Waterparks and Spa Hotels in Finland for Kids

The following is a guide on how to spend the weekend with your kids in Finland featuring 6 water entertainment parks for the whole family, the price for visiting all of the water parks that is listed is valid as of February 2014.

 

A vacation at these Finnish water parks will be suitable for children of all ages – there are contemporary water cleaning systems installed in all of the pools. However, you will not be able to leave your child there alone for the whole day while you go shopping as they do not allow children under 10-12 years old inside without an adult. For small children, there are separate small heated pools and play stations with slides and a little bit older kids will be able to go down slides along with their parents on slight and sharp slopes or swim in the large pools. Listed in the table at the end of the review are general data on the water parks and the cost of visiting them as of February 2014. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can go straight to the description of the water park that you are interested in by clicking on one of the links below:

 

Magical Forest Water Park in Imatra 

Cirque de Saimaa (Circus on the Saimaa) Water Park in Rauha, Imatra

Flamingo Water Park in Vantaa, Helsinki

Serena Water Park in Helsinki, the largest water park in Finland – Serena in Espoo 

Eden Water Park in Nokia, Tampere

Caribia Water Park in Turku

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water parks in Finland are open year round. Their schedule is different in the winter. You’d be well advised to figure that out ahead of time on the official website of the water park. Many of the Finnish water parks are located at hotels – when reserving a room, the cost of visiting spa zones, pools, and slides is normally included in the hotel cost. There is always a café with affordable prices and restaurants located next to the water entertainment parks.  

 

 

Magical Forest Water Park in Imatra

 

At Imatran Kylpyla Hotel in Imatra is a small water park called Magical Forest. This is the closest pool with slides to the Russian Finnish border and you can get there from Svetogorsk in just a half hour. At the Imatra Water Park is rain, rolling thunder, and flashing lightning, as well as several small slides there and a kids slide. There is an open air heated pool there open year round that you can swim into out of an indoor pool even in the winter. 

 

Also featured at the hotel is a spa center with a sauna, massage therapy, and other treatment procedures. For those lodging at Imatran Kylpyla Hotel, the cost of visiting the pool is included in the cost of staying at the hotel. Everyone else interested in visiting the pool will have to buy a ticket, including 2 hours of swimming and 20 minutes to change clothes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cirque de Saimaa (Circus on the Saimaa) in Rauha, Imatra 

 

Cirque de Saimaa opened up at the end of 2011 at Holiday Club Saimaa Hotel. This hotel is located on the shore of Lake Saimaa and you can get there easily both from Imatra and Lappeenranta. The name of the water park meaning “circus on the Saimaa” is well justified: the dim atmosphere with bright, multi-colored lights creates the impression that a show is about to begin. And this is not misleading at all – every hour they do a singing fountain show in the center of the pool. There is also a pool there in the form of a river and a jacuzzi in the form of a martini glass and for children and a little bit older kids they have two separate pools as well.

 

Also open at the hotel is “Sauna World” with a salt grotto, steam room, and a Finnish sauna house, and even a kids “Igloo” sauna with warm benches and a television with cartoons. Located at the terrace on the roof of the hotel is the “black sauna” with a roof over the entrance along with golf and badminton venues on the roof. Entrance to “Sauna World” is paid separately.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flamingo Water Park in Vantaa, Helsinki 

 

Flamingo is a water park at Sokos Hotel Flamingo, which is located in Vantaa (near the airport), 19 km to the north of Helsinki. The park is laid out in the style of the Mayan Indians – with all kinds of attractions, slides, waterfalls, pipes to ride down, as well as a Mayan temple, which the brave will be able to ride down into a pool along with a spa zone. There are also shallow “paddling pools” designed for small children with warm water (32 degrees Celsius) and for kids over 6 years old, the determining factor being their height, they have slides of various heights. 

 

Installed at the water park are electronic lockers, which can be opened and closed by applying a bracelet that is given out at the entrance. With the help of a special device you will also be able to be “reminded” of a locker number that you have forgotten. The ticket price does not include the cost of towel, robe, and thongs rental, the prices of which are indicated at the end of the review. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serena Water Park in Helsinki, the largest water park in Finland – Serena in Espoo and Helsinki 

 

Serena Water Park is the largest water entertainment center not only in Finland, but in all of Northern Europe. It is located 23 km from Helsinki in the city of Espoo right atop a cliff amidst a pine forest. 

 

Serena maintains a tropical climate. Year round there you can ride down water slides in the indoor part of the water park and take a dip in one of the 7 pools with waterfalls. Amongst them is a wave pool and even its very own “Dead Sea”, the water of which contains 25% salt where it is very easy to stay above the water. You can get heated up in the Turkish sauna or another sauna chiseled in the cliff. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suitable for small children are small slides in a separate “paddling pool”. Awaiting a little bit older kids are slight and sharp slope attractions, such as the “Black Hole”, a pipe slide with sound and light effects as well as a 140-meter slide. Open in the summer time are also slides in the open air, inner tube slopes, and a half pipe. In the winter time you can combine bathing in the water park with mountain skiing – there is a skiing center called Serena Ski located nearby with five different slopes.  

 

Serena is best visited in the beginning of the week and earlier in the day as this is the time that there are practically no tourist groups there. In the evenings on the weekends on the other hand, they get a rather large influx of tourists. Other than their normal tickets, they also sell family tickets at the cash registers for parents with two or three kids. There is no towel rental available at Serena, so you’re well advised to bring your own. If you happen to forget, they do sell them on the spot, however.  

 

 

Eden Water Park in Nokia, Tampere 

 

Rantasipi Eden Spa Hotel, which is located in the city of Nokia near Tampere, has a water park of its own. Eden features a true “paradise on water”: it has a calm-flowing river, pools with hot and cold water, hydro massaging, waves, slides, and a long pipe as well as an open-air pool and an infrared sauna. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the kids pool, instructors teach small children to swim and for a little bit older kids there is a 100-meter slide that they can ride down on an inner tube. Also located near the water park is kids entertainment park Sarkanniemi featuring attractions, an aquarium, a dolphinarium, and a kids zoo. 

 

 

Caribia Water Park in Turku

 

Open in the center of Turku at Sokos Hotel Caribia is a small water park with a Caribia spa zone. This is a pirate-themed park with mysterious grottos and a ship restaurant “sunken” right in the pool. There you also get to meet a captain with a parrot on his shoulder, ride down three different slides, and swim in one of eight different pools. In Caribia is a heated open-air pool. Furthermore, there is a heated pool for small children, a small slide with toys, and inside the actual hotel is a kids venue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listed in the table are general data about the water parks and the cost of visiting them as of January 2013. 

 

Name of water park	Where it is located	What they offer	Price
Magical Forest	Imatra (210 km from Saint Petersburg)	25 meters: indoor pool with hydro massaging, kids pool, 15 meters: heated, open-air pool with and a jacuzzi	Prices depend on the season: Kids ticket (6-14 years old) - from 7 to 8 €, Adult ticket - from 13.50 to 16 €, family (two adults and 1-2 children or one adult and 2-3 children) - from 30 to 34 € Children under 6 years old - free
Cirque de Saimaa	Rauha (7 km from Imatra,   35 km from Lappeenranta, 230 km from Saint Petersburg)	Pool in the form of a river, slides, saunas, a kids sauna, a singing fountain show	2-hour visit: adults - 20 €, kids (4-14 years old) - 12 €; additional time - 5 € per hour. Sauna - 5-7 € Children under 4 years old – free
Flamingo	Vantaa (19 km from Helsinki, 402 km from Saint Petersburg)	2000 square meters: 7 pools and 4 water slides	Monday - Thursday: adults - 16 € kids (4-11 years old) - 8 €, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children 4-11 years old) - 45 €. Friday-Sunday and holidays: adults - 22 €, kids (4-11 years old) - 11 €, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children 4-11 years old) - 60 €. Children under 4 years old - free
Serena	Espoo (23 km from Helsinki, 406 km from Saint Petersburg)	2,000 square meters: 7 pools with attractions – indoor zone, 1000 square meter pool – outside	Daytime ticket (from 12:00 to 20:00) - 24,50 € Evening ticket (from 16:00 to 20:00) - 20,50 € Family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) - 94 € Family ticket (2 adults + 3 children) - 117.50 € Children under 4 years old - free
Eden	Nokia (15 km from Tampere, 470 km from Saint Petersburg)	6 different pools with a total area of 800 square meters	Adults - 20 €, kids (4-14 years old) - 16 € Family ticket (2 adults + 2-3 children) - 54 € Children under 4 years old - free
Caribia	Turku (548 km from Saint Petersburg)	8 dome-covered pools with attractions	Monday-Thursday: adults - 14.50 €, kids (3-16 years old) - 9.50 €, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) - 43 € Friday-Sunday and holidays: adults - 16.50 €, kids (3-16 children) – 11.50 €, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) - 51 €

 

 

Photos: flamingospa.fi, rantasipi.fi, sokoshotels.fi, serena.fi, imatrankylpyla.fi, holidayclubresorts.ru, clip.dn.ua