Närpes

Närpes (Finnish: Närpiö) is a town in Ostrobothnia, Finland.

Understand


Närpes is the Tomato Capital of Finland. In the greenhouses all around the local people grow the main harvest of Finnish tomatoes all year around. If you buy Finnish tomatoes in any supermarket in Finland, chances are they come from here. And people are proud of that fact. Otherwise this place is spread out over a large forest area and you need a car to get around. There is also a significant archipelago, much of which is protected as the Kaldonskär–Södra Björkön shore protection programme and the Närpes archipelago Natura 2000 area; there are also many smaller nature reserves.

Mergers have caused Närpes to have several centres and for many people's identity, their own village is important. Övermark is 16 km north-north-east of Närpes centre by Vasavägen (road 6760) or E8, Pörtom an additional 12 km. These are part of the agricultural landscape along Närpes å. Nämpnäs is 8 km towards the coast, Norrnäs 7 km northwards from it, Töjby an additional 11 km farther north. These latter are on Strandvägen ("the coast road", road 673). Pjelax is 10 km south from Närpes centre.

The Finnish-speaking minority in Närpes is tiny, and little Finnish is spoken by the majority, so "survival sentences" in Finnish aren't worth the trouble. The town has its own, ancient Swedish dialect, so understanding the local lingo can be a real challenge even for native Swedish-speakers, although most locals change to standard Swedish when talking to non-Ostrobothnians.

The flourishing agriculture has led to significant immigration from far away (including former Yugoslavia and Vietnam), and the town is an example of successful integration, with some 17% talking foreign languages as mother tongue.

By car
Närpes lies on national road 8 (E8), Näpes centre 5 km west of it, Övermark 2 km and Pörtom at the junction of E8 and Vasavägen (former road 8), on which these other main centres lie.

To reach the centre, coming from the north (Vaasa/Vasa) or south (Pori/Björneborg), take E8 and then transfer to route 673 and 676 to reach Närpes. Coming from the east, take route 67 instead of E8. There are also smaller coastal roads from Kristinestad (Skrattnäsvägen to Pjelax, then Kristinestadsvägen) and Vaasa (Strandvägen, road 673, via Malax and Korsnäs, and then Töjby and Nämpnäs before reaching Närpes centre).

By bus
Buses from Vaasa and Pori stop in Närpes, as does the Flixbus service from Warsaw via Helsinki and Turku to Vaasa. Ingsva has some regional routes. The Onnibus service between Turku and Oulu stops at the highway crossroads (Närpiö th).

Get around


A car is really needed to get around the distances.

Matkahuolto and Opas.matka.fi include some of the bus services to the countryside. The service line offers dial-a-ride service.

See




Do




Events

 * The Tomato Carnival (Tomatkarnevalen) is held every year in July.

Buy
Tomatoes and cucumbers. There is other industry too, but you don't want to pack a bed or a lorry trailer as souvenir, and the furs are mostly sewn elsewhere.

Check for yourself though.

Respect
Don't go into animal rights. Fur farming is big, and also your views on chicken raising and the like might be better not shared with the locals.

There was a scandal surfaced in 2022 about abuse of immigrant labour, in court as of 2023. Tread lightly. While it concerned several businesses, the overwhelming majority of immigrants have been well integrated.

Go next
To Kaskinen (Kaskö), an idyllic harbour town, an enclave of Närpes and the smallest town of Finland; a fusion was discussed in 2019 but turned down by the voters in Kaskö.