated location, the East Coast of Finland, where I met everyone from a professional footballer to a 13th-generation count. The little-known hotspot even inspired one of Britain’s best-loved nostalgic TV series. If you’ve ever watched the Moomins on TV or read your kids the iconic stories, you’ll recognise that entering Pellinge is like stepping straight into a fairytale from one of author Tove Jansson’s colourful picture books – and we did exactly that soon after stepping off the plane.

The Island Riddles resembles an outdoor escape game set in paradise, with its series of brain-teaser questions and clues leading you and your family on a private hiking trail through the deserted “Moomin forest” and to the site of the same idyllic beaches where the author holidayed as a child. Props are everywhere to provide clues, from a red umbrella hanging off a tree to a set of mysterious post-boxes hidden deep in the forest – and completion of the game is rewarded by a spectacular clifftop view of the Gulf of Finland. We savoured a refreshing bottle of sweet blueberry juice at the summit – Finland’s unofficial national drink, which is also served for free on FinnAir flights in unlimited quantities and produced using 100% renewable energy.

This nature scene was just an hour and a half’s drive from Helsinki airport, and moments after finishing the trail, we were tucking into the region’s world-class seafood at Pellinge Marina’s Archipelago Boutique Resort.

Finland has more islands than almost anywhere else in the world, with nearly 179,000 – but you can be sure that this is one of its very best. Moomins author Tove Jansson spent almost 30 summers in a row on a rocky islet next to Pellinge, and her experiences inspired a novel, The Summer Book, which will come to UK cinema screens later in 2025 with footage shot on the island.

Back in Tove’s day, it was deserted with no electricity or running water, but nowadays it couldn’t be fancier, with a luxury hotel boasting huge sea view rooms and access to a private beach.

That said, the most important elements are present in both scenarios – the feel-good factor of life by the sea. There’s a beach sauna, a rooftop swimming pool and even a helipad for those seeking the ultimate luxury – arriving at the island by helicopter.

Converted from a cave that featured in Tove’s books, huge slabs of a rare type of rock found nowhere else in Europe adorn the building.

We started our feast there with Skagen toast, topped with hand-peeled shrimps and melt-in-the-mouth pearly beads of salmon roe, followed by a fresh catch of the day from nearby waters, and concluded with a rose meringue, rhubarb, raspberry and white chocolate mousse.

While I sipped my dessert wine, made from wild blueberries handpicked in the forest, it might have been 10pm but the long hours of sunlight lit up the sea like a flame while swans bobbed up and down.

Our next step was Porvoo, a medieval town with cobblestone streets dating back to the 1300s and colourful wooden houses that have been left untouched for centuries.

Here, there’s another waft of the pure air Finland is renowned for, with nothing more than pine trees, lavender, flowers and the town’s freshly baked signature cinnamon buns to fragrance it.

It might not be a household name in Britain, but Porvoo has become a favourite in celebrity circles, with Hollywood actor Mel Gibson recently taking a private visit there, and Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise venturing to the region to buy a boat.

However, on our walking tour, it was Finland’s celebrities of days gone by who were a huge talking point, from one of the first ever female photographers in the country to the first woman ever to build her own maternity hospital at the age of 32.

More recently, the town has also achieved its first ever Michelin star, thanks to Honkala restaurant – a tiny yellow wooden house hidden among the tall trees of the forest.

Sitting on the terrace outside, we devoured scrumptious Skagen salad and blueberry cake before heading to another unique experience – a sauna retreat partially carved into the rock.

The Finns literally invented the sauna, way back in 7000BC – and in excruciating winter temperatures that can plummet to -25C, it’s little surprise that locals find solace in 60C steam.

However, it’s just as popular in the more welcome heat of summer, thanks to the cold outdoor pool at the sauna, Kannonnokka, and it’s possible to spend hours alternating between hot and cold.

However, the hot-to-cold phenonemon is also reflected in their one-of-a-kind food: venturing into a wooden cabin beside the sauna, I watched our host heat up crispy pancakes on an open fire, before pairing with them a dollop of freezing cold ice cream.

The combination, both touching each other on the same plate, might sound absolutely crazy on paper, but it genuinely works – and despite being sceptical at first, I was soon asking for second helpings.

I was amazed again at dinnertime, when we headed back to Porvoo to visit Fryysarinranta, a restaurant in a red-ochre warehouse by the river specialising in snails.

The theme is taken to extremes, as not only did we scoff the signature dish – snails in garlic butter and blue cheese sauce – but we spotted pet snails in a jar by the counter, which our waitress insisted will never be eaten, as well as a quirky mini-shop selling snail shells and even snail slime face cream, billed as a beauty treatment.

The food didn’t disappoint – and even vegans wouldn’t be at a loss for what to eat here, as intriguing-sounding dishes like pine cones in sugar are on the menu as well.

I stayed overnight in the centrally-located bright yellow Runo hotel, which takes its name from the Finnish word for poem and, with a 24/7 art exhibition within its walls, has been rated among the top 25 art hotels in the world.

The owner values a cosy family experience, rather than flashy but soulless service, so the breakfast bread is freshly baked on the premises each day and the wooden tables were made using trees from his own grandparents’ manor house.

There are also jazz sauna events here in summer, where guests can listen to the band on the terrace and then heat up in the sauna, or vice versa.

The next morning, a short 25-minute drive took us to the charming town of Loviisa, where we satiated our thirst at Café Tuhat Tuskaa, drinking from exquisite retro floral china tea sets and snacking on fragrant cinnamon buns.

During the summertime, Finns with intriguing stories to tell open up their houses to tourists, so we found ourselves meeting a former diver whose home is filled with his underwater finds.

Now 75, he has lived in the same house all his life, and during its renovation, he found centuries-old layers of wallpaper which he has kept and stashed above a vintage stove.

From 1950s shoes to an 1800s saucepan, he had plenty of memorabilia, while another local, whose husband was a famous actor in the National Theatre of Helsinki, showed off a home that was an art and design lover’s paradise.

After that, we headed to Malmgård Manor – a huge country retreat which looked like it had come straight from a Downton Abbey film set – and were greeted personally by a count.

He rolled out the red carpet for us – quite literally, as he has one on hand for his guests – and took us on a tour of the 52-room mansion, complete with taxidermy animals and Italian chandeliers.

Then we headed down to his brewery, where half a million litres of beer are created each year, for a tasting – but it was the sweet apple wine that tickled my taste-buds the most.

Moments later, we got back on the road and headed to the well-preserved centuries-old Stromfors Iron Works, on a picturesque fork of the Kymijoki River – and the village giftshop impressed me with a shot of a rose petal and chilli juice drink like nothing I’d ever drunk before.

Later, we arrived in the island city of Kotka, barely more than an hour away from both Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and the Russian border.

Here, we were surrounded by all things Moomins, from the brand new immersive exhibition at the Maritime Centre Vellamo to the secret Fairytale Panorama Mural created by Moomins author Tove Jansson (the tourist board can fill you in on the exact location of this) and the equally fairytale like Sapokka Water Garden, with its gently cascading waterfall.

A must while here is to boat around the archipelago, including the tiny, picturesque and almost deserted island of Kaunissaari – with just ten permanent year-round residents, it’s possible to indulge in wild swimming beside a beach that’s almost guaranteed to have no other visitors.

Retiree locals use quad-bikes and tractors as forms of transport on the 2km long island, and we spotted a couple as we followed a nature trail, but other than the chirping birds were the only inhabitants we shared the experience with: anyone looking to relax in solitude won’t be disappointed.

We also took the waterbus to an idyllic fortress island, Varissaari, which is reachable within ten minutes of leaving the city – and at Vaaku restaurant, we were served not just food but a slice of history as we spotted cannons from a 1700s wartime ship wreck right next to where we dined.

While not an island, nearby military city Hamina – the oldest in South-east Finland – is also worth a visit, both for its star-shaped fortress and war history and its ornate colourful buildings, including the Town Hall, which boasts huge paintings by Tove Jansson on its walls.

However, the stay at Santalahti Resort was perhaps the biggest highlight of the Kotka region, bedding down in a log cabin inches from the beach and a couple of minutes walk away from a 5km forest trail.

Many cabins have their own cooking facilities and, in true Finnish style, their own private saunas, echoing the fact that almost all Finns have one in their own homes.

There’s also one large glass-roofed communal sauna, with spectacular sea views, a cave sauna and hot and cold water pools.

Even better, a short drive away is the Kymijoki River, where we went on an exhilarating rafting trip through the rapids, before scoffing some smoked salmon cooked outdoors on an open fire.

Some Finnair flights leave early, but sailing into the skies at 7.30am to start my trip on time wasn’t a problem thanks to stopping over at the tried and trusted Hilton Heathrow Airport Hotel; it’s right next to Terminal 4 and just minutes from Terminal 3.

Enjoying the sanctuary away from London’s hustle and bustle, I even spotted a rabbit scuttling past the OXBO restaurant’s window while tucking into an organic dinner from the summer menu.

Both the hotel’s signature salad and the Panzanella salad come with new tomato varieties direct from the garden, while the hotel is also experimenting with growing more varieties of peppers and chillis.

I also tried out a honey and lime cocktail prepared by a resident mixologist, which takes its honey from the beehives in the hotel gardens – and it was just as delicious as it sounds.

Staying here the night before a flight literally guarantees a stress-free early morning – and it got me on track for an amazing few days.

Takeaways of my trip: Finland has some of the best food I’ve ever tasted in Europe out of the many countries I’ve visited in the region, which came as a total surprise – and freshly caught lake fish are, of course, the biggest highlight.

The outdoor life is second to none: the “cleanest air in the world” reports haven’t been exaggerated, and when upcoming film The Summer Book hits UK cinema screens, viewers can see for themselves some of the idyllic island surroundings that make Finland’s short but very sweet summers so special.

My lasting impressions were not of one specific Instagrammable spot or tourist attraction: it was more about a way of life that pictures cannot translate: you have to be there to experience it.

One thing is for certain – the moment you truly experience a Finnish mid-summer, complete with a boat, a cottage by the lake and a sauna, you’ll wonder what took you so long, and it certainly won’t be the last visit.

For info on any of the attractions listed here, and to plan a trip, head to visitfinland.com