Helsinki
a Brutally Dandy Guide
Have you heard from someone that Helsinki is boring? Well, it might as well be true for some. Helsinki is a place one should take one-coffee-at-the-time. To be perfectly honest, it might be a quest of a lifetime to find a good coffee around here. Majority of the Finns is still keen on a filtered drink that they leave idling on a burner for the entire day. Nevertheless, as to any other rule — there are exceptions to this one too. Here is a short list of places that may spice up your image of the city if you are anything like me.
TRY
What can you try in Helsinki, that you won’t find anywhere else?
TRY SAUNA
In case you read it, you are likely to be a foreigner. Most likely, the only Finnish word you have ever heard then is “sauna”. Shockingly, it sort of means the same thing here as you would imagine. With the only difference that people usually go in naked and are allowed/read as expected/ to throw water on the hot stones. They are as close to everyday Finnish life as 6–15 euros can get you. In fact, every house in the country is usually having at least one sauna used by the residents. Here is a short list of alternative saunas you can visit.
Kultuurisauna
Kultuurisauna is a place owned by a Finnish-Japanese couple. A traditional sauna combined with Japanese minimalism in architecture. Mix-gender resting area. A chance to dip into the bay in between sauna turns. If you pick your own towel it gets a bit cheaper. This place is an artwork. So much so, that even the trivial interior elements are made custom.
If you want to pay for something special in Helsinki — I recommend you to stop here for the whole evening.
Löyly
Löyly is a new hip place on the shore. Visit it just to have a nice view from its double-deck terrasse. This place you visit to experience new architecture and have a great view when you run out to the bay to have a dip. The building is certainly a looker and the view to the bay is one of the most beautiful skylines within the city center. Yet, if you prefer to stay away from unreasonably pricy bars and the crowds dressed in “brands” — maybe skip the drink here. The atmosphere in Löyly is stiff. In Russian, we say: The air inside is so thick, you can hang an ax on it.
Swimming Pools
Mäkelänrinne Swimming Pool is one of the most visited swimming pools in Europe. A basic pool ticket gives you 2.5 hours visit. You are free to spend all this time in between three saunas that they have in the shower area. The saunas are great even though they are not the core purpose of the place. This is probably the cheapest and the most laid-back way to get in touch with a tradition.
Public Saunas
Public Saunas in Kallio (e.g. Harju Sauna) are the washrooms of the old proletarian district. Back in the days when factory workers didn’t have showers in their small flats, they would have plenty of public saunas. Some of them are working until today. Prices are a bit too high, but the experience is still very low key. If you want to seat barechested and red-faced on the street and watch trams pass by while having a sip of a beer — that’s your place.
Sompa sauna
Sompa Sauna is an ultimately hippy experience. The place is run by the enthusiasm of random stranger which keeps it free of charge and full of unexpected audience. One has to have balls to try it out, but hey — we only live once.
TRY STAYING ZEN
Helsinki is the best when you simply chill. There are plenty of places where you can aim to spend time without a certain aim.
Winter Garden Greenhouse
Winter Garden Greenhouse is an old school promenade in the center. Free of charge. Very nice light during the noon hours.
EAT
What can you eat in Helsinki?
EAT ON UNDER 10€
Well, cheap food is virtually non-existent in Helsinki (unless you are come from Copenhagen or Dubai). But there are a few places with below 10€ tags for a meal.
Barbarossa
This is a pizza-kebab place hidden in the very centre of the city. 5€ will get you vegetarian falafel or a large pizza with all the standard toppings. You will find it in Kamppi shopping center next to Lidl. It is terrible. But it is 5€.
Soma
Soma is a small chain serving sushi-burrito rolls for under 10€. Those are great if you are looking for something moderately healthy and strictly vegan.
SoiSoi
SoiSoi vegetarian/vegan place (with a few meat options too). Sandwiches are good, perhaps, not the best (you can ask for various bun options if you are allergic or just want a rye bun). The greatest thing here is sweet potato fries. Ask for mango souce along with them.
Kipsari
Kipsari a vegetarian student place in Arabia. They serve the best tofu sandwiches you can find. Also, two hot meal for you to choose from and a salad bar are served as an alternative. It has moved to Aalto University new campus in Espoo. If you wanted to check the uni out — grab a bite in Kipsari. They also have their own cookbook on sale, if you’d like what you taste.
Unicafe
Unicafe Ylioppilasaukio the largest student diner in town owned by the student union of Helsinki University. Several hot dishes or a salad bar to choose from. Just ask any of the students how the line works. It’s a self-service place with a check-out.
Rupla
has nice offers on lunches several times a week. Also offers “all you can eat“ cake buffet for 8–10e on Saturdays (highly recommended).
EAT A PROPER DINNER
Harju 8
is one of the recent additions to the gentrifications scene of Kallio. It is pretty relaxed and serene in the daytime. At the same time, at night (it is open till 2am) it becomes very vibrant collecting some of the very hip people. It is January 2019, so if you are reading it way later — it might be the old boring thing then. The price tag is not the most satisfactory. But the mood worths it, if you want to have a good evening and a thoughtfully made main course.
New Bamboo Centre
is one of the loudest and the most cheerful places in the city. They have one of these extremely long menus of Chinese dishes that you never wanna read through when you are hungry. Very large portions that can be easily split in two (in this case you pay for an extra rice). Check the menu of the day, it is always much cheaper than ordering a few dishes. However, if you are only taking the main course, go for something new to you.
Sandro & Kok
are both the fusion kitchen restaurants with a few spots in town. They serve interesting menus as well as very personal and laid-back service. At the same time, the places are leaning towards a refined experience, so they are suitable for getting your partner’s fancy parents out. During the weekend it makes sense to make a booking — these places are popular.
Mei Lin
This is yet another Chinese. Claimed to be the most authentic by all the Chinese friends of mine. It has a large off-menu selection, so if you know what you want or if the menu is not enough — ask a waiter for a bit of advice.
Gandhi
is an Indian restaurant. Very laid back and very friendly. The price tag is not exactly the lightest to lift if you travel on the budget, but the portions are generous. Garlic naan is very well recommended.
Burgher’s House. Pay attention to the bread dry-stored on the stick under the roof. This way if very typical in the North. You can visit dry bread in any Helsinki supermarket and find these traditional loaves on the shelf until this very day. Photo CC BY-NC sasha is sasha, 2018
CAFE
Well, these places are plenty around town. There are few I can name just for a start, but suit yourself on this matter.
Casa Italia
is, probably, the only place I truly like these days. The stuff there cares to remain human. The coffee tastes like coffee. Hot chocolate is more than just cacao powder fused with hot water. It is extremely small, though, so if you like grand spaces it isn’t for you.
La Torrefazione
is a coffee place in the very centre. Here you can look at the Russian tourists shopping cheap H&M and Zara clothes one floor above one of the busiest streets. This place is most often crowded, but if you let a waiter know how many you are, most often you get a place soon. These guys always have nice tea, thick hot chocolate and reasonable coffee.
Regatta
is a super home-like cafe on a sea side. Have cash with you. Get a bun and grill some food on the open fire outside. Great for a sunny day or just as a break on your walk along the western shore.
Story
at the old Kauppahalli (Close to the Market square), mostly nice due to the old market hall itself. Otherwise a typical chain cafe. Overpriced for what is served.
Ipi Kulmakuppila
Karhupuisto (Finnish for “a Bear Park”), is a place with plenty of cafes and bars around. Ipi cafe stands out with its great design, nice offering, and friendly staff. The concept of the place is generally interesting, you can find out more about it online. You also can enjoy a great view onto the1912 Kallio Library (to which you may pay a visit before or after).
SEE
What is there to see in Helsinki?
SEE THE MUSEUMS
Helsinki City Museum
Helsinki Museum offers a free-entrance small show in the very center on the Senate Square. An interactive display telling about the city history. Your chance for some good selfies in a replica of a 1960s old lady flat. On the first floor, perhaps, the best souvenir store you will find in town. On the last floor — temporary shows connected to Helsinki. Drop by for about an hour. It’s good for groups too. There is a very fixed list of the museums within the city area.
If you are a frequent visitor of contemporary art venues — I would not recommend any of the art museums here. What you get does not match the price. However if the whole scene is new to you, it may worth taking a look.
Kansallismuseo, The National Museum
offers a mildly interactive permanent exhibition with all too familiar subjects: medieval times of colonization (by Swedes and Russian) and early written culture. Exiled not so rich nobles. Industrialization. Politics, politics, politics. Consumer era. Climate change. But if you choose to go — you are up for a good time and some nice Instagram shots.
A ProTip: If you do not want to pay a crazy lot, but still want to seem like you’ve touched the Finnish culture, you can visit the main foyer of Kansalismuseo. It is for free and it has an epic dome painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. He was a super-duper stereotypical National Romanticist. Very Finland, much fairytale.
Take a picture and move on. You can also pass through the Foyer of Finlandia-talo (a huge white concert hall across the road from the museum). Finlandia-talo is one of the “postcard” staples of the Helsinki tours. What remains little known to the tourists is that everything up to the smaller details of the houses built by Alvar Aalto’s project have been thought through by him. For example, pay attention to the purposely bendy door handles on the main doors. These were actually designed by Aalto himself. They are also used on Kirjatalo (main book store) house designed by him. If you are bored, you can have a game. Go take photographs of the smallest interior details in Finlandia-talo and then try to find the same ones in Kirjatalo. You will. And yes, “talo” means “a house” in Finnish.
HAM, Helsinki Art Museum.
At times has interesting works on display. Some big names like Ai Wei Wei, for example. If you want to visit “an art show” (without much preference) during the time in Helsinki — it is a good place to do so.
Kiasma
is a contemporary art museum that most of the people would claim you should visit. The place mostly works as a large gallery, often showing new works rather than a collection of previously exhibited art. A new curator was hired recently and some positive changes are expected. However a previous curator drove the place off the hill and since the current shows were still planned earlier — they are pretty intolerable.
Taidehalli and Sinebruhoff
These museums are both very old-school. If you have too much money — go ahead and spend it there. Otherwise, there are better ways to go.
Burgher’s House Museum
Burgher’s House has a bit of a Handmaid’s Tale vibe to it. But otherwise, it’s nice that we’ve got another free admission space that displayed the historic lifestyle. It is conveniently located in one of the central residential areas. Very few tourists make it into the depth of this particular neighborhood and through this miss on the chance to see some of the old Helsinki.
The Gallen-Kallela Museum
This museum is a classy villa that belonged to Akseli Gallen-Kallela. He was a rather eccentric man and the house is rather special, full of personal touches that show through even today. Get your free audiogude here.
Pasila Street Art
Pasila is a brutalist district that you can reach on foot or by public transport. It is now experiencing an urban renaissance of a kind with new services coming into the area. On the wave of these renovations, a lot of artists got the permission to participate in the Pasila Street Art projects. You may check the locations by the link, or simply go to the neighborhood and try to explore it on the go.
WALK
Where to walk in Helsinki?
WALK IN NATURE
I am a bit of a geek in the parks, forests and nature walk. This section will have a lot more material to look at than the rest. Lucky for me, Finland in general and Helsinki, in particular, have a generous offering when it comes to access to nature.
Seurasaari
is an island with a sanctuary forest and old Finnish wooden architecture along the main path (collected from around the country). If you want to spend the whole day walking, maybe start at the old cemetery at Lappinlahti. Then walk along the water (all the time) until you reach Regatta cafe. Get some warm drink and continue walking towards Seurasaari. Then get another warm drink when you get to the island. Then when you are leaving tired and happy — take a bus back. Sorry, no idea about parking in this area if you need it.
Lammassaari
omg, so sweet. It is a long walk in reed across the swampy part of the bay. Some people go there to watch rare birds. Some just go to hang out in nature. If you go there, you can check the old hydro-electric plant on the end of the Vantaa river. It has a small waterfall these days. And the building itself is a large free of charge museum (well.. just the station parts and rooms are all open. You are free to roam inside and read a bit… It’s about 40 min long if you really take your time to walk through). Take some snack and water with you if you go there for a long trip. Dress warmly.
Mustikkamaa.
Well, saying “visit Mustikkamaa” is just a roughly setting a direction, not really naming a destination. If you get to Kalasatama subways station and walk from there across the “Grandpa bridge” a new pedestrian bridge, you will get onto the island next to the zoo. It is a nice area within the city that faces plenty of nice sea views, has a few picturesque hills and awesome old trees. All of this within 10–15 min walk from the pretty urban Kalasatama.
Keskuspuisto
Literally translates to English as “Central Park”. Literally a forest. Literally in the center of the city. Just check it on the map. It’s sick. And sort of cool. Easy to walk through.
Munkkiniemenranta
Take the tram 4 to the last stop until Saunalahdentie (Bastuviksvägen). After that, you can follow the shore west-wise for a good hour of walking. The view to the bay is open and nice and the nature route itself is laying in the fair distance from the highway nearby.
Kumpula and Käpylä
Technically these two are not at all natural locations. These are the old working-class neighborhoods on the fringe of the city center. But they are notable for their serenity, old wooden houses and the manner in which these houses blend into the nearby foresty parks. Well recommended direction for a long walk.
FIND
What else can you find in Helsinki, that is hidden from your eye?
DISCOVER PUBLIC SPACES
We pay a lot of taxes in Finland. We pay A LOT(!) of taxes. You may have heard all the general buzz about Finland being one of the most livable countries in return and one of the countries with (generally) healthy social support system. I offer you to have a tour through some public spaces to see how social welfare system can be functional.
Central Library Oodi
is the new fantastic place to spend your time if you are in town. I am absolutely ecstatic about it since it embodies every best aspect that Finland has to offer to its citizens. It is made with consideration for the guests of the space. It is public and free. Its service is friendly and largely accessible via the web on the pre-booking. If you want to learn something from the Finns — learn how to build new common spaces.
Public Libraries
It actually worth attention to come and have a look at what do the other libraries have to offer to their guests. Here is a quick chronology of other libraries in town:
1844 — National Library of Finland
1882 — Rikhardinkatu Library
1912 — Kallio Library
1979 — Töölö Library
1986 — Pasila Library
1999 — Vikki Library
2003 — Sello Library
2012 — Helsinki University Main Library
2016 — Maunulatalo, Maunula Library
2018 — Central Library Oodi
Think Corner
Think Corner or Tiedekulma is a recent addition to the family of the Helsinki University campus buildings in the city center. You will find it right near the main cathedral. While cathedral is nothing special and copies hundreds of the churches around central Europe — Think Corner is a unique project. The main atrium is cast in concrete and has a fantastic space open for public. Other areas open into one another and are filled with students and guests of the campus minding their own business. It is not a corridor you pass on your way to the class. It is a modern place to live, a place to spend your time while you are trying to master a new skill. University hosts plenty of open lectures in here, just check their website if you want to attend one.
West Metro Line
In 2018 Helsinki has finally gotten its West-wards metro line extension. It has a long story of bureaucratic stupidity behind, that has thrown the delivery deadlines several times and made this extension equally terrible for those who live in the West of the municipality as it is good for those who live right next to the new line.
Should you take a tour through the new stations (everything to the west of Ruoholahti station), pay attention to the length of the platforms. Originally Helsinki was supposed to have a fully automated self-driving metro. This would have allowed carrying more passengers at shorter intervals. The plan was great, and for this plan to become reality we needed automatic doors on the platforms (the safety measure). The doors were tested and passed the test. The tender was in action and cost Helsinki a lot of money (just like the whole project). But then the bureaucracy has caused delays and the provider of the doors has asked for the additional work to be paid. Suddenly the administration of the city went mad and declined the plans of having automatic doors altogether. The expensive project was tossed to the bin and human-driven trains confirmed for the line.
This would have been a story with a happy ending but it is not. In this case, the project administration has spoiled the life of the citizens for the years to come. You can notice that we only have the short trains today. They carry way fewer passengers than before and often run at the tightest intervals allowed for the human-driver to go in the tunnels. At the same time busses already were taken off their routes and people whose commute was 20 minutes from the suburb to the city now take 40 minutes for the same trip. There are also such “comical” details as not having toilets for the drivers at the ends of the new lines. Which, of course, is also a potential reason for future delays.
None of this reflects in the station design, though (other than the platform length). And for the tourists, these new stations provide a great opportunity to comfortably reach new destinations on the fringes of the municipality.
MORE OF HELSINKI
You will certainly manage to find something for yourself in here. Here are just a few snapshots that may guide your attention.
