Uusimaa is the capital region of Finland, which is covering a southern part of the country.
Its main features are Helsinki — one the most environmentally-friendly cities in Europe, Nuuksio National Park, and some 230 km (143 mi) of rocky Baltic Sea coastline.
There are 247 named peaks in Uusimaa, the highest of which is Loukkumäki (174 m / 570 ft) and the most prominent of which is Lintukiimanvuori (157 m / 515 ft).
Outdoor writer from the Dolomites, Italy, and Karelia, Finland
— Uusimaa is one of the 20 regions of Finland. It is located in the southern part of the country on the shores of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.
The region consists of three main parts: East Uusimaa, Middle Uusimaa, and West Uusimaa. Alternatively, it could be divided up into the four subregions of Helsinki, Raseborg, Loviisa and Porvoo.
The core of Uusimaa is Helsinki, the capital and largest city of Finland. Helsinki, together with major suburbs of Espoo and Vantaa, form the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area.
This area is also one of the four major tourist regions of the country, along with the Archipelago Sea to the west of the city of Turku, the Lake District (including North Karelia and South Karelia), and Lapland.
In other words, despite the relatively small size of Uusimaa (9,568 sq km / 3,694 sq mi or 3% of Finland’s land area), it gets the bulk of the country’s tourism.
The region borders four other regions: Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso.
Read next my outdoor guide to Uusimaa region in Finland on the website of the PeakVisor app — leading AR (augmented reality) app for mountain peaks identification with tens of other great features for outdoor enthusiasts.
Text: Ivan Kuznetsov
Cover photo: Helsinki Central Library Oodi balcony by Oodii Library Finland / Unsplash
