Blue and Green Capital of Finland

The city centre is located between the main tourist port and the train station. The lively market, with its traditional products, fresh fruit and all sorts of food, is the perfect spot to take a break while wandering around the city.

The city is home to quite a few buildings by the world-famous Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto (1898–1976). The white marble façades really catch the eye, a detail Aalto picked up during his travels in Italy. Over the years, though, it became clear that Italy and Finland are very different countries, and not everything can be copied over so easily. The white marble started cracking in the cold, which meant that all those façades needed to be replaced. That ended up costing quite a lot.

In 1952, Helsinki was the site of the Olympic Games. The stadium built at that time is still the largest in the country. It's worth climbing the high Olympic tower to get the most beautiful views of the Finnish capital.

Even with the high prices, you can still find restaurants that are more affordable. Especially at lunchtime, you can get a set menu for around 15 euros. Self-service restaurants are also inexpensive, including Finnish, Japanese, Chinese and vegetarian ones. You can find budget-friendly places to stay very close to the city centre. If you walk for about 15 minutes, you'll find a modern youth hostel, called Eurohostel, which is part of the Hostelling International organisation. Along with a great breakfast, they offer a free sauna until ten in the morning, and for an extra 7 euros, you can use it in the evening too.

Eurohostel also offers a free city tour lasting an hour and a half, which is especially interesting for those who have just arrived in town. We learned a lot of interesting facts, not only about the city, but also about the life of the Finnish people. Among other things, the reason they are considered the happiest nation in the world is that they're not very demanding. They are happy to have a roof over their head, a sauna, and the typical sausages and beer.

Finns are also quite proud of their brands. But not only of the world-famous phone manufacturer Nokia. They love to pamper themselves with decorative and fashionable Marimekko products, and Arabia, the well-known ceramics and porcelain brand has lots of appealing homeware. Their prestigious products can be found in the Finnish Design Museum, above which is an outlet store with porcelain. There are also many designer shops around the city.

Nestled between many parks

Helsinki is also a green capital, with parks and grassy areas making up about a third of the city. The central city park of the Esplanade is a popular promenade with tree-lined avenues and beautiful flowerbeds. In the Kaisaniemi area, not far from the striking railway station, there’s a botanical garden that was founded nearly two hundred years ago. Locals like to relax here in the open air, either on the benches or on the carefully maintained lawns. Sitting on the grass is allowed, as in most Scandinavian parks. It’s the same at the famous church with golden domes right at the city’s entrance.

The nearby islands are stunning too, and boats from the city centre pass right by them. Suomenlinna Island is particularly fascinating, with its impressive mid-18th-century fortresses and a host of museums, all accompanied by nice restaurants. The island is inhabited, and all buildings are state-owned. All EU citizens have the right to live there, but getting a house can take twenty years, unless you work on the island. However, there are not many options for this, except during the summer months in tourism.

From Helsinki, it is possible to visit the surrounding area by boat. One of the most popular destinations is the coastal city of Porvoo, home to the old Runeberg ship, which is something really special. It was built in 1912, named after a Finnish poet, and its steam engine was replaced by a diesel one about fifty years ago.

The ship sails regularly from May to September. A one-way trip takes three and a half hours, but it's by no means boring. You can order great salmon soup, cake and coffee on the boat. The landscape is less populated here, and meadows, fields and ever-expanding forests alternate with the blue of the sea. Along the coast, locals often set up a sauna that looks like a small wooden house on stakes from afar. Sauna in Finnish means a space made of wood. But saunas aren’t a Finnish invention, as they are said to date all the way back to the Stone Age.

If you plan to visit several museums and city sights, it’s worth getting the Helsinki Card City, which gives free entry to many museums and discounts at restaurants and shops. A one-day pass costs 62 euros, a two-day pass 77 euros, and a three-day pass 93 euros. The card also allows free use of public transport. There’s another option called Helsinki Card, which is a bit cheaper, but it can’t be used for public transport.

If you’re planning a trip to Finland, it might be interesting to read one of the books by Arto Paasilinna, one of the country’s best-known authors. This may help you better understand the locals, who can be quite stubborn, but also friendly. They may not smile at you, but they're mostly kind and some are quite easy to talk to.