Ketunretket — Timo and Arja

Ketunretket is Timo and Arja, two authorised Finnish guides who have run their own small company out of Järvenpää since 2017 — half an hour north of Helsinki, and close enough to the airport that they will collect you from it. Almost everything they do is private: your family or your group, their own six-seat Mercedes van, and a route built around what you actually want. One day that means Senate Square, Oodi and the ferry to Suomenlinna; the next it is a log lean-to in the Usmi wilderness with coffee boiling on an open fire and salmon grilling on a plank. They also run Porvoo, the artists’ road along Lake Tuusula, Tallinn as a day trip, and group events — dragon boats, geocaching, a traditional whisking sauna.

What they run

• Helsinki, on foot or by van. A private two-to-three-hour walk from your hotel — Senate Square, the Market Square, the Esplanade, the Rock Church, the Sibelius monument, Oodi — is €285 for two, €45 for each extra adult and €10 per child. A longer city day is €390, and Suomenlinna on its own is €350.
• Porvoo and the country side. €450 for the day, private transport from Helsinki included: the medieval town, the wooden houses along the river, and the Lake Tuusula artists’ road on the way back if you want it. The Tuusula road on its own is €320.
• Forest and national parks. This is what they are really for. Northern Nuuksio is €420 for five hours; Sipoonkorpi from €350 with lunch cooked over a fire; the Hyvinkää Sveitsi wilderness €350; Liesjärvi €550. Snowshoe trekking is €310 for five hours, snowshoes, transport and grilled sausages included, up to six people. In autumn you pick mushrooms; in winter, if you want, they cut a hole in the ice.
• The airport, with a guide attached. €155 covers two hours from Helsinki-Vantaa to your hotel with commentary on the way — a transfer that is also a first tour. Useful if you land with half a day to spend before the Lapland flight.
• Groups and events. A dragon boat takes 22 paddlers for €950. Geocaching for a group is €450, the hobby-horse day €485, and Arja’s whisking sauna — birch and oak whisks, a herbal foot bath, a swim in the lake or a dip through the ice — is €830.
• Further afield. Tallinn as a private day trip from Helsinki, €650.

Worth knowing before you write

• The price is for the group. Every tour is quoted for two people, with a fixed amount for each extra adult — €30 to €70 depending on the trip. A family of five on a forest hike therefore pays far less per head than the same five would on a per-person tour. Ask for the total in writing.
• No Hebrew. Timo and Arja guide in English, Finnish and Swedish. If Hebrew matters for your group, see Jewish Heritage Tours Helsinki for the Helsinki day, and write to Ketunretket in English for everything else.
• Kosher and Shabbat are not set up. Food on the forest trips is sausages or salmon grilled over an open fire, and there is no kosher provision. Say so when you book — the fire, the coffee and the hike work perfectly well without their food, and you can bring your own. Our article on kosher, Shabbat and Jewish life in Finland covers what is available near Helsinki.
• Six seats. The van is a six-seat Mercedes with wireless headsets for the commentary. Beyond six people it becomes a coach and a different quote, so give them your real numbers in the first email.
• They are outdoor guides first. Timo is a nature and wilderness guide, Arja a sauna and wellbeing specialist; both are authorised city guides as well. If you want a forest day rather than a monument day, this is the listing for it — and the walking is moderate, on soft snow in winter, so say if anyone in the group needs it easy.
• Everything is on their webshop. Each tour has its own page with photographs, the price and what is included, and you can book it there directly. Write to Timo first if you want the day rearranged, which he is happy to do.

Operated by Ketunretket Oy, Järvenpää (founded 2017). Photographs from the operator’s own website. Details taken from ketunretket.com and their tour webshop in August 2026 — confirm current prices, group sizes and inclusions with them directly.