Niko’s Favourite Spots in Uusikaupunki

Niko Saarinen always refers to Uusikaupunki as his hometown, even though he moved to Helsinki at the age of 16. Having started his career in reality TV, Niko has over the years become one of Finland’s most followed social media personalities.

Currently, the popular radio and TV personality hosts the morning show on NRJ, produces the highly successful Nikotellen podcast, and this spring he will host his second season of Love Island.

“There are also a few surprises coming up on the work front next year — but you’ll hear more about those later,” Niko hints.
When talking about Uusikaupunki, Niko says he misses the ease and effortlessness of everyday life there.

“It’s a small town where all neighbourhoods and the town centre are within walking or cycling distance of each other. And Uusikaupunki — or ‘Uki,’ as we affectionately call it — is truly one of the most beautiful summer towns in Finland. Many Finnish towns are described as ‘quite nice in the summer,’ but Uki genuinely is,” Niko assures.

“Nowadays I visit a bit less often since my mum also lives in Helsinki, but from time to time I still come to see relatives who live there and old school friends. It’s wonderful that my friends from Uki have remained part of my life even though I no longer live there.”

“If passenger train services between Turku and Uusikaupunki were ever reintroduced, I would definitely visit more often — and I’m sure it would bring many more visitors as well,” Niko says.

Niko’s TOP  3

1. The Autumn Market. The annual autumn market always took place around late September or early October and was a big event back then. My birthday is on 5 October, so the market was always around the same time. The best feeling in the world was receiving birthday money from my grandparents and heading to the market to spend it. Liquorice laces have never tasted as good as they did at the Uusikaupunki Autumn Market.

2. Myllymäki Hill. My mother worked on the hill while she was expecting me, so perhaps my emotional connection to the place dates back even that far. Back in the day, the hill was the main gathering spot for us teenagers, where we spent our weekends hanging out and doing all the silly things typical of lower secondary school kids. To this day, I always visit the park whenever I’m in Uusikaupunki. It’s the cutest little park in the world, with its windmill and flower plantings. This is the place I tell people about in the Helsinki region when they ask where we used to hang out as teenagers.

3. Santtio Beach. I spent my entire childhood living in Santtio, about 600 metres from the Santtio campsite and beach. As kids, we would cycle there to buy pick-and-mix sweets, meet friends, and watch the tourists — some of whom even came from abroad. In the 1990s, that all felt very exciting. During the summer, we swam at Santtio Beach at least twice a day. At half past three we would go home for dinner, then head back to the beach and spend the rest of the evening there. We basically lived at the beach all summer long.