There are easier ways to get a date. Download an app. Loiter near the attractive people at your local pub. Apparently, stand around a Finnish supermarket holding a pink shopping basket.
Or you could actually fly to Finland.
This February, the world’s happiest country is playing matchmaker with Finnish Dinner Date, an international call-out for singles willing to travel, eat and see whether romance survives a Nordic winter.
Sixteen people will be chosen for two group trips, split between Helsinki and Tampere in Finland’s Lakeland region. Each four-day experience revolves around one very big dinner date, where eight strangers will sit down together for one of Finland’s official tasting menus. Your city is part of the blind-date business too; successful applicants won’t find out which trip they’ve scored until they’re selected.
And Finland isn’t chucking a few meatballs on the table and hoping Cupid handles the rest.
Helsinki’s menu comes from Café Savoy head chef Adele Kinnunen, while chef and former Bocuse d’Or competitor Henry Tikkanen is behind the Lakeland spread. Expect Finnish ingredients like wild fish, game, berries and mushrooms, alongside regional traditions, landscapes and plenty of opportunities to discover whether your fellow diners are tolerable.
RELATED ⟶ BEAR NECESSITIES
The idea was partly inspired by Finland’s viral Sinkkukori, or “single basket”, phenomenon, where shoppers grab a pink supermarket basket to quietly advertise that they’re single and open to meeting someone. Consider this the considerably more ambitious version.
Want in? Applicants need to make an English-language video answering one question: What would you serve on a dinner date, and why? Post it to Instagram, TikTok or YouTube using #FinnishDinnerDate, tag Visit Finland and complete the application form.
Applications close 10 November 2026, with the 16 chosen singles announced on 1 December.
Worst case? No soulmate, but four days eating your way around Finland. Hey, we’ve had worse dates.
Share >
Get back to nature in more ways than one on an adventure exploring the lakes and forests of Central Finland.
Everyone knows Finnish Lapland. Fewer people know Hailuoto.
