Kaarina

Kaarina (Swedish: Sankt Karins‎) is a town in the Finland Proper region of Finland, about 10 km east of Turku.

Understand
The municipality is named after the Katariina church that in turn is named after Catherine of Alexandria (Saint Catherine of the Wheel).

From a rural community, Kaarina has grown to 32,000 inhabitants and has been a town since 1993. Many of the inhabitants work in Turku. Though officially monolingual, Kaarina has a growing Swedish minority of about 5%, with its own primary school.

The former main village of Kaarina (Nummi) has been part of Turku since 1939. The present municipality of Kaarina has a few distinct centres. Kuusisto was annexed to Kaarina in 1946 and Piikkiö in 2009. Littoinen was the biggest settlement in the 1960s, with some industry and a train station (on the Turku–Helsinki railway, now out of use). The modern centre is where the road to the archipelago (Saaristotie, Skärgårdsvägen) used to start, by the then main road to Helsinki.

The remains of a 12th-century church were found in Ravattula in 2013. This is the oldest known church in Finland. The Kaarina parish is mentioned 1309 and the wooden predecessor of the Katariina church was taken into use in 1351.



Get in and around
Kaarina is well connected to Turku. The former main road from Helsinki (now regional road 110) passes by Kaarina centre. The motorway from Helsinki (highway 1) also goes through Kaarina, but at a distance from the centre. Highway 10 (from Hämeenlinna) passes through the northern parts of the municipality (by Auranlaakso). E18 deviates from highway 1 in Piikkiö and follows the Turku bypass (highway 40) to Naantali, passing by Auranlaakso and Ravattula in northern Kaarina.

Kaarinantie leads from highway 10 (Hämeentie) in the north through Auranlaakso, west of Littoinen and over the Helsinki highways. It then becomes Saaristotie, which continues southwards, passing east of the centre and over the island Kuusisto, and leads to Pargas and farther out in the archipelago. The other main roads for getting around in Kaarina are highway 110 (Uudenmaantie) and Pyhän Katariinan tie, the latter leading westward from the centre.

The Turku guide map includes Kaarina, with map layers for bus lines, biking routes etc.

By bus
Most coaches from Helsinki to Turku (even many express ones) leave the motorway in Kaarina and use road 110 for driving into Turku, stopping at "Krossi", "Paraisten tienhaara" and "Piispanristi", the former on Kaarinantie, the latter two on Uudenmaantie by Kaarina centre and by the border to Turku, respectively. See Matkahuolto.

Kaarina takes part in the Turku region "Föli" bus cooperation, which means bus tickets are treated as if Kaarina were part of the same municipality as Turku, Raisio, Naantali, Rusko and Lieto. Most regional buses (such as to Pargas, Kimito and Salo – look for line numbers or a "Föli" sign) can be used with the same tickets as long as you board and get off in the Föli area. A single ticket with two hours unlimited transfer paid by card costs €3 (children 7–14 €1.50). For other ticket options, see Turku#By bus.

The main bus lines from Turku to Kaarina centre are number 801 (Turku to Pargas) and 7 (from Naantali via Turku, with a detour to Koristo). Also e.g. lines 700, 701, 703–708 and 720–723 to Piikkiö pass by Kaarina centre and can be used in the same manner; line 701 continues to Toivonlinna of Piikkiö, 703–708 and 720–723 continue to Paimio and some of them beyond. Lines 2B and 2C go from Turku to Littoinen, line 6 from Naantali via Turku along road 10 to Lieto (lines 612, 614 and 615 start from Puutori in Turku and continue from Lieto). Internal buses (often minibuses) have a number prefixed by "K". Some of these latter zigzag by any residential areas on their way, so are good for a kind of sightseeing, but not very fast, and have limited schedules. K1 and K3 drive from Auranlaakso via Littoinen to Kaarina centre and K2 serves areas south of road 110, including Lemu and Kuusisto.

The Föli route planner is useful for getting around by bus in Kaarina.

By bike
Kaarina has good bike routes mostly as needed. Distances are suitable for bike trips, but for getting around you have to budget quite some time, as the points of interest are spread around.

The map at kartta.turku.fi can show biking routes: open the layers menu in the upper left corner, choose Traffic, then Bicycle paths, and use the check boxes. Regional biking route 9 goes from Turku along Hämeentie by Auranlaakso to Lieto, route 10 from Turku via Littoinen and Pyydysmäki to Piikkiö, route 11 along Uudenmaantie via Kaarina centre and Piikkiö to Paimio (Eurovelo 10 "Baltic Sea" probably follows this one), route 22 from Auranlaakso via Littoinen and Kaarina centre to Pargas, the Archipelago Trail (in the map: "small ring route") from Turku via Kaarina centre and Pargas farther out in the archipelago. At least these routes are well signposted.

By taxi

 * Taxidata, Taksi Länsi-Suomi, iTaksi: see Turku
 * Smartphone apps: Valopilkku, 02 Taksi

See




Buy
Some shopping in the centre.

Eat
There are hamburgers, kebab, pizza and Chinese food available in Kaarina centre, and even a Nepali lunch restaurant. For fine dining, however, the common solution is to go to Turku. Nice dinners are also available in some former manors and similar businesses (see Sleep below).



Drink
Some pubs and cafés, most people go to Turku for nightlife.

Go next

 * Kaarina is a good starting point for the Archipelago Trail – head south along regional road 180 towards Pargas.
 * The King's Road comes from Turku and continues along the southern coast.
 * The river Aurajoki leads through Ravattula in northern Kaarina and provides a nice route for biking or walking to Turku centre, passing by the ancient church site in Ristimäki and some Bronze or Stone Age sites (little of these is visible though). The route passes close to the crossroads of highways 10 and 40 in Auranlaakso.
 * The river Aurajoki leads through Ravattula in northern Kaarina and provides a nice route for biking or walking to Turku centre, passing by the ancient church site in Ristimäki and some Bronze or Stone Age sites (little of these is visible though). The route passes close to the crossroads of highways 10 and 40 in Auranlaakso.