Services in Vartiosaari
The Vartiosaari camping area offers various services for those who have made a reservation; see below for more information. In addition to services, the Vartiosaari area provides a superb setting for outdoor recreation and excursions.
Services in the summer
Campers have access to:
- the main building of Furubacka, including its accommodation rooms and yard
- a beach and a beach volleyball court
- a floating sauna
- a grill shelter
- various equipment such as pedalos, balls, Mölkky pins, etc.
Transport services
Once you have received a reservation, you can ask about the equipment in the camping area as well as transport options to the island. If transport is provided by Youth Services, it must be agreed upon two weeks earlier.
Weather conditions and safety
Transport arranged by Youth Services always depends on the weather. If it is too windy and the weather is too rough (e.g. thunder, thick fog), no transport is provided to the camping area.
Enquiries
Transport enquiries:(09) 310 71668
Dock for transport vessels: Reposalmentie 1, 00840 Helsinki
The island’s nature and attractions
There are several biotopes on the island. The forest biotopes range from herb-rich forests to mesic heath forests and barren heaths where lichen grows. The terrain also features flood meadows, pastures, paludified areas, small deciduous forests and outcrops, among other biotopes. According to Helsinki’s Nature Information System, more than half of the island is covered by valuable nature sites (vegetation, forests, geology, bird species). Additionally, the whole island is classified as an important bat habitat.
More than 80 per cent of the island’s forests are considered to be valuable forest habitats based on the criteria of the Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland (METSO). There are a lot of over 150-year-old pine trees in the area, and the species found there include the rare Dichomitus squalens fungi, which grows in old-growth forests. The only known habitat of the plant Petasites spurius in Finland is located on the southern shore. The island is an essential part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area’s green belt. (Vartiosaari Society).
Vartiosaari health nature trail and hiking map
The health nature trail is 2.5 kilometres long and intended for independent exploration. The experiential text makes use of local special characteristics and provides information on the effects of nature on well-being.
Forest church
One of the many attractions is the Vartiosaari forest church. The church’s altar and wooden benches are located under the open sky next to a cliff wall. The church attracts hikers to come and sit in its bosom to marvel the beauty and uniqueness of nature.
Youth Island Gallery
The Youth Island Gallery offers a wide range of summer activities for young people. The gallery is a place where nature, art and handicrafts meet when young people, surrounded by natural beauty, get to exercise their creativity, grow crops, tend to animals and enjoy nature. In addition to the magnificent island landscape, the working environment includes the stable and barn built in the yard of dentist Ernst Wasenius’s villa more than a hundred years ago.