Helsinki, the capital of Finland, sits on a rocky Baltic peninsula surrounded by more than three hundred islands. The Swedish king Gustav Vasa founded it in 1550 as a trading rival to Tallinn, and when it became the capital in 1812 the architect Carl Ludvig Engel laid out the white neoclassical Senate Square that remains the city's calling card. Later came Finnish Art Nouveau buildings, Alvar Aalto's bold designs and, more recently, libraries, museums and saunas admired around the world. About 690,000 people live here, and the sea fortress, forest trails and beaches are only minutes away by ferry or tram. If you are planning a trip and wondering what to see in Helsinki, here are twenty places, from cathedrals and a church carved into rock to a UNESCO-listed island fortress and a sauna right by the sea.
What to see in Helsinki first
Central Helsinki is compact: the Central Station is a ten-minute walk from Senate Square and the harbourside Market Square, and the Esplanadi boulevard links the waterfront with the shopping streets. A little to the west are the Rock Church, the Chapel of Silence and Oodi library, while the ferry to Suomenlinna leaves from Market Square and is covered by the city transport ticket. Helsinki's trams are slow and handy: lines 2 and 3 together trace a figure of eight around the centre and pass most of the main sights, making them a cheap way to take a sightseeing tour.
1. Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki's grandest space is Senate Square, paved with cobblestones and framed by neoclassical buildings housing the government, the university and the National Library. Above it, at the top of a broad flight of steps, rises the snow-white Lutheran cathedral with green domes, which Engel conceived as the focal point of the new capital and which was completed after his death, in 1852.
The interior is deliberately restrained, with white walls, a few statues and an organ, so the lasting impression is of space and light. Far more people simply sit on the steps, especially in summer when concerts are held on the square, and in winter one of the prettiest Christmas markets in Northern Europe sets up here. Walk around the square, too: the neighbouring lanes hold the city's oldest stone houses.
2. Uspenski Cathedral
On a rocky hill on the Katajanokka peninsula stands a red-brick Orthodox cathedral with golden onion domes, consecrated in 1868. No Orthodox church in Western Europe is bigger, and its colour and setting make it a counterpoint to the white Lutheran cathedral on Senate Square, as if the two churches were facing each other across the harbour.
Inside you will find a gilded iconostasis, painted vaults and columns hewn from solid granite. Even if you do not go in, climb up for the view over Market Square, the big wheel, the port with its huge ferries and the islands at the mouth of the harbour.
3. Market Square and the Old Market Hall
Right on the water, Market Square fills with orange tents selling berries, mushrooms, smoked fish, reindeer-hide goods and souvenirs. Food stalls serve fried vendace, a tiny local fish, with garlic sauce, and creamy salmon soup, and for dessert a cinnamon bun with coffee is a must, since Finns drink more coffee per person than anyone else on earth.
Next door is the Old Market Hall of 1889, with wooden stalls selling herring, cheese, rye bread and game delicacies. At the edge of the square stands the Havis Amanda fountain with its bronze mermaid, on whom students place a white student cap every year on 30 April, the eve of the Vappu festival. A little further along, a big wheel turns, complete with a sauna gondola.
4. Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
A quarter of an hour by ferry from Market Square, spread over several islands joined by bridges, lies one of the world's largest sea fortresses, listed by UNESCO. The Swedes began building it in the mid-18th century to guard their lands against Russia and called it Sveaborg, while the Finnish name, Suomenlinna, means "Castle of Finland".
Around 800 people live here today, alongside museums, cafés, a brewery and summer theatres. You can stroll the bastions and their cannons, explore the casemates, look round the Second World War submarine Vesikko and picnic on the rocks as ships glide through the strait. Allow half a day for Suomenlinna, and longer in summer.
5. Temppeliaukio Rock Church
Opened in 1969, this church was hollowed out of a granite outcrop in the middle of a residential block, to a design by Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen, two architect brothers. From outside you barely notice it, just a copper dome resting on the rock like a giant disc. Inside, daylight pours through a band of glass between the roof and the rough stone walls, down which water trickles in places.
The natural rock gives the church superb acoustics, so classical concerts are held here often. Come early in the morning or near closing time, when there are fewer tour groups, and simply sit for a while in the quiet: it is one of the most unusual places in Scandinavia.
6. Kamppi Chapel of Silence
In the middle of busy Kamppi square, between a shopping centre and the bus station, stands a wooden structure shaped like a large bowl or an upturned boat. The chapel opened in 2012, the year Helsinki was World Design Capital, and belongs to no denomination: it is simply a place where anyone can escape the city noise for a few minutes.
There are no icons or services inside, only benches, curved alder walls and soft light falling from the ceiling. Talking is discouraged, phones are switched off, and even footsteps sound muffled. Entry is free, so drop in whenever you need a breather between museums.
7. Oodi Central Library
Oodi opened at the end of 2018 opposite the Parliament House, and within a year it was named the best public library in the world. The undulating timber building works as a living room for the whole city: the ground floor has a cinema and café, the first floor recording studios, 3D printers, sewing machines and a kitchen you can cook in, and the top floor a bright hall of books, armchairs and potted trees.
The best spot is the top-floor terrace looking out over Parliament and the park. Oodi sits in a cultural quarter beside Töölönlahti bay, close to the Kiasma museum, the Music Centre and Alvar Aalto's Finlandia Hall with its white marble facade. Entry to the library is, of course, free.
8. Sibelius Monument
In a seaside park west of the centre stands one of Finland's best-known monuments, dedicated to the composer Jean Sibelius. The sculptor Eila Hiltunen made it in 1967 from more than six hundred steel pipes of different lengths that evoke both an organ and a northern forest. On windy days the pipes hum softly.
Many people were indignant at first that the monument did not show Sibelius himself, so a steel portrait of his face was added beside it. The surrounding park is lovely for a seaside walk, and nearby on the shore a popular café in a little red cottage serves coffee with a view of the bay, even in winter.
9. Seurasaari
The green island of Seurasaari, linked to the city by a wooden bridge, is both a park and an open-air museum. Dozens of old wooden buildings were brought here from different regions of Finland, including farmsteads, storehouses, windmills and a 17th-century church, and in summer guides inside them explain rural life.
Locals love the island too: they walk, swim and feed the squirrels, which boldly take nuts from your hand. At Juhannus, the Finnish Midsummer, great bonfires blaze on the shore, and on quiet days it is so peaceful that it is hard to believe the city centre is only twenty minutes away by bus.
10. Löyly and Allas Saunas
Finland has around three million saunas for five and a half million people, and Finnish sauna culture is on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage. So a sauna session in Helsinki is a must, ideally at one of the public saunas by the sea. Löyly, in the south of the city, impresses with its architecture: a sharp-angled timber building, saunas looking out to sea and steps leading straight into the water.
Near Market Square, Allas offers a heated pool, a seawater pool, saunas and a terrace facing Uspenski Cathedral. Finns take their time, alternating heat with cool water, and in winter the bravest plunge into a hole in the ice. Bring your own swimsuit; towels can be rented.
Helsinki Attractions: What Else to Visit While in the City
- Ateneum — the Finnish National Gallery in a 19th-century palace, home to the art of Finland's golden age, including Akseli Gallen-Kallela's scenes from the Kalevala, as well as works by Van Gogh and Cézanne.
- Kiasma — the museum of contemporary art in a curving building by the American architect Steven Holl, next to Parliament, showing installations, video and young artists.
- Amos Rex — an underground museum beneath Lasipalatsi square, where domed skylights bulge up from the paving. Children slide down them like little hills, while large-scale digital exhibitions run below.
- Central Station — a masterpiece of Finnish Art Nouveau by Eliel Saarinen, with a clock tower and four granite giants holding spherical lamps.
- National Museum of Finland — Finnish history from prehistoric times to today, told in a building that resembles a medieval church, with Kalevala frescoes on the vault of the main hall.
- Esplanadi — a park boulevard between Market Square and the shopping streets, with summer concerts, the 19th-century Kappeli café and Finnish design shops.
- Kallio — a former working-class district on a hill turned bohemian, with bars, vintage shops, street art and a granite church with a tall tower.
- Linnanmäki — Finland's oldest amusement park, opened in 1950, with a wooden roller coaster and dozens of rides for children.
- Korkeasaari Zoo — one of Northern Europe's oldest zoos, on its own island reached by ferry in summer, home to snow leopards, wolverines, bears and reindeer.
- Porvoo — Finland's second-oldest town, 50 km from the capital, with red wooden storehouses along the river, the cobbled Old Town and a 15th-century cathedral.
What to See in Helsinki in 1, 2 or 3 Days
How many days do you need in Helsinki? One day covers the highlights, two leave time for half a day on Suomenlinna and a proper sauna, and a third is best spent in Porvoo, Nuuksio National Park or on a ferry trip to Tallinn. What to do in Helsinki for a day? Start at Senate Square and the cathedral, walk over to Uspenski Cathedral, have lunch on Market Square or in the Old Market Hall, then stroll along Esplanadi to the Central Station. In the afternoon see the Rock Church, the Chapel of Silence and Oodi, and end the evening at Löyly or Allas. On day two take the ferry to Suomenlinna, and once back visit the Ateneum and Kiasma, or the Sibelius Monument and Seurasaari.
The most pleasant time to visit is from late May to early September: in June it barely gets dark, and July days are usually 20–23 degrees. At Juhannus, around the longest days of the year, the city empties noticeably as Finns head for their lakeside cottages. Winter days are short, but Senate Square hosts a Christmas market, the sea often freezes near the shore and a sauna followed by an ice-hole dip feels like the best idea in the world. Beyond the capital, Finland's highlights include medieval Turku, Olavinlinna castle in Savonlinna in the Lakeland and Lapland, where Santa Claus lives in Rovaniemi.
Free things to do in Helsinki include walking Senate Square, Market Square, Esplanadi and the waterfront, visiting both cathedrals, the Chapel of Silence and Oodi, and seeing the Sibelius Monument, Seurasaari and Suomenlinna, where you only pay for the ferry. Children love Linnanmäki, Korkeasaari Zoo, the Heureka science centre in Vantaa, the domed skylights of Amos Rex and the squirrels on Seurasaari. In the evening locals head for the bars of Kallio and Punavuori, and in summer they linger on terraces by the sea. A tip: the tap water is excellent, and you can pay by card for almost everything.
From Poland, Finnair runs direct flights to Helsinki from Kraków and Gdańsk, taking about two hours. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is around 20 km from the centre, and the commuter train reaches the Central Station in half an hour. Another popular route is via Estonia: big ferries cross the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn to Helsinki in about two hours, so the two capitals combine easily in one trip.
Helsinki summers are cool and bright, and for a truly warm sea Finns have long headed south: together with the Canary Islands, Turkey and the resorts around Antalya have long been among their favourite beach destinations, and Alanya is even twinned with Rovaniemi in Lapland. TurPoisk travel agency can help with both parts of your trip: book a hotel near Esplanadi or in Kamppi, and for a beach holiday choose tours to Turkey, whether to Alanya with its wide sandy beaches, Kemer between the mountains and the sea or ancient Side. Our tour search will find options for your dates, and last-minute tours to Turkey are worth checking for bargains. The TurPoisk.ua team will help you pair a northern capital with a warm sea.
