Popular Helsinki Attractions

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport: At 19km (12 miles) north of the city, Helsinki-Vantaa is these days a two-terminal modern hub with three runways; the latest was opened in 2002. Built for the Helsinki Winter Olympics in 1952, it has ...

Around Mannerheimintie

Helsinki's main shopping streets encompass Mannerheimintie, Pohjoisesplanadi, Fredrikinkatu, and Aleksanterinkatu. This last boasts the big-name department store Stockmann (www.stockmann.fi), the Finn...

Ateneum, The Museum of Finnish Art

The city center Ateneum houses the Finnish National Gallery's collection by homegrown artists from 18th-century Rococo portraiture to the experimental art movements of the 1960s, The small internation...

Chez Dominique

Reservations are a must in this bang on-trend bastion to gourmet food, which has garnered two Michelin stars for chef Hans Valimaki and is currently sitting at 23 in the list of the world's best resta...

CityBikes

Take advantage of a free and eco-friendly mode of transport to discover the city. With a 2 euro deposit, anyone can borrow a city bike to get around Helsinki, then drop it off at one of the many stand...

Design District Helsinki

Packed full of antique, bric à brac, and sharper-than-sharp design stores, the area tucked to the south of Esplanadi is the self-proclaimed design central of Helsinki. Encompassing 25 narrow streets,...

Esplanadi

Helsinki's tree-lined park cum promenade was laid out in 1831. Today it is one of the main destinations for tourists and locals alike, with quality boutiques aplenty selling porcelain, jewelry, cerami...

Finlandia Hall, Helsinki

Originally part of a grand plan to rebuild the center of Helsinki, Finlandia Hall was completed in 1975 by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. The concert and congress hall stands impressively between the ...

Fish Market

A contemporary restaurant stretching over several rooms and serving up quality seafood and fish by season. There's also an informal seafood bar - go for the seafood platter piled high with lobster, la...

Food & Wine Recommends Helsinki

Food & Wine's writers recommend 10 restaurants in Helsinki, serving a variety of different foods, from seafood to Scandinavian classics to Catalonian and Basque.

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Kauppatori, Market Square

Central to Helsinki life, the waterfront Market Square is a meeting place for the locals to gossip and snack on local delicacies such as salmon and reindeer, sold in thick chunks or slender salamis. O...

Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art

Home of the National Gallery's contemporary artworks, this wonderful and equally contemporary building is both sweeping curves and sharp angles, studded with copper and brass, the creation of American...

Ravintola Zetor

All rustic charm, Zetor is liberally strewn with tractors for that down-on-the-farm ambience. The menu uses only Finnish produce wherever possible and serves up traditional open sandwiches, fish soups...

Senaatintori, Senate Square

Helsinki's primary piazza is home to the Lutheran cathedral and lined with elegantly aristocratic burghers' houses, the senate house, and the domed university library. Ubiquitous German architect Carl...

Sundmans

Formal and elegant restaurant revered for faultess service and the Scandinavian menu serving delicately presented freshwater fish, sweetbreads, or reindeer, plus a seasonal tasting menu. Head for the ...

Suomen Kansallismuseo, National Museum of Finland

Housed in an Art Nouveau building with a thin tower topped with a campanile and dating from the early 20th century, Helsinki's comprehensive archaeological, ethnological, and historical collections tr...

Temppeliaukio Church

Circular and hewn out of rock by avant-garde design team Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen in 1969, this bizarre church is topped with a shallow copper dome. Here all similarity with its fellow Lutheran plac...

Tuomiokirkko, Lutheran Cathedral

Sedately Neo-Renaissance in style and sparkling white in the winter sunshine, Helsinki's Lutheran cathedral of St Nicholas is a landmark visible all over the city. Completed in 1852 by German architec...

Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral

Sitting with easy sight of the Lutheran Cathedral on a promontory overlooking the city, this imposing building was completed in 1868 and is the largest Orthodox church in Northern and Western Europe. ...

Kotiharjun Sauna

Where once there were over 100 public saunas in Helsinki, now there are only three. Kotiharjun, the last genuine wood-heated public sauna in Helsinki, opened its doors in 1928. Although the sexes are ...

Silvoplee

Owned by Finnish actress Satu Silvo, Silvoplee has a comprehensive self-service vegan and organic menu changing daily, there's always pasta and rice on offer as well as salads incorporating fresh and ...

Nokka

Nokka is set in a converted warehouse on the harbor; chef Ari Ruoho uses quality local ingredients (Arctic char, local lamb, produce from nearby farms, including cheeses) to fashion a seasonally chang...

Sea Life Helsinki

Part of the pan-European franchise, Sea Life introduces an adventure from coral reefs in tropical seas to the murky, ice-cold depths of the Baltic. With over 200 species lurking in the aquariums, kids...

Seurasaari Open-Air Museum

Finland's only open-air museum pays homage to rural traditions over the last 200 years. Set amid rolling parkland on the island of Seurasaari, around 100 buildings are reconstructed here, brought from...

Suomenlinna Sea Fortress

Stretching over six islands, with fortresses on four of them, Finland's Swedish conquerors completed this massive military base in 1772 to defend their eastern frontier. The 250-year-old fortress is n...

Helsinki City Winter Garden

Founded in 1893 and at its best at Christmas and Easter, when swathes of bright, breezy azaleas, hyacinths, and tulips bloom, the Winter Garden hosts more than 200 plant species. Providing a splash of...

Cafe Ekberg

Ekberg has been serving delicious and elaborate patisserie to Helsinki gourmets since 1852. The breakfast buffet is fantastic value at 9 for the whole monty, and lunch offers quiches, huge salads, p...

Demo

Trendy eatery with a French-Finnish menu changing daily and using fine locally sourced meats, fish, and seafood. Duck and pigeon feature when in season, along with veal, quail, and freshwater pike-per...

Juuri

Tapas-style starters of crayfish with cottage cheese and ham with rhubarb kick of this unusual menu using organic meat (horse is sometime served here) and fish. Puddings include ice cream created on s...

Kunstindustrimuseet Museum of Art and Design

Anyone with an eye for the clever lines of Nordic design should spend an hour or so here among the unsurpassed ceramics by Eric O.W. Ehrström from the 1900s or the exquisite glassware created by Alva...

Lappi, Helsinki

Helsinki's first Lapland restaurant has a rustic interior and cheery, informal ambience. Traditional salmon soup, reindeer, elk, venison sausages, smoked trout, and locally farmed cheeses vie for your...

Ravintola Torni

Situated in the stylish Sokos Hotel alongside a cocktail bar and an Irish bar, Torni concentrates on using carefully provenanced ingredients in Finnish dishes (game, seafood, meat from local farms) wi...

Helsinki City Centre	Kallio	Katajanokakka	Linnanmaki	Seurasaari
Suomenlinna	Talvipuutarha	Ullanlinna