Kayaking Through The Finnish Archipelago

Have you ever wanted to wild camp on a private island, watching the midnight sun set? I booked this trip as a last minute getaway after a breakup, and another move. With job applications and interviews, I had very little time to prepare myself for the trip, and hadn’t really had chance to build up any expectations – however if I had, they would have been exceeded.

The Finnish Archipelago

The Finnish Archipelago is home to over 50,000 islands and islets, making it the world’s largest archipelago. The best way to see it, is definitely by water. On this trip, we were exploring the Helsinki Archipelago, and kayaking around Teijo National Park. We camped on different islands each night, thanks to Every man’s rights, which allows people to roam and camp freely in almost all Finnish nature.

Last time I visited Finland, it was the middle of winter. The days were short, and everything was covered in snow. This trip was the exact opposite, and it was so nice to be able to see the contrast of the different seasons. The late June temperatures were in the low 20’s, with around 20 hours of daylight, compared to around -5 degrees and 6 hours of daylight in January (less the further north you go).

I flew from Manchester to Helsinki, where we booked an airbnb for a night before and a night after. This gave us some time to explore, as well as taking the pressure off connection times. From Helsinki, we took a train (replacement bus in our case) to Salo, where we were picked up and taken to our start point. Thankfully, the public transport in Finland was straightforward, and surprsingly cheap.

The Trip

This was the second trip I’ve done with Sidetracked Adventures (the first being their Lapland adventure, back in January 2023). Their trips are all adventure based, built for small groups. My first trip with them was with a group of friends, whereas this one was me, a friend and three others we didn’t know. It did feel pretty daunting knowing you were going to be spending so much time with a bunch of strangers, however as with all these kinds of things, you must have some similar interests to be there in the first place.

Our first night was spent getting to know each other at our lovely guide Sirpa’s house. It was a beautiful cabin by the sea, with it’s own sauna of course. We had a bbq, went through our kit, enjoyed the sauna, and then got a pretty early night.

Having completed my paddlesports leader qualification, I was quite confident in my abilities in seakayaking. The only difference was, I had only ever used sit-on kayaks, as apposed to sit-in. Though it took a little bit of getting used to, getting both in and out of the kayaks, none of us capsized whilst out on the water.

This trip was marked as beginner friendly, and we were kayking between 4 and 15km per day. We were exceptionally lucky with the weather, and had glorious sunshine for most of the trip. The wind did pick up on the last couple of days, which definitely made for more of a challenege when paddling!

I got such a buzz from island hopping, and being able to pull up at a random island, and set up camp for the night. Just as in winter, the sunsets were absolutely incredible. Our first night there wasn’t a breath of wind and we were all pretty mesmerised by the colours in the sky. We did some wittling as the sun set, thanks to my buddy Eva, and even had a seal pop up to say hello.

The trip was topped off with a local sauna and sea dip. It was such a relaxing way to end our few days of exploring.

Food

The benefit of kayaking over hiking, is that you’re able to take much more food with you, including bulkier, fresh food. All food for this trip was provided (with the exception of snacks if you wanted them). Breakfast consisted of porridge, granola, jam, bread and cheese, along with coffee. In the morning, we boiled extra water to make up noodles in a thermos, meaning it was ready as soon as we stopped for lunch, saving the hastle of getting out all the cooking gear.

Dinner was a slightly fancier affair, making the most of being able to carry fresh veg. There was a mix of rice, noodles and rissotto over the course of the trip, with a choice of tuna, salmon or soy – all topped off with tasty seasoning. We were treated to desserts each night too, including freshly made pancakes. Due to the current dry spells and high temperatures, we were unable to light any fires during the trip which was a shame, but completey necessary, as the land was so dry.

Snacks wise, I chose to take a selection of cereal bars and a couple of bags of sweets. In hindsight, I wish I’d taken a few more bits, including some crisps. Though I certainly didn’t go hungry.

Kit List

There was a lot of communal gear that was provided for us for this trip, including tents, sleeping mats, food, cooking equipment, kayaks and safety equipment. Below is a list of the kit that I took for personal use. All of my personal gear has been tried and tested over many adventures, and is all kit that I’d highly reccomend. You can get 10% off The Peachy Queen Company with the code ‘LISA10’ and 10% off at Passenger Clothing following the links below.

I would highly reccomend this trip if you’re looking for something a little more adventurous. Though the paddling was sometimes tough when the wind picked up, it was an incredibly rewarding experience. If you have any questions, drop me a message on instagram, or in the comments below.

Happy adventuring!

*This page contains affiliate links and if you make a purchase, I may recieve a small amount of commision.