Tervola

Tervola is a rural municipality in southwest Finnish Lapland. It usually shows to the travelers driving the Highway 4 as a group of gas stations, and therefore offers a great place for lay-by. Tourism to Tervola itself is of very small scale.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Understand


Tervola belongs to the "Sea Lapland" and is culturally more bound to the Kemi area in south-west than to the rest of the Lapland. Highway E75 runs through the municipality following the west bank of the river Kemijoki but the parish village is at the east bank. Most people ever "visiting" Tervola just drive through it. They will see the municipality just as a mixture of fields, river views, and gas stations.

Like elsewhere in south-west Lapland, the landscape in Tervola is fairly flat and dominated by Kemijoki river, fields, mires, and bogs. In north-east there are some tall hills with notable prominence. Some 8,000 years ago the hills Törmävaara, Vammavaara, Kätkävaara, and Pisavaara were solitary islands far out in the northern Ancylus Lake. The ancient shorelines are still visible on them.

Numerous archaeological findings have been done in the hills, from areas lying higher than 40 metres above current sea level. The first historic households were established in the Koivu village during the 15th century. Th estill standing Tervola old church was built in 1687–1689. The railway arrived here in 1908. In 1918, during the Finnish Civil War, there was a short but important battle between White and Red militants. Until the 1920s virtually all people lived in agricultural settlements by the river.

Even nowadays the municipality is fairly rural. There are just 3,000 permanent residents out of which less than half live in the parish village. Services are the main economic sector though.

Get in


Highway 4 (E75, colloquially "Nelostie") runs through the municipality. Traffic on the road 926, aka (Kemijoen) Itäpuolentie, has much lower traffic but this is where the municipal centre is. There are bridges over the river in the parish village and at Ossauskoski hydroelectric dam.

Coaches between Kemi and Rovaniemi do not visit the municipal centre; the main bus stop is "Hastinpolku th" by the highway 4.

Tervola belongs to Sea Lapland communal traffic. There are local bus connections from Kemi to villages in Tervola, at least in weekdays. Timetables are scarce. The Finnish-language timetables by Meri-Lapin Joukkoliikenne show details.

All trains between Rovaniemi and Kemi stop at. There are no indoor facilities or ticket sales at the station any more.

Get around
Virtually everyone has their own car or at least a moped here. On highway 4 the traffic is high. On road 926 very much lower. On smaller roads it's sparse.

Tervola belongs to Sea Lapland communal traffic. There should be local bus at least at weekdays but timetables are scarce. Time tables by Meri-Lapin Joukkoliikenne are in Finnish only.

See




Do



 * There is a 9-hole disc golf course in the parish village.

Pisavaara Strict Nature Reserve and northern part of Runkaus Strict Nature Reserve are located in the Tervola municipality. Both areas are nature conservation areas without public access. In Runkaus Reserve permanent residents of Tervola municipality are allowed to pick berries and edible mushrooms. The Pisavaara Strict Nature Reserve is closed for any access without specific written permission from the Finnish Forest Administration. These permissions are given for scientific reasons only.

Buy
Räihän rieska is the most famous product from Tervola. Their bakery shop is at Café Rieskapaikka (see below) but you'll find these rieskas from elsewhere as well.

Connect
Tervola and its approach roads have 4G from all Finnish carriers. As of Nov 2023, 5G has not reached this area.