Harakka Island
Harakka Island
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.0
10 reviews
Excellent
2
Very good
5
Average
3
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0
Terrible
0
Janne I
Utrecht, The Netherlands62 contributions
Jun 2014 • Couples
This place has a community of artists and environmentally friendly people who are trying to save bird and the Baltic sea. You can go birdwatching, all kinds of small art exhibitions and find out about the collaboration efforts to preserve maritime life in baltic sea. Or you could just go for a picnic. just remember, the island is a nature reservate, so do not litter, take everything you bought to the island with you. Mind the nature.
The island is VERY child friendly and there's many biology and science related activities for kids.
Word of advice though: best time to go here is late in the summer, after birds have had their nesting season. Otherways you may have to dodge angry seagulls attacking your head and somewhat tamer canada geese nibbling at your ankles and making threatening sounds. If you are unfortunate enough to get a bird at you, just wave a branch, stick, rake, anything to scare it off. Don't hit them, they are protected. Go late june, early august. You can spend around 1-3 hours on the island. There are toilets, but no restaurant. If you bring your own food, try not to litter.
The Harakka (Magpie) island, is easy to get to. Find a restaurant in Helsinki southern coast called Cafe Ursula (in Kaivopuisto park) and walk to the end of a narrow white pier right next to it. Hoist the signal flag (it's wood, but it's a kind of red-white flag-thingy) and a boat should arrive to pick you up within 30 minutes (it goes every half hours). The boat costs around 5 euros there and back and the trip is very short (5 minutes).
The island is VERY child friendly and there's many biology and science related activities for kids.
Word of advice though: best time to go here is late in the summer, after birds have had their nesting season. Otherways you may have to dodge angry seagulls attacking your head and somewhat tamer canada geese nibbling at your ankles and making threatening sounds. If you are unfortunate enough to get a bird at you, just wave a branch, stick, rake, anything to scare it off. Don't hit them, they are protected. Go late june, early august. You can spend around 1-3 hours on the island. There are toilets, but no restaurant. If you bring your own food, try not to litter.
The Harakka (Magpie) island, is easy to get to. Find a restaurant in Helsinki southern coast called Cafe Ursula (in Kaivopuisto park) and walk to the end of a narrow white pier right next to it. Hoist the signal flag (it's wood, but it's a kind of red-white flag-thingy) and a boat should arrive to pick you up within 30 minutes (it goes every half hours). The boat costs around 5 euros there and back and the trip is very short (5 minutes).
Written June 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
l5antti
Helsinki, Finland766 contributions
Jul 2020
Small big island near Kaivopuisto. Boat ride is jus few minutes with 30 min interval. Pull the white arrow up to signal the need of ride. Return fee is 6 euros for adults and 3 euros for kids. Else island is totally free.
the island includes nature path and nature house, small aquarium, playhouse, artist's house and small exhibition house, old wartime bunkers, bird watching towers, small pond and of course beautiful nature and lot of birds.
Nature is very beautiful here. July all flowers were blossoming and all rocks were full of seagulls and other birds. Rocky seashore is fantastic and nature path circulates all this. There was lot of wild strawberries around to eat. Birds were offensive but you can scare them away freely except in southern island that is closed area in summer time.
In this corona time nature house activities were suppressed and we couldn't borrow any equipment nor do any investigations. Aquarium was great including Baltic sea species. Staff was very helpful telling stories and details. One old house hosts weekly local artist's exhibition.
Toilet facilities in the port are decent but island lacks of all cafe and snack options. You need to bring your own snack. There is at least couple of grilling places around the island. Island looks small but includes versatile nature, lot of attractions and doing and especially with kids.
This is very well recommended beautiful and versatile nature spot where you can spend easily few hours.
the island includes nature path and nature house, small aquarium, playhouse, artist's house and small exhibition house, old wartime bunkers, bird watching towers, small pond and of course beautiful nature and lot of birds.
Nature is very beautiful here. July all flowers were blossoming and all rocks were full of seagulls and other birds. Rocky seashore is fantastic and nature path circulates all this. There was lot of wild strawberries around to eat. Birds were offensive but you can scare them away freely except in southern island that is closed area in summer time.
In this corona time nature house activities were suppressed and we couldn't borrow any equipment nor do any investigations. Aquarium was great including Baltic sea species. Staff was very helpful telling stories and details. One old house hosts weekly local artist's exhibition.
Toilet facilities in the port are decent but island lacks of all cafe and snack options. You need to bring your own snack. There is at least couple of grilling places around the island. Island looks small but includes versatile nature, lot of attractions and doing and especially with kids.
This is very well recommended beautiful and versatile nature spot where you can spend easily few hours.
Written July 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Baldrick_the_Fourth
Melbourne, Australia170 contributions
Jul 2016 • Solo
To get to the island you need to take a short boat trip. The boat won't come unless you signal it, so you need to go to the end of the pier and raise the signal.
Considering this is such a small island I was surprised by how well the tracks are marked. There are bird feeders as well as a hide, so there has been some consideration for twitches (which I'm not). The hide also contained descriptions of birds you may see.
I didn't visit anything else on the island because none of the signs are in English, and Google Translate has let me down before.
So if you would like to see what an island is really like, or you like photographing birds, this is a nice place to visit.
Considering this is such a small island I was surprised by how well the tracks are marked. There are bird feeders as well as a hide, so there has been some consideration for twitches (which I'm not). The hide also contained descriptions of birds you may see.
I didn't visit anything else on the island because none of the signs are in English, and Google Translate has let me down before.
So if you would like to see what an island is really like, or you like photographing birds, this is a nice place to visit.
Written July 9, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TeWe
Helsinki, Finland1,133 contributions
Jul 2019 • Couples
Nice and beautiful little island just beside the Kaivopuisto park. You catch a ferry next to Cafe Ursula and the ride only takes a couple of minutes.
The island is nice for a walk in the quite unspoilt nature and for seeing Helsinki from another angle.
There is no cafeteria there, so be sure to bring something to drink or eat if you need it.
The island is nice for a walk in the quite unspoilt nature and for seeing Helsinki from another angle.
There is no cafeteria there, so be sure to bring something to drink or eat if you need it.
Written July 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sue255678
Nelson, New Zealand14 contributions
May 2019
We saw nesting seabirds, some good interpretation in the buildings, had a walk around the island. Harakka island was easy to get to and near the town.
Written June 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gerhard B
Province of Turin, Italy64 contributions
Aug 2017 • Family
Very nice small island with amenities for school trips.
if you're coming for birdwatching, take care to inform of what the right season is. I saw very few species: sparrowhawk just by pure coincidence, and cormorants and geese... Grebe and great tit, and that's about it.
Probably better in spring.
if you're coming for birdwatching, take care to inform of what the right season is. I saw very few species: sparrowhawk just by pure coincidence, and cormorants and geese... Grebe and great tit, and that's about it.
Probably better in spring.
Written August 23, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lucie T
Prague, Czech Republic29 contributions
Aug 2016 • Friends
Small island just a few minutes away from Helsinki. The ticket for the ferry costs 5 €, but on a sunny day it's really worth it!
Written September 1, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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