Liminka and surroundings

Liminka (Swedish: Limingo) is a municipality in the Western Oulu region. It was founded in 1477 around the Liminganjoki river, and as of 2023, it has approximately 10 000 inhabitants. The municipalities of Lumijoki and Tyrnävä are also handled in this article.

Understand

According to folklore, the name Liminka derives from a giant named Limmi who was active in the region back in the day.

The parish of Liminka is one of the oldest in the Oulu region, gaining independence as a parish in the 15th century.

Liminka is one of the fastest growing towns in the region.

Tourist and local information

• Visit Liminka
• Lumijoki municipality
• Tyrnävä municipality

Get in

Liminka is a half an hour (28 km/17 mi) drive away from Oulu, making it easy to travel there with both car and public transport.

By plane

The nearest airport is Oulu Airport. There are around 10 flights per day each way from Helsinki Airport to Oulu. A fully flexible return economy ticket might cost more than €200 but a non-changeable one-way ticket can go as low as €39 when bought months in advance. There are also some services from Stockholm.

You can take bus line 8 or 9 to the centre (every 15 min) and transfer to any of the lines 52-54 to Liminka. You need to change the bus stop in the city center from Kaupungintalo P to Pekuri E. Be sure to get an "ABC" ticket on the first bus, so that you don't have to buy that separately.

By train

Trains don't stop at Liminka. The nearest station is in Kempele, yet more trains go to Oulu than to Kempele.

Oulu is on the railway main line between Helsinki and Rovaniemi. The day trains complete the journey from Helsinki to Oulu in about 6 hours, while direct sleepers take around 9 hours. The standard price is about €60 (€100 with a berth), if you book early there are offers for about half the price. The newest type of sleeper train carriages have a shower and a toilet in each 2-person cabin. As when going to Rovaniemi, you can also take your car with you on the overnight train. Train tickets are at their cheapest exactly 60 days in advance, as the advance tickets (ennakkolippu) become available at that time.

Citybuses A, B and C take you to the city centre core, where you can change to line to Liminka. You could also walk a kilometre to the bus stop "Pekuri E" and take the bus 52, 52A, 52K, 53, 53A, 53R or 54 without transfer (For the buses 53 and 54 you can also use the stop "Linja-autoasema P", but Pekuri is the safer and faster option) . For Liminka you need the "ABC" ticket, which includes the citybus.

By bus

Coaches coordinated by Matkahuolto connect Liminka to some other cities, but they can be expensive. Oulu has a wider selection of lines, so it's probably best to take the long-distance bus to Oulu and continue with regional public transport to Liminka.

From Helsinki the coach costs about €35. You can try to search for a bargain from the website of Onnibus, a cheaper bus company, though nowadays it has raised prices and is listed under Matkahuolto as well.

Coming from Oulu, you can also use bus lines 52-54 of the Oulu public transportation. You need the "ABC" ticket (say that or just Liminkaan, "to Liminka"), which is valid 80 min and costs €8.30/4.20 (children: 7–16 years). The last bus to Liminka leaves at 21:45.

Get around

By foot

Being a small town, the core of Liminka is easily walked around in.

By bus

See also: Oulu#By bus 2, Oulu#By bus

The public transport in Liminka is operated by Oulu PTA. It mainly focuses on getting customers in and out of town, but it can also be used for traveling inside Liminka. The buses 52A and 53(A) get you to the Liminganlahti nature center. The fare for the buses inside liminka are €3.30/€1.70 (children).

Liminganlahti visitor centre

Liminka Museum Area

By taxi

See also: Western Oulu region#By taxi

• Otaxi offers taxi service in Liminka
• Smartphone apps: Valopilkku, 02 Taksi

See

• 1 Liminganlahti Visitor Centre (Liminganlahden luontokeskus), Rantakurvi 6 (by car, head toward Lumijoki. by bus, take the line 52A or 53(A) and get off at the stop "Luontokeskus th".), ☏ +358 20-639-6059, liminganlahti@metsa.fi. Liminganlahti surely is the most important sight in town. It is one of the most important wetlands in Finland, and a popular spot for birdwatchers from all around the world to visit. The visitor centre also offers a bird-themed exhibition, a café and a hotel. Free of charge. (updated Sep 2019)
• 2 Liminka Museum District (Old Liminka), Rantatie (the area is about a 1-km walk from the main bus stop in Liminka). The historic museum district holds three museums; the local history museum, Aabraham Ojanperä memorial home, and the Vilho Lampi museum. The Rantatie street is a nice stroll since it holds many pretty, historical buildings as well as the Liminka parish building. On the other side of the small Liminganjoki river there is also the art school of Liminka, which has a lot of nice outdoor artworks, and which is one of the oldest Finnish folk high schools. (updated Sep 2019)
• 3 Liminka Church (Limingan kirkko), Kirkkotie 14 (a 1-km walk from the main bus stop), ☏ +358 44-752-1220. The Liminka church has been burned four times, and the current one was built in 1826. It was designed by Anders Fredrik Granstedt and Anton Wilhelm Arppe, and it represents neoclassicism. (updated Sep 2019)

Lumijoki

• 4 Lumijoki town hall (Kunnantalo (Lumilinna)), Kunnankuja 1. Quite an unusual functionalist building in many ways, built in wood, located in a small town and serving as a town hall. It was finished in 1938 and first used as the local headquarters for Suojeluskunta, and nowadays the town hall. (updated Nov 2019)

Tyrnävä

Tyrnäva church

• 5 Tyrnäva church (Tyrnävän kirkko),  Tyrnävä church village.  The wooden neo- Gothic church was designed by Oulu county architect FW Lüchow . Its shape is a long church with an end tower, with a tower at the west end. The church was completed in 1881. The altarpiece "Paimenten kumarrus" was painted by painter TG Tuhkanen in 1907. The two bells are from 1727 and 1908. (updated Sep 2023)

Do

• 1 Liminka Bay Nature Reserve. Liminka Bay is one of Europe’s most important bird wetlands. Watch birds in the world renowned Nature Reserve and visit the adjacent nature center in Liminka. (updated Mar 2021)

Buy

The town center of Liminka has some shops and stores.

Sleep

Liminganlahti visitor centre has a small, yet clean and quality hotel with 6 rooms. There is also a hotel called Place to Sleep Hotel Liminka in the town center. More selection for hotels is found in Oulu.

Go next

• Oulu, the biggest city in the region
• Hailuoto, a big island in the Bay of Bothnia
• Ii, another small municipality with a beautiful old town

Routes through Liminka and surroundings

Oulu ←	N  SW	→ Raahe → Kokkola
Merges with (N) ←	N  S	→ Siikalatva → Kärsämäki → Pyhäjärvi → Jyväskylä