Kemi: Culture, History and Winter Experiences

Kemi brings together a range of themes to consider when planning a trip: historic buildings and museums, routes along the sea, and winter activities on and around the ice. If you’re looking for hotels in Kemi, you can first consider whether cultural history and architecture or winter activities will play a bigger part in your stay.

Culture and history in Kemi

Designed by Josef Stenbäck, Kemi Church was completed in 1902. Its architecture shows influences of continental Neo-Gothic style. The Orthodox church in the Koivuharju district tells a different story: it was first built in the early 1960s as a chapel for evacuees from Karelia and Petsamo, and was consecrated as a church in the 1970s. The icons in its iconostasis were painted by artist Nina Vanas.

The museums also cover a range of subjects. Kemi Art Museum is the oldest art museum in northern Finland. In the spacious, bright exhibition rooms of the cultural centre designed by Sebastian Savander, it presents six to seven changing exhibitions each year. Kemi Historical Museum explores the local cultural heritage and the history of the city and its surrounding area, from land uplift and the first settlements through industrialisation to the present day. Admission to this museum is free.

The Yli-Jaakheikki Smokehouse Museum is located in the museum quarter of Meripuisto, by the Old Inner Harbour. It explains the history of the smoke sauna, as well as the lives and ways of life of Finns in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kemi City Theatre offers another cultural perspective: it is the only professional theatre in Sea Lapland to produce its own world premieres each year.

Remains of the Bothnian Coastal Road can be seen at the southern end of the golf course, where a gravel track and an old bridge cross the Nauskaoja. The original bridge was built in the 1870s. The site thus brings together a surviving stretch of road and a history of construction dating back to the 19th century.

Coast, routes and winter activities

Mansikkanokka Beach is in central Kemi and is about 250 metres long. Mansikkanokka Park has outdoor trails, a disc golf course and a shelter. In winter, illuminated ski trails and walking paths lead directly from the Old Inner Harbour onto the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia.

The regional extent of the ski trails is worth noting: about 100 kilometres of ski trails are maintained in winter in Kemi’s suburbs and nearby areas, of which about 27 kilometres are illuminated. These are separate from the snowmobile routes in the Kemi area: 27 kilometres of forest trails are maintained here, which also lead onto the sea ice and connect to the snowmobile routes in Keminmaa and Simo.

Kemi’s winter activities also include SnowExperience365 and SnowCastle Winter Park. SnowExperience365 features ice sculptures, an ice slide, an ice bar and ice tables. SnowCastle Winter Park offers slides, a snow maze and a traditional Finnish carousel. The SnowCastle area is in Kemi.

Compare icebreaker trips

The morning trip on the icebreaker Sampo lasts 3.5 hours. It includes ice swimming, a walk on the ice, a guided ship tour, a diploma, a welcome drink and admission to the SnowCastle exhibition area. The three-hour trip on the icebreaker Arktis includes ice swimming, a walk on the ice and a diploma.

Both trips include ice swimming and a walk on the ice; the Sampo trip is half an hour longer and also includes the ship tour, welcome drink and admission to the exhibition area. This makes it possible to compare the time required with the inclusions listed for each trip. Timetables and inclusions may change, so check them before making plans.

Getting here and planning

Kemi railway station is in the city centre, with a taxi stand nearby. If you’re planning your arrival around it, check the latest taxi information. Current information is also useful when planning museum visits, changing exhibitions, SnowCastle activities and winter routes: opening hours, programmes, access and trail maintenance may change.

Cultural history and architecture appeal to different interests than winter routes and ice activities; compare these priorities with the specific details of each hotel offer.

Discover more destinations: Konnevesi, Luosto, Keminmaa, Tankavaara, Ivalo, Pelkosenniemi, Kilpisjärvi, Nuorgam.

For the broader travel overview: Lapland.