Helsinki was on my to see list for sometime as I was curious about Finland. Finally, I got to see it in my combined trip of Riga-Talinn-Helsinki. Honestly, I was surprised that “must see“ touristic activities in Helsinki are not so much but that worked out for me good as spending 2-3 days in Helsinki was just the right amount for me to cover what I wanted to see. So now I can give you the ultimate guide on what to do in Helsinki for a trip of same duration!
It is relatively easy to prepare a Helsinki guide considering things to do in Helsinki , the attraction/landmark places are close to each other and the `must` ones can be tackled in a few days. Of course I don’t mean it in sense that there is less thing to do in Helsinki but in the sense that you can pace it without rushing it and enjoy the city more 🙂
In this city guide for `Daughter of Baltics`, you will find info on what to do in Helsinki , what to see, what to eat, so basically a complete Helsinki city guide packed with everything you need to know before your trip 🙂 As usual we start with summary version of Helsinki city guide:
Travel: You can find many direct flights to Helsinki, but it is also very popular way to reach Helsinki by ferries from Talinn or Stockholm. For inside city, you can reach many places by walking but you will need a short ferry ride to the islands such as Suomenlinna.
Airport transport: Train would be the best choice from airport to city center and vice versa. It takes about 30 minutes and trains are very modern and comfy. Before I go, I made an internet search and prices looked 5.5 euro per person. But when I tried to buy from ticket machines there, II chosed airport and paid only 2.9 euro. I even asked a finnish person and he said ok, and I had control at the train and there were no problems with 2.9 euro ticket. If you want to grab a taxi though expect to pay 30-40 euro from center to the airport. (2017 prices)
Visa: Schengen visa
Currency: Euro
What to do in Helsinki : Senato Square, Lutherian Cathedral (White), Uspenski Cathedral (Red), Stone Church (Stone), Market Square, Sibelius Monument, Suomenlinna Sea Fort, Aleksanterinkatu shopping street, Eira neighbourhood
Food-Drink: Especially dish from reindeer meat and sea food. Korvapuusti (cinnamon bun), dark bread, Piirakat or piirakka (rice bun) and filter coffee. Check out Helsinki food guide for more details and restaurant suggestions.
Prices: Helsinki is not a cheap city. You can get sandwiches around 3-5 euro, coffee 3-5 euro, soft drink 2-4 euro, beer 6-8 euro and average dish can vary between 10-35 from cheap to mid level places. But at least you can find cheap options if your budget is really tight. You can just grab some bakery goods from supermarkets and I think this would be the cheapest option unless you are cooking. Eating fast food would be 8-10 euro but that would at least include your drink as well. Museums are on average 10 euro (by the way city museum is free). I wrote other attractions prices under their own details below. (2017 prices).
Helsinki card: 24 hours version was 46 euro (2017 prices). Not the cheapest city card but if you do buy it, main advantage would be visiting Suomenlinna.It covers going Suomenlinna, the tour there and some museum entries. In addition, you can use hop on hop off buss and 1.5-hour boat tour with this card. There is also a 4D 10 minutes attraction, which included in Helsinki Card. If you plan to do all these, it covers perfectly all the costs and saves you money. However, I have to say the city can be explored on foot perfectly fine as well. And if you are just going to do Suomenlinna this may not be worth it. I wrote Suomenlinna prices below when mentioning it under details of what to do in Helsinki .
Bonus: Normally I learn how to say simple phrases in the places I visit if they are speaking a language I don’t speak. Such as Hello, good morning, good day, thank you etc..
However with Finnish I couldn’t even remember one simple word :p
But here are some in case you are more interested and talented then me 🙂
Good morning: Hyvää huomenta
Thanks: Kiitos
Bye: Näkemiin or mai mai
Helsinki first impression
I have heard that Finnish people tend to be introverted and shy before I have been to Helsinki. I’ll even add a joke to indicate the level of stereotypes:
How do you separate an introvert Finnish and an extrovert Finnish?
Well, that’s easy, if he is looking at your feet instead of his own feet, he is an extrovert Finnish person!
Well, luckily my experience wasn’t like this. They were very helpful and smiley but of course it was also clear that they tried to respect your space. I think almost all of them speaks very good English, I asked and answer was they learn it in school.
Anyway back to my first impressions of Helsinki, why is there so many shopping malls! I guess coming from Riga and Talinn to here was also changed my expectations, as for both cities, with main attraction was the old city part itself and I was expecting similar from Helsinki maybe.
Also I was expecting more touristic attractions, once again I’m not saying it as a complaint it worked out really good for me, but for the unitiated to Helsinki, like me, this maybe one of the first impressions as well 😊
And I loved to see many heavy metal listeners around from all age groups, it was a nice throwback for me to may collage years 😊. (Finland is famous for its heavy metal music groups).
Alright let’s see details of what to do in Helsinki :
What to do in Helsinki
Of course at the top of the what to see in Helsinki list comes the big white Lutheran Cathedral in the center and Senato square. You will also see the university around here.
This cathedral was made in the era where Soviet Russians was in control of Finland. Interior is not as fancy as outside. You will see many people sitting in front of its stairs, listening music, reading book, dancing, skating and of course photographing! I think sitting in these stairs and watching around is one of the nicest Helsinki experience you can do. Only problem might be when trying to take a nice photo you may have hard time if you want to exclude the big tourist buses parked in front of the place 😊
Speaking of Helsinki churches, you have 3 of them to see. Easy way to remember them is calling them white, red and stone one. The one above was naturally the white one.
Red one is Uspenski Cathedral, you should be able to see it form market square in the back ground. It is walking distance from there so I suggest you go visit here when you are near market square. Entry to these two cathedrals is free of charge.
Market Square is nearby Senato Square, and as you can tell from the name it is a market 😊 Charm point is it being in open air and many snack food and drink options next to sea. Naturally when whether is good not only locals are here but also it is full of tourists. It can get very crowded and chaotic but eating something here while looking around the scenery which consists of sea, boat tours, ferris wheel and red Cathedral in the back is one of the Helsinki experiences as well.
I would suggest getting a coffee or a cinnamon bun here instead of food as my impression was it was more expensive than general and probably not necessarily better.
Btw, the fountain you will see narby is called Havis Amanda, made in 1906, and nearby Esplanadi Park is a nice break in the middle of the city.
Main shopping street is Aleksanterinkatu. You will se emany shops and malls here, but buildings in general tend to look more on Gothic architecture than an average European city. For those of you looking for Helsinki Hard Rock Café, you will find it at the end of this street which leads to city center. Of the shopping malls, Stockmann is the Finnish one which also has malls in other countries.
One of the Helsinki attractions I was curious about was Sibelius Monument. Locations is relatively further away from city center but I recommend you visit here. It is a monument made in memory of musician Jean Sibelius, it is basically huge metal pipes but they do give really nice photos from distance and close by 😊 Plus the very famous 130 years old red wooden hause café by the sea, Café Regatta is close by. (I will mentioned this place more in food-drink section but short story `Must Go“)
Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten to mention third church and a must what to do in Helsinki list item – the Stone Church. I think it was one of the most different churches I have seen, not only in Helsinki but in general. It was refreshing to see a modern and spacious church. It is made into a huge tone, hence the name. Unfortunately, unlike other churches this one needs you to purchase a ticket to see inside. But at least it is only 3 euro (if you buy it from the café next to it 2.5 euro). But it is definitely one of the things to do in Helsinki.
If you are looking for a calm, peaceful sea view with less tourists, I suggest Eira neighbourhood. It is a nice location with next to seaside cafes and you will have anice walk along the shore.
Time for a roadtime story 😊 This is totally unrelated to what to do in Helsinki list so you can skip this part if you are not interested!
When I first came to Eira district, I was checking out the scenery where a bride and groom was also taking their wedding pictures.
An old gentlemen started chatting with me with “oh, look at the bride, how beautiful isn’t, it“ opening line. I was already thinking well if people come here to take their wedding ophotos, I must be in right place and I also started chatting with this gentleman. Conversations was generic naturally like where have you come from, what are you doing here etc. So he was from Denmark and he was living here for 7 years. He said life here is hard. Then of course I couldn’t help but asking then why have you come here? He said “lost love“. Besides it was a learning point for me to not speak so fast and blurt out personal questions, I felt very sad. Apparently he has 2 kids here, one around 24, other around 30s. and he said he will be around for some time here too.
Then we changed the topic. Once he learned that I came from Turkey, he mentioned that apparently his grandfather had a medallion from Ottoman Empire! Of course Iw as surprised and asked what kind of medallion is it but he was already telling the story 😀 So his grandfather was a gardener and thanks to his services he was deemed worthy of the medallion! He said we always joked in the family tht he made the gardens of the harem 😊
Later he gave me some directions on where to go next and left. But the expresion I witnessed in his face when he said `lost love`will be a memory I will remember. I wonder if I should have spend more time talking to that old gentleman!
What to do in Helsinki – Suomenlinna
So back to what to do in Helsinki ! When you are in Helsinki, you will see everywhere, I mean everywhere, advertisement/suggestion to go to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. It was like if you can take only one advise on what to do in Helsinki it is visiting this place because 
I even saw it is suggested to people who had only 5-6 hours in Helsinki!
What makes this place so popular is I guess it is in UNESCO world heritage list. Back then it was a very important military defense location/asset, but now it is a touristic attraction with cafes, museums and walking tours. You can get here by ferry, it is a short 15 minutes trip. City lines (HSL Line) is the cheapest, but other many private lines you can get your round was ticket for 7 euro.
For 11 euro you can join a walking tour, I did! I was thinking there is no way I will understand why this place is so popular otherwise! Because as nice as it was, when branded as Finland’s number 1 attraction you have more expectations!
There is also two other islands nearby and you can also visit them.
So it apparently all started when Sweden started the project to build here against Russian’s building of St Petersburg. (for historically challenged ones, finland was under Sweden governance for 500 years) anyway at some point Russians get hold of this place, they also continue to build it but bottomline this place was never utilized to its power and used effectively.
One of the interesting history piece about this place was it has been used in Finland’s civil war, and the winning side used her to prison ten thousands and thousands died in these camps of starvation and conditions. And imagine these numbers with the total population of Finland!
So Suomenlinna apparently had part of this dark history too, and it was a strong contrast to see now green big square was back then the place of a camp where thousands died.
Inside of Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, you can see bastions, dry dock, King’s Gate, big square, church, museums, summer theater,Vesikko submarine and Field Marshal Ehrenvard’s monument grave. Ehrensvard was a Swedish guy who first started to build Suomenlinna, who thought I’d stay 2-3 years and go back and ended up staying there 25 years and dying there without even seeing the completion of it. But he was so loved and respected, even the King of Sweden joined his funeral and it was the first state funeral.
Btw did you know Molotov cocktail name is coming from Finns? (Molotov cocktail is a breakable glass bottle containing a flammable substance such as gasoline and mostly known to be used in protests as poor man’s arsenal). So during the Winter War, Soviet minister of Foreign affairs was Vyacheslav Molotov and he made a claim in radio broadcasts saying that they are not bombing but rather delivering food to the satarving finns. So finns started to call the air bombs Molotov bread baskets and then they invented a response to attackts with Molotov cocktails which were “a drink to go with the food“ !
You may think what it can do against air bombs, but actually back then it was quite effective for Russian tanks. Because the technology of the Russian tanks back then was depending on a one point of air withdrawal to cool down the engine but if you throw a Molotov cocktail there, you basically suck in the fire instead of cool weather and kills everyone inside the tank! Ok so why did I mentioned this story here? Because there is only couple of private property in Suomenlinna Sea Fortress and one of these houses belongs to the family whose grandfather invented the Molotov cocktail! (that’s what my guide told!)
So couple of worth mentioning place before I finally conclude what to do in Helsinki 😊
Hietalahti food market, where you can find many different cuisine side by side try and photograph. It is a closed food hall not open air. So can also be visited in winter time.
And there is also an amusement park in Helsinki, I haven’t been there but might be an option for families with kids. Entry is costless but attractions inside are with tickets.
Btw, I’m not sure if it can be classified as an attraction but it should totally be part of any proper what to do in Helsinki list: going to a finnish sauna! I was visiting in summer and even though it wasn’t hot weather I didn’t felt like going to a sauna so I can’t really recommend where to go for it!
Ok, so now we are finally done with what to do in Helsinki ! Good job on me saying there is relatively less place to see in Helsinki and managing to write this long on it 😀
Thanks for everyone who were patient enough to read until this point, I hope I was able to give you useful info on what to do in Helsinki . Let me know how was your Helsinki trip and if you have any tips and tricks for fellow travelers for what to do in Helsinki 😊
And for a detailed guide on what to eat in Helsinki check out my Helsinki food guide.