Helsinki in summer is a different city from the one in the guidebook photographs, which are usually taken in snow. For about 10 weeks the entire population moves outdoors, the sun barely sets, and a place with a reputation for reserve turns out to be extremely sociable.
The light
Around midsummer Helsinki gets roughly 19 hours of daylight and never reaches proper darkness at all. The practical effect is that the evening loses its edges: people sit down to eat at nine, are still on a terrace at midnight in what looks like late afternoon light, and visitors almost always lose track of the time completely for the first two days before their body catches up.
Bring something to cover the window. Blackout curtains are not universal and the light at 3.30am is genuine.
Suomenlinna
The sea fortress spread across six islands at the harbour mouth, built by the Swedes from 1748, later Russian, now a UNESCO site with about 800 residents living on it. The ferry from Market Square takes 15 minutes and runs on the public transport ticket, which makes it the best value trip in the city.
Go with a picnic and walk out to the outer ramparts on the King’s Gate side, which is a good 25 minutes beyond the point where the crowd from the ferry thins out to nothing. Most day visitors never leave the pier end.
Saunas, properly
There are more saunas than cars in Finland, and the public ones in Helsinki have had a revival. Loyly on the waterfront is the architectural one, with steps straight into the sea. Kotiharjun in Kallio is the old wood-fired public sauna from 1928 and is the more interesting experience.
Two rules that visitors get wrong. You wash before, not after. And it is quiet in there; the sauna is not a bar.
Market halls and the archipelago
The Old Market Hall by the harbour is the food one, open since 1889. Hakaniemi is the larger and less polished. Both are better than the outdoor market square, which is mostly for tourists.
Beyond that, the city is an archipelago. Ferries and small boats reach Vallisaari, Lonna and Pihlajasaari, and the last is where people actually swim.
Practical
- The tram network covers the centre and a day ticket is the sensible purchase.
- Tap water is excellent and buying bottled water marks you out immediately.
- Midsummer weekend in late June empties the city entirely. Shops and restaurants close and everyone leaves for a cottage.
- The Allas Sea Pool has a heated pool and a sea pool side by side, which is the whole national character in one facility.
What this page is not
It is a city guide, and nothing on it is an offer. This agency arranges bookings in Athens and Mykonos only. We have no presence in Finland, no partner there and nothing available anywhere outside Greece.
Finns travel to Greece in very large numbers every summer, which is why this page exists at all. If your trip brings you here, see Athens.
