Hailuoto Island

Hailuoto is the largest island in the Gulf of Bothnia, and it is young: it began emerging from the sea about a thousand years ago as land uplift lifted sandbanks clear of the water, and it is still growing outward at a measurable rate, which means the interior carries old shorelines, dunes and forest at different stages of colonisation. It is low, sandy and quiet, with a few hundred residents, a wooden church, fishing harbours, long empty beaches at Marjaniemi with a lighthouse, and some of the best bird watching in the region on the shore meadows. The ferry is free and runs frequently; in cold winters an ice road replaces it.

What you actually see

• An island still rising from the sea - old shorelines inland from the coast.
• Marjaniemi lighthouse and beaches - the western point of the island.
• Shore meadow bird watching - waders and geese on the flats.
• The winter ice road - the crossing when the sea freezes hard enough.

When to go

May to September for the beaches and birds; February and March if you want the ice road, which is not guaranteed in any given winter. A day or two.

Honest expectations

The ice road depends entirely on the winter and is not open every year. Services on the island are minimal and many close out of season. It is flat and quiet with little to do beyond walking and birds. Mosquitoes are heavy in midsummer.

Nearby

Oulu is east across the water; Liminka Bay lies south-east.