Planning a boat trip in the archipelago
This guide is for boaters who know how to handle a boat and are planning a trip to the Archipelago Sea or the Gulf of Finland. Here we have gathered the steps for planning the trip with the tools on our website, together with the rules and practices in the area from official sources.
Details checked against sources in October 2026.
Plan your trip step by step
Choose a destination
In our trip guides, we describe each destination's harbour, services and sights. On the theme pages, you can find destinations with, for example, a sauna or a restaurant, or ones only a short journey away, and the trip map shows all the destinations and departure points.
Check the route, travel time and fuel
The route tool shows the route on a map along with the distance, the travel time and a fuel estimate, one way and for the round trip. The estimates take the slower sections of the route into account. The actual time and consumption depend on the boat, the conditions, the load and how you drive.
Check the weather
The route tool's wind forecast shows the wind, gusts and wind direction in the departure area for the next few days, based on the Finnish Meteorological Institute's forecast. Before you set off, also check the Finnish Meteorological Institute's marine weather and any wind warnings in force for sea areas, and keep an eye on the weather while you are on the water.
Marine weather (Finnish Meteorological Institute) (opens in a new tab)Warnings (Finnish Meteorological Institute) (opens in a new tab)
Time your return for daylight
Together with the wind forecast, you can see the times of sunrise and sunset. Allow enough time for the return trip so that you arrive before dark, especially in spring and autumn.
Check the services and refuelling
With the trip map's Services on site filter, you can find destinations with, for example, fuel sales, a sauna or a restaurant. Many services are only open in the summer season, so check the opening hours on the destination's website.
Read the destination's guide
The guide gives you the harbour details, information on landing and the services, and in the sources you will find links to the destination's own websites. At the top of the guide, we tell you when the information was last checked.
Rules in the area
Speed limits and bans on creating wash
Under the Water Traffic Act, a boat must be operated in compliance with the speed limit in force and at a speed suited to the conditions. Where possible, local bans and restrictions are marked with water traffic signs. In an area with a ban on creating wash, avoid creating wash that may cause damage to traffic, the environment, fishing or recreational use. The ban is often combined with a speed limit.
Our travel time estimates take the slower sections of the route into account, and in some of our guides we describe the restrictions along the route, for example in the Barösund strait.
National parks and protected areas
There are national parks near our destinations, such as the Archipelago National Park, Ekenäs Archipelago National Park and the Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park. In national parks and other protected areas, the area's regulations apply, and they differ in part from everyman's rights.
To leave nesting birds in peace, landing is prohibited on some of the national parks' islands from April to July, and on some islands in the Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park until mid-August. In the Archipelago National Park, the restricted areas also protect seal rocks. Check the restricted areas on the national park's pages on Luontoon.fi before you go ashore.
Everyman's rights and the privacy of homes
Under everyman's rights, you may go boating, swim and stay temporarily in areas where access is also allowed. You may not disturb the privacy of homes, for example by camping too close to houses or by making noise, walk across private yards, light an open fire on someone else's land, litter or disturb birds' nests and chicks.
Everyman's rights do not apply as such in all areas, such as national parks.
Rubbish, waste and septic tanks
Take your rubbish away with you or leave it at a waste point. The Roope service points of the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association include waste points, pump-out stations for toilet waste and dry toilets, among other things, and you can find them on the Roope service map. The services are funded by the association's membership fees.
Discharging toilet waste into the water has been prohibited in Finland since 2005. Empty the boat's septic tank at a pump-out station, not into the water.
Harbour practices
In guest harbours, moor according to the harbour's instructions. Common methods are mooring bow-first to the jetty with the stern secured to a buoy or stern anchor, boom mooring, and mooring alongside the jetty. In the harbour section of the trip guide, we tell you what is known about the destination's harbour.
A natural shore has no jetty, so you need an anchor and mooring lines, and landing is only possible in suitable weather. Natural shores are marked separately in the trip guides.
The harbour fee and how to pay it vary from harbour to harbour. Check them on the harbour's website; you will find a link in the guide's sources.
Emergency and technical fault
In an emergency, call 112, primarily with the 112 Suomi app, which passes your location on to the rescue authorities, or call the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre directly on +358 294 1000. If the boat has a VHF radio, you can also call for help on channel 16 (VHF-DSC 70). The Buster Magnum does not have a VHF radio.
Give your name or the vessel's name and your contact details, the location as precisely as possible, what has happened, whether anyone is injured or lives are in danger, and what help is needed. Do not break off contact until you are given permission to do so.
If the Buster Magnum you have rented has a technical fault, call us on +358 44 500 5023 and we will agree on what to do next. We also go through what to do in the handover briefing. If you rent a boat elsewhere, ask the owner what to do in the event of a technical fault.
Life jackets and buoyancy aids only save lives when they are worn, so keep yours on for the whole trip.
Before you set off
- Route, travel time and fuel estimated
- Weather and wind warnings checked
- Return timed for before sunset
- Destination's services and opening hours checked
- National park restrictions checked, if the destination is in a park
- 112 Suomi app on your phone and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre's number +358 294 1000 saved
- Boat owner's number saved in case of a technical fault
- A life jacket for everyone, and everyone wearing one
Sources
- Boating and sailing – Luontoon.fi (Metsähallitus) (opens in a new tab)
- Everyman's rights – Luontoon.fi (opens in a new tab)
- Islands in the Archipelago National Park – Luontoon.fi (opens in a new tab)
- Ekenäs Archipelago National Park instructions and rules – Luontoon.fi (opens in a new tab)
- Islands of the Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park – Luontoon.fi (opens in a new tab)
- Prohibitions and restrictions in accordance with the Water Traffic Act (guidance of 14 June 2021) – Traficom (in Finnish) (opens in a new tab)
- Marine weather and Baltic Sea – Finnish Meteorological Institute (opens in a new tab)
- Roope services – Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association (opens in a new tab)
- Pump-out of boat toilet waste – Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association (in Finnish) (opens in a new tab)
- Roope service map (opens in Finnish – you can switch the language to English) (opens in a new tab)
- Alarm instructions – Finnish Lifeboat Institution (in Finnish) (opens in a new tab)
A boat for your trip
For destinations in the Archipelago Sea, we rent out our own Buster Magnum from Kaarina and Naantali. We do not have a boat of our own on the Gulf of Finland, so see the area's rental boats on Friilo.