Helsinki

Understand

Helsinki was established as a trading town by the Swedish Empire in 1550, but it wasn't until 1812, when the Russian Empire made it the capital of Finland, that it started growing. Today, this hustling and bustling city has 690,000 inhabitants and the capital area 1.36 million (2025). It is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. Helsinki metro is the northernmost subway in the world.

History

Helsinki was founded in AD 1550 by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden, of which Finland was the eastern part, as a trading post to compete with Tallinn to the south in Estonia, which was Danish at that time. Helsinki was established about 5 km north-east of the current centre in the area today known as Vanhakaupunki ("the Old Town"), at the rapids where Vantaa river (at that time known as Helsinge river) flows into the Baltic Sea, which in turn gave the city its Swedish name Helsingfors ("Helsinge rapids"). Never becoming the trading post Gustav Vasa envisioned and largely bypassed by the King's Road — the major road along the coast — the village faced some hard times during its first centuries with fires and diseases; today there is but a few stones left of the original Helsinki. Eventually the city was moved further south to its current location, and in the middle of the 18th century, the maritime fortress Sveaborg (nowadays Suomenlinna in Finnish) was established on a handful of islands just in front of Helsinki, the fortress and the city together being nearly as populous as the regional capital Turku. The now world heritage-listed fortress archipelago features some of the oldest standing buildings in the city.

In 1809, through the Finnish War (a part of the Napoleonic Wars), Finland was annexed by Russia and the capital of Finland moved from Turku to Helsinki in 1812, away from Sweden. The Czar felt the Grand Duchy of Finland needed a capital of grand proportions, and this was a major turning point in the history of Helsinki. The architects Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, a native Finn, and Carl Ludwig Engel, from Germany, were given the task of rebuilding the city in the Empire style. This can be seen today around the Lutheran Cathedral, which was completed in 1852. The same style, and even architects, is also a part of Saint Petersburg's history. Growing steadily during the 19th century, with the population exceeding 100,000 by the turn of the century, Helsinki established itself as the largest city and the political and cultural capital of the country. The city was a battleground in the Finnish Civil War in 1918, and was bombed by the Soviets in the Second Wo

Getting there

By plane

All international and domestic flights land at the compact, modern and airy 1 Helsinki Airport (HEL IATA). , which is in Vantaa, 20 km to the north of central Helsinki. The airport is well served from across Europe, from East Asia and was also well served from neighbouring Russia before Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. There are also flights from some airports elsewhere in Asia and a few airports in the USA. Finnair used to use Helsinki's position to the north-east of Europe to offer competitive travel times to East Asia. However, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian airspace cannot be used, which has nullified the advantage. Coming from across the Baltic Sea, you may also consider flying to some regional airport with budget flights, such as Turku or Tallinn, if their connections happen to suit. You can take a ferry from Tallinn or an intercity bus or train from the other cities, which generally have excellent connections to Helsinki (connecting flights are sparse, and you'd miss the city visit). Helsinki Airport is on a commuter train loop, with trains every 10–30 minutes from 04:30 until 01:15, taking about 30 min to the centre. There are buses to the centre, to Vantaa, to Itäkeskus (with metro connection) in the eastern suburbs, and to other cities. Taxis are available. See Helsinki Airport#Ground transportation for details. There are 24-hour grocery stores both at the airport (Alepa) and at Elielinaukio (S-Market), close to the Central Railway Station.

By train

Being the national capital, Helsinki has direct services from all major train stations in Finland. The services from Russia stopped with the war on Ukraine. All long-distance trains to the city terminate at the 2 Central Railway Station. which provides easy interchange to metro, bus, tram and local train lines. The train station offers bars, currency exchange, kiosks, fast food restaurants, luggage boxes and many other amenities, in addition to a central location. All trains also stop at 3 Pasila station (Böle station). (updated Oct 2019), some 4 km north, which might be a good option if you're going elsewhere than central Helsinki. This is also where cars are loaded on trains to Lapland. For other stations, you may want to transfer to a local train before arriving in Helsinki; you can get that local train included on your ticket.

By car Motorways connect Helsinki to Turku to the west, Tampere and Lahti to the north, and to Porvoo and to Saint Petersburg in the east. The south and west of Finland are mostly surrounded by water, but you can bring your car on

Getting around

All public transport within the Capital Region is coordinated by HSL. This means that all public transport, such as trains, trams, buses, ferries and the metro all use the same ticketing scheme. You only need to know which zones you will travel through (see below).

Fares and zones

The Helsinki metropolitan area is divided into 4 HSL zones from A to E. Your ticket price will differ based on what zones you travel through. Tickets are not sold for single regions A, B, or C, meaning you need to get an AB ticket even if you only travel inside the city centre in zone A. Here's a rough description of the zones.

Zone A – Central Helsinki and as far as the tram goes. Zone B – The rest of Helsinki minus the far eastern suburbs. Includes eastern Espoo and the southern rim of Vantaa. Zone C – The rest of Espoo and Vantaa. Helsinki Airport is in zone C, so to get from the airport into the city centre by train or bus, you need an ABC ticket. Zone D – Sipoo in the east, Kerava and Tuusula in the north, Kirkkonummi and Siuntio in the west. Zone E – Järvenpää in the north (D tickets are valid for E until 2 August 2026 – ignore possible warnings). Tickets can be purchased from several different places. The easiest way to buy tickets is to use contactless NFC payments that have been rolled out network-wide in February 2025. Visa and Mastercard cards including Apple and Google Pay are accepted, while American Express is not. However, only single adult fare tickets are available by this method, and tickets are slightly more expensive; for people staying in Helsinki for multiple days, a separately purchased multi-day ticket is almost certainly the best way to go. Other methods of purchasing a ticket are by using the preloaded travel card (see below), from R kiosks, official sales points, HSL ticket machines, or the HSL mobile app. Tickets are not sold on board of trains, buses, or trams in cash. The HSL app can be used for buying tickets, route planning, news on service disruptions, and showing where the bus is at the moment. Save for trips in the D zone, only tickets for two, three or four zones are sold. The price of the ticket depends on the method of purchase. The following fares are the most common (fares given for adults, children travel for half the price):

AB, BC or D zones: €3.20 (€3.50 with NFC card at boarding) ABC: €4.40 (€4.80) ABCD: €4.80 (€5.10) Alternatively, you can opt for a HSL Day Ticket or the Helsinki Card (see below), both of which offer unlimited travel within the city. All tickets are valid on all types of transport, and allow unlimited transfer

See

See #Districts for listings. Surrounded by sea and a vast archipelago, Helsinki is at its best in the summer when the dialogue between the city and nature is at its fullest. Classical Helsinki's sights can be divided into an eclectic set of churches and a wide variety of museums. For a coastal amble past some of Helsinki's minor and major sights, see the itinerary A seaside stroll in Helsinki. For the most part, Helsinki lacks the monumental historic architecture of Copenhagen and Stockholm. However, what sets it apart from other Nordic capitals is the Russian-influenced architecture from the 19th century, which resembles that of Saint Petersburg.

Museums and galleries Many of Helsinki's museums are as interesting from the outside as from the inside. Architecture buffs will get a kick out of Helsinki's Neo-Classical center, centered around Senate Square (Senaatintori), where a statue of the liberal Russian czar Alexander II stands guard. Aleksanterinkatu and the Railway Station square also have some beautiful neo-classical buildings – look for the Romantic Kalevala-esque themes – but unfortunately these areas also have many concrete monstrosities mixed in.

Islands

If you see only one place in Helsinki in the summer, make it Suomenlinna. Entry to the island is free, but you have to pay for the 15-minute ferry ride: Suomenlinna ferries leave from the Market Square. In the summer, HSL ferries run every 20–30 minutes (with a Zone A ticket) with private ferry companies competing with them at slightly more expensive prices (May 2025). There are no ferries at night between 02:00 and 06:00. On summer weekends the island is a popular picnic destination and you may have to wait for a long time as hundreds of people crowd the ferry terminal. Consider arriving outside of the usual tourist rush hours or using private ferry companies instead. Suomenlinna is far from the only island, a beautiful archipelago (saaristo) surrounds the Helsinki city center. The major islands are Korkeasaari with the eponymous zoo, Seurasaari with its open air museum and Pihjalasaari with its beach. In addition to these, there are scheduled services to many smaller islands such as Vallisaari, and you can also tour islands by sightseeing cruises. Most of the cruises depart from the Market Square and last from one to several hours. Most ferries and cruises operate only in the summer high season.

Itineraries Along Mannerheimintie, as the name says, what you can see if you travel the main street end to end A seaside stroll in Helsinki, an easy half-day walk along Helsinki's west

Do

See #Districts for listings.

Spectator sports The most common sport by attendance is ice hockey: the season starts in September and ends between March and early May (depending on the playoffs). Football (soccer) is also very popular, with the domestic season starting in March and ending in October (unlike in most of Europe). For ice hockey, there are two top-level teams in the Helsinki area: HIFK (capacity 8,200) and Kiekko-Espoo (in the neighbouring city of Espoo but easily accessible, capacity 7,000). Tickets start at roughly €25 (May 2025), and the matches are very safe and quite tourist-friendly, assuming you know the rules of the game. Food and beer are available at the concession stands, but can be expensive. A second-level team, Jokerit, also plays in Helsinki, with some games played in the same arena as HIFK. A good option if the other two teams don't play on your dates. Helsinki has two football clubs playing in the top-level Veikkausliiga: HJK (capacity 10,700) and IF Gnistan (capacity c. 2,000). HJK, playing at Bolt Arena near the centre, is historically the best team in Finland and usually a cup contender, while Gnistan is significantly smaller but a good underdog. Gnistan plays in Oulunkylä, some 7 km north of the centre, reachable by bus. However, Finland is not known for its football: while the games can be fun and exciting, don't expect Premier League or even Swedish Allsvenskan atmosphere. The men's national soccer team play home games at Olympic Stadium, capacity 36,000, 3 km north of city centre. The women's national team usually play at Bolt Arena, just next to the Olympic Stadium. National games are played sporadically year-round, even in freezing weather. Men's national games are often sold out in advance. Helsinki Cup, the third largest international youth football tournament in Europe, is held each year in Helsinki during mid-summer.

Cinema The situation with cinemas in Helsinki has deteriorated, as one by one small cinemas have closed their doors. Foreign films are mostly shown in the original language with Finnish (and usually Swedish) subtitles. There are two large cinema complexes in Helsinki centre: Tennispalatsi at Salomonkatu 15, Kamppi and Kinopalatsi at Kaisaniemenkatu 2, Kaisaniemi, both run by Finnkino, the dominating cinema chain in Finland. Prices vary between €6.50 and €17.50 depending on location, time and 2D/3D. Cinemas concentrating on classic and art house films are few and far between in Helsinki today. The cinema Orion, Eerikinkatu 15, run by the Finnish National Audiovisual Archive, displays a wide varie

Buy

See #Districts for listings. Shopping in Helsinki is not cheap, but fans of Finnish and Nordic design will find plenty of things of interest. The frugal shopper can find some good bargains, particularly during the sale seasons in January and July. If you live outside the EU and spend more than €40 on a single receipt at any participating store, you can save a pretty penny by getting a refund for the hefty 24% VAT (ALV). Since 2016, opening hours have been fully liberalized, but most large shops and department stores still have the normal hours: M–F 09:00–21:00, Sa 09:00–18:00, Su 12:00–18:00. A notable exception is the Asematunneli complex, underground adjacent to the Central Railway Station, most shops here are open daily until 22:00, except on a few holidays. All S-markets are open until 22:00 daily. At least the major supermarkets K-Supermarket and Lidl in the Kamppi Center (see below) are open until 22:00, and the S-Market supermarket below Sokos, next to the railway station, is open around the clock. Small grocery stores and the R-Kioski convenience store chain are open until 22:00 or 23:00 (or later). A handful of small Alepa grocery stores are open 24 hours daily. In the centre you will also find small Delish and Pick A Deli convenience stores, open 24 hours daily, but more expensive than regular grocery stores. On holidays, many stores are closed, but at least the central S-supermarket (Sokos) and K-supermarket (Kamppi) are historically barely affected by holidays. Other centrally located small grocery stores and R-kioskis are open some hours in holidays, too. In the neighbouring cities of Vantaa and Espoo you can also find big shopping malls. Vantaa has Jumbo (including Flamingo) and Myyrmanni, while Espoo has the centres of Sello and Iso Omena. All of these are easily accessible by public transport or by car (free parking).

Design

There are high-end design stores around Aleksanterinkatu and Etelä-Esplanadi. The Design District Helsinki area around Uudenmaankatu and Iso Roobertinkatu is full of design and antique shops, fashion stores, museums, art galleries, restaurants and showrooms. Here you can find the most interesting names, classics, and trend-setters. Visit Design Forum Finland at Erottajankatu 7 to get a map of shops and galleries.

Markets Most outdoor markets in Helsinki are open only in summer, but the market halls are open all year round. They are great places to taste Finnish delicacies. The three major market halls are the Old Market Hall, Hietaniemi and Hakaniemi.

Records Helsinki has a selection of great "undergro

Eat

See #Districts for listings.

Helsinki has by far the most cosmopolitan eating options in Finland, with eight Michelin-starred restaurants (Palace on Eteläranta got a second one in 2022), and is a good place to enjoy a good meal – if you can foot the bill, that is. As usual in Finland the best time to eat out if you are on a budget is lunch, when most restaurants offer lunch sets for €8–21. Lunch sets are typically served 10:30–14:00 or 11:00–15:00, but the times vary between venues. In the evening, only budget places are less than €10, while splurges cost well over €30 per head. Almost every place will have at least one vegetarian option. A surprisingly large number of restaurants close down for a month or more in summer (July–August) to give their employees vacation, so call ahead to avoid disappointment. Budget choices other than the lunch offers are largely limited to fast food, although there are a couple of workaday Finnish eateries in the mix. In addition to McDonald's and its Finnish imitators Hesburger/Carrols, Helsinki is also full of pizza and kebab places, where a meal typically costs around €7–8 (sometimes as low as €4, especially in Kallio). For lunch, a good budget option is Unicafe, a chain of restaurants owned by the Helsinki University student union, which has around 10 outlets in central Helsinki and offers full meals from €5.70, including vegetarian options (some with longer hours). There are also many other lunch restaurants for students that serve affordable food also for non-students. A good active listing of Helsinki's student restaurants and their menus as well as opening hours can be found at lunchmenu.fi. Another list of lunch restaurants in Helsinki can be found at lounaat.info. In Helsinki, fine dining represents mainly pure Nordic touch with some unusual and surprising exceptions. A so called "pure Nordic touch" is usually represented with local products like local fresh seafood or some local vegetation. There are also other classes of fine dining that are pretty popular. For example a mixture of traditional Finnish or Nordic and something else is getting more and more attention nowadays. You can find a nice touch of French, German, Slavic and even Asian cuisine in your fine dining menu. For example a very fancy restaurant Demo is where French and Finnish cuisines are merging together, creating a "Nordic-French" touch. For something more different in Helsinki, try Vorschmack, an unusual but surprisingly tasty mix of minced lamb and herring, served with chopped pickles and sour cream (smetana); variants of this dish have s

Drink & nightlife

See #Districts for listings.

Cafés

Finland is the largest coffee consuming nation per capita and coffee breaks are written into law. However, in Finland most coffee is filter-brewed from a light, more caffeinated, roast that is quite different to what the rest of the world drinks. Finns often enjoy a bun (pulla) or cinnamon bun (korvapuusti) with their coffee. In Finland commonly espressos and lattes are called "special coffees" and a large number of establishments that make such coffees have popped up all over town ever since the 1990s when they arrived. One which will give any Italian cafeteria a go for their money is La Torrefazione next to Stockmann. In the more common cafeterias the normal light brew coffee is sold by self-service at the counter even at some more expensive cafeterias (there is only a handful of cafeterias serving to the table in Helsinki - this shows how commonplace coffee drinking is considered).

Bars and pubs Helsinki has plenty of hip places for a drink. The main nightlife districts, all in the city center within crawling distance of each other, are around Iso-Roobertinkatu, the Central Railway Station and Kamppi. Helsinki's busy gay nightlife is centered mostly around Iso-Roobertinkatu and Eerikinkatu and surrounding streets. Going out is not cheap, and complaining about the prices is a popular Finnish pastime, but compared to (say) London or New York City the prices aren't that bad. If you are on a budget and intent on getting plastered, follow the Finns and drink up a good "base" at home or hotel before going out on town. Alternatively, you can start the night outside the city centre area and head to the district of Kallio where bar prices are significantly lower and you can find a plethora of drinking places. While entry to bars and clubs is often (but not always) free, in club-type places and proper restaurants you must use and pay for the coat check (narikka), usually around €2, if you're wearing anything more than a T-shirt. In some places you must pay even if you don't leave anything at the cloakroom. The bouncer will be very strict with this as the much of the narikka-money goes into his pocket. If a ticket price is advertised, it usually does not cover the coat check. The drinking age is 18, and this is rather strictly enforced, so bring along ID. Underaged drinking is still a huge problem, and many bars and clubs apply house limits of 20–24 years, but these are enforced less strictly and a patron of younger age will some times be let in if one fits the clientele, especially women. Information on clubs and live

Sleep

See #Districts for listings.

Accommodation is generally quite expensive, but of a high standard. Hotels are usually cheaper on weekends, when business travellers are away.

Budget There are quite a few budget hotels in Helsinki, the cheapest being youth hostels. Many student dormitories turn into youth hostels during the July–August school break, which happily coincides with peak season for tourists. The Finnish Youth Hostel Association can provide further information. In a real pinch, the (by far) cheapest option can actually be to book a "last-minute" or "red-ticket" return cabin (from around €20) on an overnight cruise to Tallinn, and spend the night (and part of the next day) on the boat, rather than sleep in the city.

Mid-range Hotels of national and international chains usually fall in this segment. Prices are usually above €100 per night. In addition, many apartments are rented for about €90–100 per night.

Splurge The upscale hotels are in the city centre and in the western parts of the city. Hotel Kämp right at the Esplanade park is definitely the most luxurious choice, and usually the place where actors, pop stars and other celebrities stay when they come to Helsinki.

Go next

In Finland, the following make good day trips:

Nuuksio National Park in Espoo, a piece of untamed wilderness ca 25 km from Helsinki city centre. Accessible by bus from the city. Porvoo, the second oldest town in Finland is just 60 km away. It has a charming old town of wooden houses. Much more lively in the summer. Tampere, the second largest city region in Finland, and the birthplace of Finnish industry, boasting one of the last Lenin museums left in the world as well as a spy museum. 180 km north of Helsinki, one and a half to two hours by train. Hämeenlinna, 100 km to north is famous for the Häme castle, a large medieval castle, and the beautiful park area Aulanko. One hour by train. Turku, the oldest town in Finland, the main one into the 19th century, now third largest city region. The cathedral and the medieval castle are well worth visiting. Two hours by train. Hanko, the southernmost spot in Finland, 140 km west of Helsinki. This town of less than 10,000 people is famous for its summer activities, including sandy beaches, sailing, tennis, art, theatre, etc. Oulu, the biggest city in Northern Finland (as well as the whole Northern part of the Nordics). Known as the biking and IT capital of Finland and easily accessible from Helsinki, only an hour's flight away. Flights start from €30 if bought months in advance. The fastest day train takes 6 hours, from €25 if bought in advance, sleepers available in the overnight trains. As a coastal city, Helsinki has good connections to some fine international destinations nearby:

In Russia, Saint Petersburg, "the Venice of the North", is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Accessible by St. Peter Line's overnight cruise ferry departing a few times a week – or by train (service suspended since 2022) Stockholm, the Swedish capital, is somewhat like Helsinki but more Scandinavian and bigger. Accessible by Viking Line's and Silja Line's overnight cruise ferries departing late in the afternoon around the year. Tallinn in Estonia is known for its medieval city centre and is easily accessible even as a day trip.