Helsinki
Suomenlinna, the ‘fortress of Finland’, straddles a cluster of car-free islands connected by bridges. This Unesco World Heritage site was originally built…
Must-see attractions in Helsinki
Helsinki
Occupying a palatial 1887 neo-Renaissance building, Finland’s premier art gallery offers a crash course in the nation’s art. It houses Finnish paintings…
Helsinki
Built in National Romantic art nouveau style and opened in 1916, Finland’s premier historical museum looks a bit like a Gothic church with its heavy…
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Helsinki
Situated 5.5km northwest of the city centre, this excellent island-set museum has a collection of 87 historic wooden buildings transferred here from…
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Helsinki
One in a series of elegant, contemporary buildings in this part of town, curvaceous, metallic Kiasma, designed by Steven Holl and finished in 1998, is a…
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Helsinki
Set beneath the iconic 1936 Lasipalatsi building, art museum Amos Rex opened in 2018. Sweeping staircases take you below ground to the exhibition halls…
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Helsinki
Rambling over 4 hectares in the city centre alongside the north harbour, Töölönlahti, Helsinki's botanic gardens are filled with plants from Finland and…
Helsinki
This museum complex spreads over five buildings from different eras, including Sederholmin talo, Helsinki’s oldest central building (dating from 1757 and…
Helsinki
Locally known as 'Espa', oblong-shaped Esplanadi stretches for four blocks between the squares Erottaja to the west and the kauppatori to the east…
Helsinki
Hewn into solid stone, the Temppeliaukion church, designed by Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen in 1969, feels close to a Finnish ideal of spirituality in nature…
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Helsinki
Perhaps the most interesting of the museums at Suomenlinna, this was once the home of Augustin Ehrensvärd, who designed the fortress, and later the…
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Helsinki
One of Carl Ludvig Engel’s finest creations, the chalk-white neoclassical Lutheran cathedral presides over Senaatintori (Senate Sq). Created to serve as a…
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Helsinki
A three-storey wooden cottage houses this delightful private collection of hundreds of dolls and nearly as many teddy bears, dating from the early 19th…
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Helsinki
Built in 2012 by Helsinki architectural firm K2S, this exquisite, ultracontemporary curvilinear chapel is constructed from wood (wax-treated spruce…
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Helsinki
Inside the Tennispalatsi, Helsinki's contemporary-art museum oversees 9000 works, including 3500 citywide public artworks. The overwhelming majority of…
Helsinki
The 1938-completed Tennispalatsi (Tennis Palace) cultural and recreation centre was intended for the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were subsequently…
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Helsinki
In a lovely setting on Kuusisaari island, this private gallery in a 1938 villa has works ranging from the Italian Renaissance to an extensive collection…
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Helsinki
On the island of Kuusisaari, this striking villa is filled with elegant objets d'art, including some Mayan and Chinese pieces, Finnish golden-age works…
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Helsinki
Part castle, part studio, this was the home of Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931), one of Finland’s most significant artists. Many of his works are…
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Helsinki
By the bridge at Suomenlinna that connects Iso Mustasaari and the main island, Susisaari, is Suomenlinna-Museo, a two-level museum covering the history of…
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Helsinki
Reached by a causeway, Tar Island (named for the warehouses that safely stored flammable Finnish tar here prior to export) is now a landscaped park with…
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Helsinki
In the commuter city of Espoo, this museum has a huge collection of mostly Finnish modern art, ranging from the early 20th century to the present. Works…
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Helsinki
While Vantaa (Swedish: Vanda), a satellite suburb of Helsinki, is best known as the location of the airport, it's also home to this fantastic hands-on…
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Helsinki
Finland's imposing parliament building was designed by Finnish architect Johan Sigfrid Sirén and inaugurated in 1931. Its pared-back neoclassicism…
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Helsinki
The city’s natural history museum is known for its controversial weathervane of a sperm impregnating an ovum. Modern exhibitions such as Story of the…
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Helsinki
At Suomenlinna, the Vesikko is the only WWII-era submarine remaining in Finland (the rest were scrapped). It saw action against the Russians during the…
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Helsinki
Built by the Russians in 1854 for their garrison on Suomenlinna, this church originally had five onion domes, and served as an Orthodox place of worship…
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Helsinki
Helsinki's leafy zoo occupies the entire island of Korkeasaari. Established in 1889 it has 150 animal species and 1000 plant species from Finland and…
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Helsinki
The eye-catching red-brick Uspenski Cathedral towers above Katajanokka island. Built as a Russian Orthodox church in 1868, it features classic golden…
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Helsinki
Opened late 2018 as a 100th anniversary gift to the people of Finland, the central library is as aesthetically pleasing as it is intellectually…
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Helsinki
This sprawling site once manufactured sea cables and later became Nokia’s main factory until the 1980s. It’s now a cultural complex with design studios,…
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Helsinki
Housed in a Jugendstil-style building dating back to 1928, Kunsthalle Helsinki hosts up to seven major, mostly contemporary exhibitions every year. Recent…
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Helsinki
From the kauppatori walk up the cobbled Sofiankatu to Senaatintori, Helsinki's majestic central square. Surrounded by early 19th-century buildings, the…
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Helsinki
Mustard-coloured Ruiskumestarin talo is central Helsinki’s oldest wooden townhouse, built in 1818. The charming cottage, with hardwood floors, fireplaces…
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Helsinki
Helsinki has several city beaches, but this one is considered the best. It’s a wide stretch of golden sand just west of the city centre, ideal in summer…
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Helsinki
Transport enthusiasts and kids will especially enjoy checking out the vintage trams at this engaging museum, which depicts daily life in Helsinki’s…
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Helsinki
In the leafy, waterfront Sibelius Park (Sibeliuksen puisto, or just 'Sibban'), this famous, striking sculpture was created by artist Eila Hiltunen in 1967…
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Helsinki
Near the kauppatori, this bronze statue is the symbol of the city. Sculpted by Ville Vallgren in 1906 in Paris, and installed here in 1908, the nude…
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Helsinki
Boardwalks lead you through one of Helsinki’s best-kept secrets. The Rhododendron Park is a wonderland of the eponymous bushes, trees and other flora…
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Helsinki
Helsinki’s most venerable church is this white wood 1826 beauty, designed by CL Engel. Opposite the church is a memorial to Elias Lönnrot, compiler of the…
