Salo Pumpkin Park – the unofficial main Halloween phenomenon in Finland
A visitor once described its atmosphere as the “Stars Hallow of Finland”. Those of you who have enjoyed the Gilmore Girls tv-series will get what this means. Please let me introduce you to this special place which magically appears and disappears annually and has brought the soft light of pumpkin lanterns to the life of Finns.
Salo Pumpkin Park (‘Kurpitsaviikot’)
- Location on Google Maps
- Address: Vaskiontie 50, Halikko/Salo (limited parking space)
- Some of the buses between Helsinki and Turku pass by the park. Use the Matkahuolto journey planner to find a suitable connection.
- Pumpkin Bus shuttles from the town of Salo every 30 to 60 minutes when the park is open.
- The event takes place every October, lasts about two weeks and is organised by the local garden company Rannikon Puutarha.
- Read more
Pumpkin Park fair ground
Salo Pumpkin Park is a compact fair ground open for roughly a fortnight with a free admission. The main attraction of the park are thousands of carved pumpkins with candle lights. Over one hundred thousand visitors come to see this “light show” annually. There’s just something extra special in pumpkin lanterns and their carved faces. And the speciality for Finns might just be that they are still fairly rare, as Halloween has never been part of Finnish culture.
In the park visitors enjoy strolling around in hay as the park is created on an actual field after the actual farming season has ended. Spookyish decorations have been set around the area and there are skeletons and other eerie creatures lurking here and there. The decorations tend to “lift the spirit” instead of actually being too scary.
Kids and families in the center
Family visitors with younger kids choose to visit the park generally during the day time with day light and the newest addition to the park were a couple of local sheep munching hay and hanging in their own little stall. Soft (and very much alive) contrast for the said plastic skeletons. Kids have been taken into consideration with the design of the park attractions as there are for example a couple of mazes constructed from corn stovers or hay bales. There’s even a bale bastion reaching the height of approximately 3 meters!
Lantern art in the night
Autumn evenings with the spooktober-feeling is the exact time when the park shows its best attraction: the lit lanterns. It shouldn’t be a surprise that people are attracted to lanterns in the autumn when the evenings turn really dark. In the Salo Pumpkin Park it’s the large number of carved lanterns that amaze so many. There are lanterns everywhere. Some are carved really quickly, but many are more like pieces of art.
You can see different designs in every lantern. Popular creatures from cartoons and stories, animals and imaginary beings. One can have great fun for quite a while just looking at different lanterns, similar to strolling around in an art gallery.
The thing that makes these lanterns even more special are the actual candles and their real flame. The flames of the candles inside the lanterns slightly “cook” the pumpkin around them which creates an amazingly inviting seasonal scent for the whole park. Intelligently there are also little kiosks in the park where visitors can buy pumpkin related snacks and refreshments.
Top recommendations for Salo Pumpkin Park visitors:
- Two visits: one in the dark time to enjoy the lantern light and second in day time (special recommendation for those visiting with kids). If you must choose, choose the lantern light
- Wear firm shoes, water or mud proof!
- 1 hour may be enough for the visit. Reserve a little extra time for transitions.
- Admission free for everybody
- Reserve money for buying snacks
- Pumpkins are for sale. 10-30 € for a souvenir pumpkin. Carved and non-carved options.
- As a special treat, watermelons grown in Salo are also on sale.
- Explore other attractions in Salo area in the same visit. If you have a car, it’s well worth making a detour to Teijo National Park, for example, where the local Mathildedal ironworks village also celebrates with a Halloween theme.
During the event, the medieval stone church of Halikko and its churchyard, located almost right next to Kurpitsapuisto (Pumpkin Park), are also beautifully illuminated after dark.
How to plan your visit
The Pumpkin Park is an open air fair ground so dress according to the weather. We strongly recommend firm, mud- water- and hay proof shoes (read: rubber boots). Some areas are accessible with wheelchair or strollers, mostly the pumpkin barn store and snack booths, but the main lantern attractions and hay bale constructions are not easily accessible. Kids and dogs are warmly welcome, but please notice the nature of the event. Large crowds packed in a fairly compact venue in the dark of the night without proper lighting might be stressful for some.
The Pumpkin Park with additional services has developed organically year after year. Nowadays the whole Salo celebrates pumpkins and autumn and there are a number of other satellite events around the area. If you wish to visit further events and attractions it’s advisable to have your own car so you can optimize time and travel. This year (2026) special attention has been put on public transportation and there is a good connection from Salo town centre to the Pumpkin Park. This means it’s convenient to visit the boutiques and cafes in town centre before or after the Pumpkin Park.
In 2026, the park’s announced opening hours are from 10 am to 10 pm daily. Please pay extra attention to parking recommendations as the town and the event venue are not originally designed for such a number of visitors and therefore there is very limited parking capacity.
Read next
Hiking Through Autumn Wonders in Teijo National Park, Salo
A Trek Through the Dark Forest – Experiencing the Safety of Finnish Nature
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