Badhusparken, or the Bath House Park, is one of the older tourist spots in Mariehamn. It also has another name, Engelska parken, the English Park. There are some rather prominent buildings in the park. It is home to the bathhouse pavilion, the Swedish consulate, “Doktorsvillan”, and Åland Maritime Museum. It is also one of the places on the Åland Islands where you are able to see a traditional midsummer pole during the summer. Furthermore, this is the place to go if you want to enjoy the ever more popular sport of disc golf.
Badhusparken
This park is actually close to Västerhamn, the port where the ferries from Sweden and mainland Finland arrive. In fact, the nearby hill, Badhusberget with Mariehamn’s water tower, is usually a good spot for watching the large ferries arrive and depart. The park is one of several green parks in Mariehamn, but few can compete with its long history. The building known as “Doktorsvillan, was built already in 1896 as a part of the former bath house. There used to be a hotel in the park but it burned down already in 1916.
Time has changed the park and there are few signs left of the former bathhouse. The park was for decades a secluded spot for people walking their dogs and for the youth to hide while consuming prohibited drinks and playing loud music. That has started to change and the park is today used for public and private. It is also home to the island’s oldest course for disc golf. The disc golf course originally opened in 1982 and was modernized in 2019. There are a total of 9 holes and this course is one of 11 different courses for disc golf on the Åland Islands.
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