Amaz­ing Oulu

Hey, have you heard about Oulu? The amaz­ing, big city that is still so cosy and com­pact?

Read about the laid-back home of more than 200 000 inhab­i­tants, where you can trav­el from any loca­tion to anoth­er in 20 min­utes. Find out about the edu­ca­tion and research hub that is also rep­re­sent­ed around the world as the birth­place of wild cul­tur­al ideas – as it hap­pens, Oulu is also the Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Cul­ture for 2026!

Basic course about Oulu – 10 + 1 impor­tant facts

1. The aver­age Oulu res­i­dent is easy-going, socia­ble, hos­pitable, help­ful, and fair. How­ev­er, they often have a slight­ly quirky sense of humour (quite nor­mal by local stan­dards) and do not hes­i­tate to show it.

2. An Oulu res­i­dent is also cre­ative, some­times in their own pecu­liar way. Besides the wire­less tech­nol­o­gy that has rev­o­lu­tionised glob­al com­mu­ni­ca­tions, the peo­ple of Oulu have also come up with inno­va­tions such as the Air Gui­tar World Cham­pi­onships, pitch­ing busi­ness ideas from a hole in the sea ice, and a male choir that does not sing but shouts.

3. Oulu Air­port is so vivid­ly oper­at­ed that it is almost the busiest one in Fin­land. With­out the Helsin­ki Air­port and Rovanie­mi Air­port, this would actu­al­ly be the case.

4. Oulu peo­ple love cycling regard­less of the sea­son. In fact, Oulu has unof­fi­cial­ly been called the win­ter cycling cap­i­tal of the world. Many media from abroad have vis­it­ed Oulu in the win­ter for amazed reports about the season’s bike traf­fic and cycle­way main­te­nance in any weath­er.

The cycle­way net­work in Oulu is quite exten­sive, too: Toward the end of 2021, there are near­ly 1000 kilo­me­tres of cycle­ways in and around the city, and more are being built all the time. Besides the reg­u­lar cycle­ways, new Cycling Super­high­ways are being con­struct­ed for the busiest routes from the city cen­tre to out­er dis­tricts.

5. The wind in Oulu is a clas­sic: it will always blow against you, no mat­ter which way you are head­ing. The peo­ple in Oulu have even devel­oped a spe­cial Oulu expres­sion that you may see on the faces of bik­ers in a head­wind. How­ev­er, the ben­e­fits of wind are vital to the area. Nowa­days, the Oulu region is the most sig­nif­i­cant hub of wind pow­er con­struc­tion that cre­ates sus­tain­able ener­gy and brings new jobs.

6. Some­times you may hear geo­graph­i­cal­ly incor­rect state­ments about Oulu being part of Lap­land. Although this is not the case, we are not all that far. The dis­tance between Oulu and the bor­der of Lap­land is only about 80 kilo­me­tres. From there on, the jour­ney to the state­ly moun­tains up north is easy and quick. If you want to have a hol­i­day in the Swedish or Nor­we­gian Lap­land for a change, the dis­tance is not much longer either.

7. Win­ter sport lovers do not even have to go to Lap­land to con­quer new hills or vis­it famil­iar ones. The south­ern­most fell in Fin­land, Iso-Syöte, is only about a 1.5‑hour dri­ve north­east of Oulu – about halfway to an even big­ger fell, Ruka in Kuusamo. If ski­ing down from such high peaks turns your knees into jel­ly, there is a ski cen­tre even in Oulu. Believe it or not, the Rusko­tun­turi ski cen­tre was built on land­fill. The gen­tle and short slopes there are per­fect for small­er chil­dren and those who fear heights, while the more reck­less can enjoy faster speeds in the snow parks.

8. In Oulu, you can expe­ri­ence all the sea­sons at their most beau­ti­ful. Spring and sum­mer are nice and warm, and autumn cov­ers the city in all the colours the sea­son has to offer. For a big part of the year, though, snow and sub-zero tem­per­a­tures dic­tate the con­di­tions. Here you do not have to wor­ry about not get­ting a white Christ­mas.

9. Every day, you prob­a­bly use wire­less tech­nol­o­gy that was devel­oped in Oulu. Actu­al­ly near­ly three bil­lion oth­er peo­ple around the world do, too. Oulu has pio­neered this tech­nol­o­gy glob­al­ly for half a cen­tu­ry. As a result, 5G lives in Oulu, and 6G research has also been kicked off here. Nokia is the biggest pri­vate employ­er in the region, but in Oulu they do not make rub­ber boots or car tyres.

10. Do you know which north­ern city will become the Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Cul­ture in 2026? Well, Oulu, of course. We already have a mul­ti­tude of fab­u­lous events through­out the year. When it comes to music, there are big fes­ti­vals for tens of thou­sands of vis­i­tors as well as more com­pact events organ­ised by local asso­ci­a­tions and clubs. In the met­al cap­i­tal of Fin­land (if not the world), there are also spe­cial fes­ti­vals to serve true genre enthu­si­asts. The two-week Oulu Music Fes­ti­val offers some­thing for all tastes every spring.

Fes­ti­vals in Oulu are not just about music, though. Held annu­al­ly toward the end of Novem­ber at the dark­est time of the year, Lumo Light Fes­ti­val can attract more than 100 000 spec­ta­tors to admire inter­na­tion­al light art instal­la­tions.

+ There are many big things under devel­op­ment in Oulu right now – before Oulu becomes the Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Cul­ture in 2026, the city has the hon­our of host­ing the nation­al hous­ing fair in 2025. This means build­ing a whole new res­i­den­tial dis­trict on the water­front in the Oulu Riv­er estu­ary, of course keep­ing in mind the prin­ci­ples of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, the val­ues of nature, and the needs of every Oulu res­i­dent.

Com­mu­ni­ty & Demo­graph­ic Data