Finland’s biggest bookshop has a huge travel section, maps, Finnish literature and an impressively large English section, including magazines and newspapers. It's worth visiting just to view the striking modernist building, designed by Alvar Aalto and completed in 1969. The cafe here is named Cafe Aalto.
Akateeminen Kirjakauppa
Helsinki
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.93 MILES
Suomenlinna, the ‘fortress of Finland’, straddles a cluster of car-free islands connected by bridges. This Unesco World Heritage site was originally built…
0.17 MILES
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…
0.33 MILES
An unmissable stop for Finnish design aficionados, Helsinki's Design Museum has a permanent collection that looks at the roots of Finnish design in the…
0.64 MILES
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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2.35 MILES
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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0.35 MILES
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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29.45 MILES
One of Finland's most enticing old quarters, this tangle of cobbled alleys and wooden warehouses is entrancing. Once a vibrant port and market, Porvoo now…
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0.29 MILES
Set beneath the iconic 1936 Lasipalatsi building, art museum Amos Rex opened in 2018. Sweeping staircases take you below ground to the exhibition halls…
Nearby Helsinki attractions
1. Johan Ludvig Runeberg Statue
0.14 MILES
Finland's national poet and composer of the Finnish national anthem, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, is commemorated by a statue in the city's central Esplanadin…
0.14 MILES
Locally known as 'Espa', oblong-shaped Esplanadi stretches for four blocks between the squares Erottaja to the west and the kauppatori to the east…
0.17 MILES
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…
0.17 MILES
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…
0.17 MILES
Across from the Vanha Kirkko is this memorial to Elias Lönnrot, compiler of the Kalevala epic, depicting the author flanked by his most famous character, …
0.26 MILES
Rautatientori (Railway Sq) flanks the eastern side of Helsinki's glorious National Romantic art nouveau train station. Designed by Finnish architect Eliel…
0.27 MILES
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…
0.29 MILES
Set beneath the iconic 1936 Lasipalatsi building, art museum Amos Rex opened in 2018. Sweeping staircases take you below ground to the exhibition halls…