Caravanning in Finland

Caravanning in Finland

Travelling by car in Finland started to be more widespread in 1910s when Finland was part of the autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.  In 1917 Finland gained its independence and numerous reasons, such as: improvements in the road network, increase in the number of cars, publication of travel guides and interests shown by foreign travellers, led to a development of Finnish car travelling. After World War II and Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, Finland became an attractive country for both foreign and Finnish motorists. First caravans arrived in Finland in the 1950s and they were mostly homemade. Finnish caravan industry was launched in 1960s.

In the 1950s and 60s Finnish camping consisted mainly of camping in tents and a caravan was a rare sight on the road. Caravans started to attract many travelling families in the beginning of 60s and the idea of organising came up.

Finnish Federation of Camping, Caravanning and Motorcaravanning - SF Caravan, was established in 1964 as a nationwide organization.