©
Oulu trip planner
Create a fully customized
day by day itinerary for free
day by day itinerary for free
Oulu
Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the fifth most populous city in the country. There are no larger cities, apart from Murmansk, Russia, that are more northerly than Oulu. It is also considered one of Europe's "living labs", where residents experiment with new technology (such as NFC tags and ubi-screens) at a community-wide scale.EtymologyThe city is named after the river Oulujoki, which originates in the lake Oulujärvi. There have been a number of other theories for the origin of the name Oulu. One possible source for the name Oulu is a word in the Sami language meaning 'flood water', but there are other suggestions. At minimum, the structure of the word requires that, if originally given by speakers of a Uralic language, the name must be a derivative. In all likelihood, it also predates Finnish settlement and is thus a loanword from one of the now-extinct Saami languages once spoken in the area.The most probable theory is that the name derives from the Finnish dialectal word oulu, meaning "floodwater", which is related to e.g. Southern Sami åulo, meaning "melted snow", åulot meaning "thaw" (of unknown ultimate origin). Two other word families have also been speculated to be related. The first is seen in the Northern Savo dialectal word uula and its Sami counterpart oalli, both meaning "river channel". The second is the Uralic root reconstructed as *uwa, meaning "river bed" (reflected as vuo in modern Finnish, also in derivatives such as vuolas "heavy-flowing"). To either of these roots, some Sami variety would have to be assumed having added further derivational suffixes.Make the most of your holiday in Oulu by finding out about its attractions and choosing what to see using our Finland tour itinerary planner.
Source
Create a full itinerary — for free!
Plan your trip to Oulu
Get a personalized trip
A complete day by day itinerary
based on your preferencesCustomize it
Refine your trip. We'll find the
best routes and schedulesBook it
Choose from the best hotels
and activities. Up to 50% offManage it
Everything in one place.
Everyone on the same page.
Top Oulu tours
Popular things to do in Oulu
Side trips from Oulu
Hidden gems in Oulu
Museums in Oulu
Kid-friendly things to do in Oulu
Shopping in Oulu
Places to visit with Oulu
Recently planned trips to Oulu
42 days in Finnish Archipelago
BY A USER FROM LITHUANIA
Kotka
Koli
Oulu
4 days in Oulu
BY A USER FROM NORWAY
Oulun Automuseo
Oulun Taidemuseo
Oulu Cathedral
1 day in Oulu
BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES
Tietomaa
Ainolan Puisto
Kauppahalli
8 days in Oulu
BY A USER FROM BULGARIA
Pohjois-Pohjanmaan museo
Ainolan Puisto
Hupisaaret Park
8 days in Oulu
BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES
Pohjois-Pohjanmaan museo
Ainolan Puisto
Hupisaaret Park
9 days in Oulu & Lapland
BY A USER FROM FINLAND
Oulu
Rovaniemi
Levi