A plan for Helsinki

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.

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. The city’s main sights include a variety of churches, museums and historic buildings, reflecting its Swedish and Russian influences as well as its development into Finland’s capital.

Helsinki’s appeal lies in its blend of architectural styles, islands and green spaces, combined with a lively urban culture. The compact city center makes it easy to explore the historic landmarks on foot. For a coastal amble past some of Helsinki's minor and major sights, see the itinerary A seaside stroll in Helsinki.

Architecture

Architecture buffs will get a kick out of Helsinki's Neo-Classical centre, centred around Senate Square (Senaatintori), where a statue of the liberal Russian czar Alexander II stands guard. The square and its surroundings form part of the city center that architect Carl Ludvig Engel was commissioned to develop in the early 19th century. Notable buildings in the area include Helsinki Cathedral, the Government Palace and Helsinki City Hall, as well as the nearby Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral.

Art Nouveau architecture, known in Finland as Jugendstil, can be found throughout the city, particularly in the neighbourhoods of Katajanokka and Ullanlinna. Helsinki has hundreds of buildings in this style, many featuring decorative details inspired by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. To experience Jugendstil interiors, visit Jugend Hall, which houses a Robert’s Coffee café, or stay in a historic building such as Home Hotel Jugend in Kamppi.

Another landmark is Helsinki Central Railway Station, designed by Eliel Saarinen and completed in 1919. Its distinctive architecture marks a transition from Finnish National Romanticism towards modernism. Heading north from the station towards Töölö Bay, visitors can find examples of Nordic Classicism and early modernism, including Parliament House. A short walk away, the National Museum of Finland is a prominent example of Finnish National Romanticism and is worth admiring from the outside, even if you do not visit the exhibitions.

See #Districts for listings.

Sauna

While sauna bathing is a traditional practice throughout Finland, Helsinki is particularly well known for its public saunas. Originally serving as washing facilities, public saunas in Helsinki are experiencing a revival as places to relax and socialize, with many combining traditional sauna bathing with contemporary architecture and design. There are around 60 public saunas in the city. The oldest, Kotiharjun Sauna, in the Kallio neighborhood, opened its doors in 1928 and still offers the traditional wood-fired sauna experience.

Some of the most popular saunas among tourists are Löyly, a design sauna complex featuring three saunas, including a smoke sauna, a restaurant and access to the sea; and Allas Sea Pool, located in the heart of Helsinki next to Market Square. Allas combines the sauna experience with warm and cold pools, a restaurant, a bar and a venue for concerts and other events.

Other saunas offer a more local experience. Sompasauna, a communal sauna on the island of Mustikkamaa, is open 24/7 and maintained by its users. Sauna Hermanni is another Helsinki institution, where traditional treatments such as cupping are still practiced. Lähde Sauna is a laid-back sauna housed in a building designed by Carl Ludvig Engel that once served as a psychiatric hospital.

Newer public saunas include the ones on the island of Lonna, which offer modern facilities with views of the archipelago; Uusi Sauna, a lively venue that combines sauna bathing with a bar and occasional live music; and Kulttuurisauna, a minimalist sauna heated with wood pellets.

If you prefer a more private sauna experience, you can also book accommodation with a private sauna. Lapland Hotels Bulevardi has more than 100 rooms with private saunas, while Bob W offers apartment rentals with saunas in some units. For a no-fuss option, many hotels and some hostels in Helsinki have communal saunas available to guests.

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.

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.

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

Tickets cannot be bought with cash on board of trains, buses, or trams. There are card readers (for dedicated cards and for NFC payment) inside buses, trams and regional trains, and before the platform areas for metro and the Suomenlinna ferry.

The easiest way to buy tickets is to use contactless NFC payments. 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. Starting November 2, 2026, HSL’s contactless payment system will introduce an automatic price cap, which prevents the combined cost of single tickets from exceeding the price of an equivalent 24-hour ticket. 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. The app can be used for buying tickets, for route planning, for news on service disruptions, and for showing where the bus is at the moment.

For people staying in Helsinki for multiple days, a separately purchased multi-day ticket is almost certainly the best way to go, unless you mostly stay in the centre and like walking. Multi-day tickets for 2–13 days are available only in the app.

Helsinki is a safe city for its size.

Helsinki has problems with drug trafficking and use, although this seldom affects visitors. Violent crime targeting strangers seems to be on a rise, but severe incidents are few enough to often reach the headlines.

On weekend nights, intoxicated people wandering around city streets may be an annoyance, especially during summer festivals and on New Year's Eve and April 30, the eve of May Day, which is the most important beer-drinking festival in the Finnish calendar. Warm summer nights always gather a drunken crowd in the centre. Intoxicated Finns tend to be rather noisy (in stark contrast to sober Finns) and admittedly sometimes picking a fight with just about anyone. Just use your common sense, and steer clear of overly loud groups of young men.

There are rare health hazards, although the winter weather should be borne in mind by visitors, especially those planning outdoor activities (or being out late). In midwinter the temperature can even drop to −25°C (−13°F), though this is increasingly rare. If you forget to bring winter clothing, you may want to visit local shops for appropriate apparel. Also, watch out for slippery pavements; thousands of people slip and injure themselves every winter! There are slip preventers for sale in the shoe repair shops and elsewhere.

2 Yliopiston Apteekki pharmacy, Mannerheimintie 96 (Taka-Töölö district), ☏ +358 300-20200. 24 hr daily. The pharmacy with the most central location and the best hours.

3 Haartman hospital emergency, Haartmaninkatu 4 (Meilahti hospital area), ☏ +358 9 310-63231. 24 hr daily. Emergency department of Helsinki Municipal Health Center.

4 Viiskulma Health Centre, Pursimiehenkatu 4 (near Viiskulma), ☏ +358 9 310-45930, fax: +358 9 3104 5333. Mon–Fri 8–16. Municipal health centre for minor health problems.

In emergencies, ☏ 112 (free from all phones).

When using escalators, people in Helsinki usually reserve the right side of the moving staircase for standing and the left side for people walking up or down the stairs. Standing still on the left side will certainly make people irritated and flag you as a tourist or a fool.

It would be wise to use common sense when entering the metro car: do not block people when the doors open, but take one step back and let people get off first. Also, it is often customary to enter a tram from the right side of the doors while people exiting use their right side.

Avoid walking in the cycle lane. Dedicated cycle paths are clearly marked, but sometimes run directly next to the sidewalk. Helsinki cyclists are subject to a comparatively hilly landscape and are unwilling to slow down and lose momentum. However, they are usually careful, signal clearly and use their bells, meaning that straying tourists most often are just sworn at.

When waiting in lines, be patient and polite. Finns rarely cross queues but make sure you actually stand in the line. If you are not sure whether there is a queue, ask others.

Finns usually do not address people who are doing things (in their opinion) wrong. They will just look at your foolish behavior and swear silently to themselves. You might embarrass yourself but addressing it will make an even bigger scene.

Do not feed seagulls or pigeons (especially in the city center). Seagulls taking people's ice creams or sandwiches is a real problem in some areas, and feeding them is encouraging that behaviour. Feeding birds is also officially prohibited in many areas.