🍻 Can I drink alcohol in a park in Finland?

It depends

Quick answer

Yes — a park picnic with a bottle of wine is legal. The Public Order Act bans consuming intoxicants in public places in built-up areas, but it makes an explicit exception: drinking in a park or a comparable place is allowed as long as it doesn't prevent or unreasonably hinder other people's right to use the area. The line is drawn not at alcohol but at disturbance — a tidy picnic is a different thing from shouting, urinating or smashing bottles. Drinking on streets, market squares, transit stops and public transport is banned and can bring a €40 summary fine. A municipality cannot override the act, but event areas may carry their own restrictions.

📋 The rules

Main rule: consuming intoxicants in a built-up public place is banned under the Public Order Act.
Exception: parks and comparable public places are fine, as long as others' right to use the area isn't blocked or unreasonably hindered.
Streets, market squares, transit stops and public transport are off-limits.
Disturbance decides: a tidy picnic differs from shouting, urinating or smashing bottles — police act on the disturbance.
Municipalities can't override the act, but event areas can carry separate restrictions.

🔓 Exceptions

Licensed terraces and event areas run on their own permit rules.
Beaches and playgrounds: drinking right next to children is judged as disturbance far more readily.
Stops and public transport are always inside the ban: a bus or train carriage is not a park-comparable place, even if the stop sits at the edge of a park.

⚠️ Penalties

Drinking where it is banned — a street, a market square, a stop or a bus — brings a €40 summary fine. A ticket is possible in a park too if the group crosses the disturbance threshold: shouting, urinating or smashing bottles is no longer a picnic but a public-order violation with its own penalty. The third consequence isn't on any price list: a heavily intoxicated person in need of help can be taken into custody and driven to a sobering station, ending the evening in the cells regardless of whether the drinking spot itself was legal.

📎 Sources

Verified: 2026-07-12

❓ Frequently asked questions

Can we sit in a park with a case of beer?

Yes — as long as the group doesn't block others from using the area or cause unreasonable disturbance. Police step in over shouting, litter and urinating, not over the fact that people are drinking beer in a park.

Can I drink a beer walking down the street?

No — a street is not a park-comparable place, and drinking in a public place in a built-up area is banned by the Public Order Act. The summary fine is €40, and it applies on market squares and at stops too.

What about bus stops or trains?

Drinking at public-transport stops and on board is banned, and being next to a park changes nothing. Operators' own passenger rules add to the law and can get you removed from the vehicle.

Is drinking on a beach OK?

A beach can be comparable to a park, so non-disturbing drinking is allowed in principle. Near children the disturbance threshold is low, though — and glass bottles on sand are a bad idea in any case.

Can a municipality ban alcohol in its own parks?

Not by its own decision: municipalities cannot override the Public Order Act exception that permits non-disturbing drinking in parks. Event and licensed areas, however, can impose the organiser's own restrictions.

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