A natural environment, which has diversity in landscape elements, accessible terrain and optimal location along the road network, attracts people to the nature. Recreational use of landscapes with high-quality features promotes our well-being and health, contrary to the environments with a lot of disturbance. Identifying the characteristics and special features of landscapes is important not only for the wishes and needs of recreational users, but also in terms of urban planning. With the ongoing urbanization and the expansion of the human influence to new areas, accessing peaceful and quiet nature locations has become more and more difficult. This emphasizes the need of better understanding of recreational landscapes and their features.

In this master's thesis, the landscape features and recreational features of 28 nature trails in the city region of Turku were studied with GIS. Dominant landscape types were identified by using geographical information about topography and land cover classes. Also, the following landscape attributes were analyzed: diversity of the land cover, openness, ephemera, peace of nature, natural values and cultural-historical values. Objective of the analysis was to gain better understanding of the landscapes as multisensory entities. Additionally, the accessibility and recreational use characteristics of nature trails, ie. recreational services, and the characteristics of the trails that affect the use and walkability of the trails, such as terrain and slope, were studied. Finally, the research methods and results were examined from the perspective of landscape preferences and user-friendly application possibilities.

According to the research results, the nature trails of the Turku city region are located close to water and are dominated by small hills, forests and agricultural lands. The dominant features of the multi-sensory landscape of nature trails are the diversity of the land cover, ephemeral changes and openness. A third of the studied landscape area is suitable for enjoying the peace of nature and another third represents areas of rich natural values. Cultural-historical values were significant only in few nature trails, such as Lieto’s Vanhalinna and Kappelinmäki in Kuusisto. The recreation values were examined from the random sampling of the three trails. The range of recreational services is wide and allows the trails to be profiled for various main uses, such as hiking, local recreation or nature observation. In terms of accessibility, nature trails are located along good transport links, with the exception of four trails, which situated at least 1 km away from the nearest public transport stop. The results indicate that analyzed landscape and recreational features are significant for recreational use and provide a good starting point for further efforts to produce relevant information for potential users of recreational areas.