Kauniainen is a small town and a municipality of 10,177 inhabitants in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki.
The municipal taxation rate in Kauniainen is the lowest in Finland (16.5%), which has made the city attractive to high-income families. This in turn makes the average income generally high, making it possible to keep the taxation rate low without compromising the service to the inhabitants.
Approximately 58% of the population have Finnish as their mother tongue while 38% are Swedish speakers. The dominant party in the city council has traditionally been the Swedish People’s Party.
Attractions
Kauniainen is a villa town and the villa area has been named a nationally significant built cultural environment. In addition to nature, the most significant attractions in the area are old villas, such as Villa Wulff , Villa Junghans , Villa Heikel and Villa Vallmogård , Kauniainen Church , Kauniala War Injury Hospital and Heikki Häiväoja’s Fire Through the Sculpture, located in front of Kauniainen City Hall.
Services
Kauniainen is very self-sufficient in services, despite the small size of the city. The city has, among other things:
- Swimming Hall
- Ice rink
- Sledding slope
- Two ball fields, one of which is heated
- A ball hall dug into the rock
- Athletics field
- Finnish-language primary school Mäntymäki school , secondary school Kasavuori school and upper secondary school Kauniainen upper secondary school
- Swedish-language primary school Granhultsskolan , secondary school Hagelstamska skolan and upper secondary school Gymnasiet Grankulla samskola
- College of Music (operates in Villa Vallmogård )
- Citizens’ College (Petra)
- School of Fine Arts
- Kauniainen Workers’ Academy
- HUMAK University of Applied Sciences, Kauniainen Campus
- Finnish Bible School
- Kauniala War Injury Hospital
- Shopping center Grani
- Kauniainen City Library
- Health center
- Cinema Bio Grani
Transport
Kauniainen has good road connections in most directions. The east-to-west Helsinki–Turku motorway (national road 1) passes Kauniainen to the south and the old Helsinki–Turku main road (regional road 110) passes the northern parts of the town. The construction of the motorway in the 1960s played a big role when new inhabitants moved to Kauniainen, when they could drive quickly along the motorway into Helsinki’s city centre. The north-to-south Kehä II (Ring Road 2) passes the eastern corner of Kauniainen.
Public transportation
Kauniainen is served by two commuter rail stations, Kauniainen and Koivuhovi, on the Rantarata line, which was opened in 1903. The railway has been important for the development of Kauniainen as a suburb of Helsinki. Trains leave appromaximately every 15 minutes and the ride to Helsinki Central railway station takes about 20 minutes.
There are two regional bus lines which connect to Helsinki. There are also local bus lines which connect to various districts of Espoo.
