Get in
Hanko is primary notable as a port, with regular car ferry services to Rostock in Germany. There is limited commuter train service from Karjaa, on the main Helsinki-Turku line, or you can opt for a direct bus from either city. All options take roughly two hours.
Do
Hanko is best known as the site of the Hangon Regatta yacht race, held yearly in early July. The race draws a large number of spectators and the entire city takes on a festive, sometime rowdy carnival atmosphere.
Hanko (IPA: ), or Hangö in Swedish, (Гангут in Russian), is a small bilingual port city on the south coast of Finland, 130 km west of Helsinki. Its current population is 9,905 (2004-12-31), with a majority being Finnish speakers and a strong minority being (44,3 %) Swedish speakers.
In the late 1800s, while Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia, Hanko was a popular spa resort for the Russian nobility. Some of the buildings from that period survive, notably the Hanko Casino (which is not a gambling establishment, but a former banquet hall of the spa). It is nowadays a restaurant.
Field Marshal C. G. Mannerheim owned a café, "Neljän Tuulen Tupa" ("The House of the Four Winds") which still is very popular among tourists and residents alike.
The Bengtskär lighthouse is the highest one (52 meters) in the Nordic countries. It is situated to the south of Hanko. It was built in 1906 and it is the first lighthouse museum in Finland.
Soviet naval base
In the Moscow Peace Treaty that ended the Winter War on March 6, 1940, Hanko was leased to the Soviet Union as a military base for a period of 30 years. During the Continuation War, Soviet troops were forced to evacuate Hanko in early December 1941. The Soviet Union renounced the lease formally in the Paris peace treaty of 1947. As a curiosity, it can be noted that the short Russo-Finnish front across the base of the peninsula on the Finnish side was held in part by volunteer troops from Sweden. A museum has been established at this location, among the trenches and other remnants of the war.
The role of the Hanko naval base was replaced by Porkkala in the armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union of September 19, 1944, released back to Finland in January 1956.
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