Moomins Are Finland’s Favorite Cartoon Creatures—Here’s Where to See Them in Helsinki

Tove Janssons Moomin characters
Tove Jansson’s Moomin charactersPhoto: © Moomin Characters™

To the bewilderment of almost everyone I know, last March I designed an entire trip to Europe around the Moomins. The Moomins are creatures from a Finnish children's book series—odd, yet undeniably cute (how can you resist a character with a name like Moominmamma?), and incredibly popular. Technically known as trolls, they look more like miniature hippopotamuses, and they live “in harmony with nature”—Moomintroll, a protagonist, is an avid collector of shells.

In Finland, the Moomins are huge—the equivalent of Mickey Mouse and all his animated friends. Instead of Disneyland, the Finns have Moominworld. I knew this journey would check an item off my life-long, well-tended, travel bucket list, in the same way that taking pastry making classes in Paris, and visiting the French gothic cathedrals had in the past. But my affection for these fantastical creatures went a bit deeper.

A work on display at the Helsinki Museum of Art.Photo: Hanna Rikkonen / Courtesy of Helsinki Museum of Art

An undeniable failure at summer sports camps, my parents eventually sent me to a series of cozier, introverts-welcome, art camps. One such camp, which I attended annually for weeks at a time, had a particularly appealing sewing class. We would sit on the rug of a portable classroom floor, making sachets and miniature pillows for our dolls. (If this sounds difficult to believe, now is when I should probably disclose that I am from Berkeley, California.) As we took these steps into the wider world of hand sewing, the teacher would read to us from Tove Jansson's Mumintroll series.

What exactly happens in The Moomins and the Great Flood? Or Finn Family Moomintroll? To be honest, I don't really remember, but whether it was the mystery of the Moominvalley, the adorable illustrations, or simply the escape from sports camp purgatory, for years I harbored a nostalgic love and appreciation for the Moomins and their world. So when I found myself with an open spring week, the Moomins sprang to the forefront of my mind. Suddenly, this seemed like the perfect (perhaps the only!) chance to do this trip.

I booked myself for a couple days in Helsinki, with European stops on either end to help justify the trip. Sadly, I quickly realized that Moominworld, like a handful of other Moomin-related attractions, was far from the nation's capital, and located in an even icier stretch of the country. My driving skills, and my sense of adventure, weren't up for the trek. But it turns out Helsinki has more Moomin-related attractions than I could have imagined.

One of Helsinki's local Mumin Kaffees.Photo: Courtesy of Madeleine Luckel

My first stop after getting settled in my Airbnb was a trip to a Mumin Kaffe. These franchised coffee shops are dripping in Moomin-themed memorabilia, as well as menus designed to evoke the fictional cuisine of the Moomin world. Next up, I went to Iittala & Arabia, one of Finland's best-known tableware shops, and the supplier of Moomin mugs. Afterwards, I visited the Helsinki Museum of Art, which boasts a permanent exhibition devoted to the history of the Moomins. Then on to the Moomin Store, and the plaque-marked home of Tove Jansson, the creator of the Moomins.

Moomin mugs for sale at Iittala & Arabia.Photo: Courtesy of Madeleine Luckel

Seeking out Moomin-focused destinations was a great guiding principle to direct my wandering, leading me to great food, shops, and other attractions (like Loyly, a lovely waterfront spa) along the way. And in my explorations, I realized that I was far from alone in my appreciation for these characters—in fact, the Moomins are an even bigger deal than I had previously thought. When I asked a local Finn about the Moomins, and how much tourism she thought they drove, I heard that it was not uncommon for tourists from Japan to come to Finland to get married in the MoominValley.

So why exactly are the Moomins so popular—in Finland, abroad, and with people like myself? I think it has something to do with the books' underlying message. While talking to another local Finn in Helsinki, I learned that the books themselves are often viewed as an allegory for the struggle between good and evil. I may not have grasped this as a 10-year-old, but the world of the Moomins often offers up an example for how to live a peaceful yet adventurous life. And that, after all, is the type of ideal that causes so many travelers to set out from home.