Finland is one of the best places in the world for viewing Northern Lights (aurora borealis), and the probability of catching them is highest in Lapland -but Oulu is not far behind! We can see Northern Lights about 25% of the nights here – as long as there’s darkness and there are no clouds in the sky.

Our city is often referred as the Capital of Northern Scandinavia. Oulu is located by the Gulf of Bothnia around 600 kilometres north of Helsinki, with a population of roughly 210,000 inhabitants. You can reach Oulu in less than an hour by flight, but if you’re planning a more scenic route through Finland, make sure you reserve several hours!  

In Spring 2022 Oulu Culture Foundation invited schools in the area to make their own Peace Machine Prototypes. The construction of the prototypes was offered to teachers as one way to deal the feelings brought up by the war in Ukraine with the students. Children built their own Peace Machines and wrote user manuals for them.