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Alvar Aalto Grand Tour 2024

Location: Alajärvi, Eura, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Paimio, Pori, Seinäjoki, Turku, Finland

Duration: 7 days

Sites: The Aalto House, Studio Aalto, Paimio Sanatorium, Turku and the Office Building for Turun Sanomat Newspaper, Riverside sauna at the Kauttua Works, The Terraced House at the Kauttua Works in Eura, Villa Mairea and Ahlström’s Noormarkku Works in Pori, The Seinäjoki Civic Centre, Alvar Aalto in Alajärvi, Nelimarkka Museum and Villa Väinölä in Alajärvi, Alvar Aalto in Jyväskylä, The Jyväskylä University Campus and Seminar Hill, Jyväskylä Workers’ Club, Muurame church, Säynätsalo Town Hall, Muuratsalo Experimental house

Persons: min. 10 persons

Available: 05.-11.08.2024

Accommodation: Included

Transportation: Included

Themes: Aalto homes, Churches, Civic centers, Cultural buildings, Finnish sauna and pools, Industrial sites, Libraries, Modernism, Nature, Red brick, River, Terraced houses, Town plans, Whitewash

From 2195€ in twin-bedded room per person

The tour name tells it all as this is the most comprehensive Alvar Aalto tour available. All major Aalto attractions in Finland will be visited  during one tour. During the tour you will visit the Finnish capital Helsinki, popular Turku, lakeland city Jyväskylä and experience the beautiful green Finnish countryside.

Tour highlights:

  • Aalto House
  • Studio Aalto
  • Paimio Sanatorium
  • Office building of Turun Sanomat and Southwestern Finland Agricultural Cooperative Building
  • Riverside sauna and Terraced House in Kauttua/Eura
  • Noormarku Works
  • Villa Mairea
  • Aalto Cultural and Civic center in Seinäjoki
  • Aalto Center in Alajärvi and Villa Väinölä
  • Workers’ Club, the theatre, police station, municipal offices, The defence Corps Building, and the Aalto Campus of the University of Jyväskylä
  • Muurame church
  • Säynätsalo Town Hall
  • Muuratsalo Experimental House

The windows in the Studio Aalto’s curved wall open onto the courtyard. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation

Säynätsalo Town Hall’s main lobby and the office corridor curve around the inner courtyard. Photo: Tero Takalo-Eskola, Visit Jyväskylä

Visit the most important Alvar Aalto heritage places during this magnificent 7-day tour!
The Aalto House in Munkkiniemi Helsinki Photo Maija Holma Alvar Aalto Foundation
The Aalto House in Munkkiniemi Helsinki. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
Studio Aalto
The windows in the Studio Aalto's curved wall open onto the courtyard. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
Paimio Sanatorium staircase photo Maija Holma Alvar Aalto Foundation
The color schemes of Paimio Sanatorium were co designed with Eino Kauria. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
The Terraced House in Kauttua
The Terraced House in Kauttua Ironworks is one of Alvar Aalto’s most prominent works also internationally. Photo: Elina Liukkonen, Alvar Aalto Foundation
Villa Mairea, Johanna Kokkola
Villa Mairea is located in the Noormarkku Ironworks area, where it was designed as a home for Aalto's friends Maire and Harry Gullichsen. Photo: Johanna Kokkola
Guided walking tour of the Aalto Centre in Seinäjoki
Guided walking tour of the Aalto Centre is a great way to get to know Seinäjoki city. Photo: Visit Seinäjoki
Alajärvi Town Hall
Alajärvi Town Hall by Alvar Aalto. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
Worker's club in Jyväskylä
The round foyer is a distinctive feature in the building. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
jyvaskylan-yliopisto-paarakennus-kuva-maija-holma-alvar-aalto-museo
Main building of the Jyväskylä University campus is the most famous one in the area. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
Muuramen kirkko, Jyväskylä
Aalto used Poul Henningsen lamps for the interior lighting of Muurame church. Picture: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
ALVAR AALTO LOCATION SÄYNÄTSALO TOWN HALL ©VISIT JYVÄSKYLÄ PHOTO TERO TAKALO-ESKOLA_5
Säynätsalo Town Hall's main lobby and the office corridor curve around the inner courtyard. Photo: Tero Takalo-Eskola, Visit Jyväskylä
muuratsalon-koetalo-kuva-maija-vatanen-alvar-aalto-museo
Muuratsalo Experimental House. Photo: Maija Vatanen, Alvar Aalto Museum

Programme by day

Day 1: Helsinki
We start our tour in the morning visiting  Aalto House, Aalto Studio and Finlandia Hall. There will be also good time for walking in green Helsinki city center and one can visit independently places as Academic Bookstore.
Overnight at hotel Kämp.
Our day starts in the morning from the hotel. We head first to Paimio Sanatorium on the way to TurkuThe building completed in 1933 as as Paimio Sanatorium was of key importance to the international career of architects Alvar and Aino Aalto.
In the afternoon Aalto themed walking tour of 1,5 hrs including the office building for Turun Sanomat and Southwestern Finland Agricultural Cooperative Building.  ​
Overnight at Scandic Plaza
https://www.scandichotels.com/hotels/finland/turku/scandic-plaza-turku
After breakfast we head to Kauttua from Turku leaves at noon .Alvar Aalto walking tour in Kauttua will start with a lunch at the Riverside Sauna, designed by Alvar Aalto. You will also visit the Terraced House originally designed for the senior clerical employees of the Kauttua Paper Mill.
Overnight at the Guest House Vainiola, designed by Alvar Aalto.
Breakfast at the hotel. You will have a guided walk presenting the Noormarkku Works area and the Voyage exhibition The exhibition describes the industrial history of the Ahlström companies and Finland in general. The gem of today is the guided tour of Villa Mairea, the building that Alvar Aalto designed as the home of his friends Maire and Harry Gullichsen.
We continue our tour to Seinäjoki where overnight at hotel Lakeus.
We start with a guided walking tour in the Seinäjoki Aalto Centre.
Alvar Aalto designed the cultural and administrative center of Seinäjoki. The unique centre consists of six buildings. The Cross of the Plains Church, Parish Centre, City Hall, municipal library, governmental office building and City Theatre.
After Seinäjoki we head to Alajärvi visiting places as Aalto Centre, Youth Association building, the municipal hospital, a health station and the city library and Villa Väinölä. Lunch at Ravintola Viinitupa.
In the beautiful graveyard you can see e.g. war memorials designed by Alvar Aalto and the Aalto family grave. The hall of the Alajärvi town displays Aalto design classics of the 1930s.​
Our tour continues in the late afternoon to Jyväskylä.
Overnight at hotel Verso.

We walk around city centre and explore classic and cultural buildings of Alvar Aalto as well university campus. There is no other place with as many Aalto buildings as Jyväskylä.

We walk and visit Workers’ Club, the theatre, police station, municipal offices, The defence Corps Building, and the Aalto Campus of the University of Jyväskylä .Also the new Aalto2 Museum Centre will be visited.
In the afternoon we visit Muurame Church, Säynätsalo Town Hall and Muuratsalo Experimental House.
Overnight at hotel Verso in Jyväskylä.

After breakfast we start our journey towards Helsinki arriving about at 14.00.

Sites included in this trip

The Aalto House

Helsinki / 1935-36

In 1934, Aino and Alvar Aalto acquired a site in almost completely untouched surroundings at Riihitie in Helsinki’s Munkkiniemi. Aino and Alvar Aalto designed the building, whose simple, natural materials soften the form language of modern architecture. Designing their own home gave them an opportunity to make various structural and…

Studio Aalto

Helsinki / 1954-55, 1962-63

Alvar Aalto designed the building at Tiilimäki 20 in Munkkiniemi as his own office in 1955. Because of a number of large commissions, the office needed more space to work in. The building is only a short walk from Aalto’s own house, where the office had previously been located. Studio…

Paimio Sanatorium

Paimio / 1933

The building completed in 1933 as Paimio Sanatorium was of key importance to the international career of architects Alvar and Aino Aalto. Together with Vyborg (Viipuri) Library, completed two years later, it gave the Aaltos an international profile. Finnish architecture was no longer merely the receiver of influences from outside.

The Seinäjoki Civic Centre

Seinäjoki

As an architectural whole, the Seinäjoki Civic Centre, or Administrative and Cultural Centre of Seinäjoki, is unique on a global scale. Seinäjoki is also the location of the Defence Corps Building built in 1924-26, one of the rare works from Aalto’s youth. The Administrative and Cultural Centre consists of six…

Alvar Aalto in Alajärvi

Alajärvi

The city of Alajärvi in the Southern Ostrobothnia is located close to Alvar Aalto’s childhood hometown Kuortane. Aalto spent his childhood summers in Alajärvi and later had his own summer house there up to 1940s. For him Alajärvi represented leisure time with family and relatives in contrast to the hectic…

Alvar Aalto in Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä

In Jyväskylä, the city of lakes and hills in the heart of the Finnish Lakeland, you’ll find the largest number of masterful buildings in the whole world designed by the world-famous architect and academician Alvar Aalto. The impressive portfolio of 28 locations includes, for instance, the Alvar Aalto Museum, Muurame…

Jyväskylä Workers’ Club

Jyväskylä / 1924-25

Jyväskylä Workers’ club building was the first notable public building that Alvar Aalto got to design after his graduation with Aino Aalto. Aalto was given the design commission for the new building in the city centre by the Jyväskylä Workers’ Association in 1924. The plans for the building were made…

Muurame church

Jyväskylä / 1926-29

Alvar Aalto designed several church plans in 1920’s and Muurame church is the only one that was realised. Muurame church is considered to be a interphase in Aalto’s career. After Muurame church, Aalto gradually moved on from classism to functionalism. The village of Muurame lies a few miles south of Jyväskylä,…

Säynätsalo Town Hall

Jyväskylä / 1949-52

The invitational competition for Säynätsalo Town Hall was held in 1949. Aalto won the competition with an entry marked ‘Curia’, and was immediately commissioned to prepare working drawings. Completed in 1952, the building is one of Aalto’s most admired designs. The dominant element of the building is the council chamber,…

Information on this trip

Good to know

The language of the tour is English and it is available for everyone.

Included

– accommodation of 6 nights as mentioned in the tour program
– the services of the English speaking tour leader
– breakfast daily
– 6 meals (lunch or dinner) to be informed in the final tour program
– transportation Helsinki-Paimio-Turku-Kauttua-Noormarkku-Seinäjoki-Alajärvi-Jyväskylä-Helsinki
– guiding with local guides in English at all visiting places mentioned in the program
– admission fees
– all taxes and fees

Example price 2195€ in twin-bedded room per person

Single supplement 595€

This tour price requires at least of a group of 10 persons (collected by Finland Holidays).
These prices are valid in December 2023.
Finland Holidays reserves the right to alter tour program and prices.

Tour conditions:
A deposit of 500€/ per person is required upon reservation
The end payment must be made by the 30th of April, 2024

Cancellation penalty
 by cancellation date:
After paying the deposit 200€
Three months or less before the departure 50%
Two months or less before the departure 75%
Six weeks or less before the departure 100%
See terms and conditions:

Inquiries and bookings

Example price 2195€ in twin-bedded room per person

Single supplement 595€

This tour price requires at least of a group of 10 persons (collected by Finland Holidays).
These prices are valid in December 2023.
Finland Holidays reserves the right to alter tour program and prices.

Tour conditions:
A deposit of 500€/ per person is required upon reservation
The end payment must be made by the 30th of April, 2024

Cancellation penalty
 by cancellation date:
After paying the deposit 200€
Three months or less before the departure 50%
Two months or less before the departure 75%
Six weeks or less before the departure 100%
See terms and conditions:
All inquires and reservations are made by email to sales@finlandholidays.fi. The tour confirmation will be sent when all the services included in the tour are confirmed by the suppliers.
Finland Holidays

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