Where to take your friends in Helsinki – impressing 101

By Chloé Bolton, University of Helsinki, Finland

Now I love Helsinki, I find the lifestyle amazing and the university has everything you need. But as a tourist and with visitors I found myself a little stuck the first time I had someone come over – it’s quite small and not the most tourist attractive destination. This being said, over the past six months I’ve curated a little bucket list of the sights, places and activities your friends or family would probably want to do.

Experiencing the Finnish lifestyle:

A must-do, if you’re willing to spend a bit of money, would be going to the Allas Sea Pool. The clue is in the name, essentially there is a Sea Pool if you’re willing to brave the cold water and often cold temperatures outside. If you’re not (shame on you), there is a heated pool, and the best part is the saunas that have a beautiful view overlooking the sea.

The price is 13 euros for a student, full fee is 20 euros. There is no time limit, you can stay as long as you want and when you’re done there’s a lovely café and a bar/ restaurant inside the Allas facilities, that equally have a beautiful view.

The location is ideal, being in central Helsinki on the port, meaning that you can do plenty of things around the area that same day.

An alternative to this, if you’re wanting to do something for free would be to go to Sompasauna. It’s a community-run sauna, that also allows you to go cold water swimming! If the water is frozen, they’ll make a hole in the ice for you (so you really have no excuse not to). It is less central just above Kallio and Hakaniemi, there is no direct transport to get you straight there, but you can get the bus/metro and walk the rest easily.

Tasting some Finnish food:

I would be lying if I said that Finland was known for its amazing culinary scene, however there are a few things worth trying.

The indoor market halls are ideal for this, you’re avoiding the cold and getting to taste Finland. You’ve got lots of different stalls and places to sit with pretty much everything you could think of taste-wise. There are two main ones, the Port Indoor Food Market, near Allas Sea Pool if you fancy doing two birds one stone, or the Hakaniemi Indoor Market (downstairs for food, upstairs for everything else). They’re both really well located and very accessible.

Café Regatta is a great spot for a coffee and a korvapusti (finnish style cinnamon roll). It’s an outdoor café where you can sit by the sea at any time of the year, even having a firepit for the winter time. The prices are very good for Helsinki and the scenery is amazing. It’s located in a quirky and hustling neighbourhood called Toolo, which is also quite central (east of Helsinki).

The great Finnish outdoors:

There is great stuff to do right on Helsinki’s doorstep. One of my personal favourites is Suomenlinna (I have now been a grand total of 7 times, all with different people). Suomenlinna literally means Castle of Finland  (there’s a fortress and a port on the island), so not only are there pretty historic sights to see, you’ve also got a couple museums and amazing sights including sea views and little ponds, all on this tiny island.

It’s located just south of Helsinki, and technically is still part of Helsinki, meaning the HSL transport service will get you there for the same price as a bus or metro ticket (3.10 euros).

Another great spot covered by the HSL transport service (4.10 euros this time though), is Nuuksio National Park, it might take you a bit over an hour to get there though. You’ve got plenty to do here from seeing reindeer to mushroom picking to cold water swimming, or you could just go on a big hike. This is probably the closest national park to Helsinki and a beautiful example of the Finnish outdoors.

Koli is another national park that is reachable from Helsinki. The last place I’ll list is not a national park but Seurasaari, a small island in Helsinki. It’s smaller than Suomenlinna but it still has a lot to offer, being called an ‘outdoor museum’ and has its own outdoor firepit that you’re free to use and roast marshmallows with. Again, it is very easy to get to get to and a great place to escape the city.

Honourable mention:

Museums. Helsinki has a few museums. I can’t write about them too much as I’ve only been to one so far, for one reason: free museum days.  The museums here are very expensive but if you do your research and find the free dates (they happen quite often), it’s definitely worth it!