Museums and galleries
Military Museum Manege
Exhibits vehicles and armament used by Finnish forces during Winter War and WW2.
Mannerheim Museum
Finnish Marshall Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim lived in this villa 1924â51. The museum contains his personal home and his vast array of items acquired during his life and on his long travels.
Military Museum
Founded in 1929, the central museum of the Finnish Defence Forces.
Design Museum
Exhibitions of modern commercial and industrial design and modern art. The permanent exhibit in the basement showcases the history of consumer-goods design over the course of the 20th century, with a particular focus on the contributions of Finnish designers.
Ateneum Art Museum
Ateneum can be considered the most nationally significant art museum, and it has the largest collection of paintings and sculptures in Finland. Particularly notable is the collection of works by major Finnish artists. Works include renowned interpretations of the national epic Kalevala.
Submarine Vesikko
Vesikko was one of five submarines to serve the Finnish Navy during the wars in 1939-44. It´s also the only surviving German Type II Vesikko was the prototype submarine in the world.
Heureka Science Centre
If you have children, this is a great place for a day trip. Hands-on science tests and exhibitions plus Verne super-cinema. There's also a Heureka Shop, where you can buy interesting science-related memorabilia.
National Museum of Finland (Kansallismuseo)
A beautiful classical building houses this old museum, which has recently been renovated. The exhibit includes displays of artifacts and items relating to Finland's history.
Many of Helsinki's museums are as interesting from the outside as from the inside. Architecture buffs will get a kick out of Helsinki's Neo-Classical center, centered around Senate Square Senaatintori, where a statue of the liberal Russian czar Alexander II stands guard. Aleksanterinkatu and the Railway Station square also have some beautiful neo-classical buildings — look out for the Romantic Kalevala-esque themes — but unfortunately these areas also have many concrete monstrosities mixed in.
Museum of Cultures (Kulttuurien museo)
One of Helsinki's quirkier museums, concentrates on changing exhibitions of cultures outside Finland.
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art
The sometimes unusual collections mostly include works by contemporary Finnish artists and artists from nearby countries. There are also periodical exhibitions. The building itself is arguably a work of art.
Surrounded by sea and a vast archipelago, Helsinki is at its best in the summer when the dialogue between the city and nature is at its fullest. Classical Helsinki's sights can be divided into an eclectic set of churches and a wide variety of museums. For a coastal amble past some of Helsinki's minor and major sights, see the itinerary A seaside stroll in Helsinki.
other islands
A beautiful archipelago saaristo surrounds the Helsinki city center. In addition to the major islands listed below, there are scheduled services to many smaller islands, and you can also tour them by sightseeing cruise. Most of the cruises depart from the Western corner of the Market Square and last from one to several hours. Note most ferries and cruises operate only in the summer high season.
Seurasaari Open Air Museum
(http://www.nba.fi/en/seur...). A pleasant little island to the north of the center, filled with walking trails and authentic old Finnish houses collected from all over the country. An excellent half-day trip, especially in the summer, when many buildings have guides practising crafts in traditional dress. There's a very pleasant if somewhat pricy summer cafe/restaurant atop a small hill at the center of the island. Entry to the park free, entry into the museum buildings costs €6 €5 concession, buy tickets at entrance. Take bus 24 from Erottaja at the northern end of Esplanadi to the terminus 20-30 minutes, then walk across the bridge. Beware of mercenary squirrels that will raid your bags if you carry any food.Pihlajasaari
(http://www.pihlajasaari.net/). Few tourists find their way here, but this is a very popular summer spot for Helsinkians, with sandy beaches including a mixed nude beach and a restaurant dishing out cold beer and ciders. Ferries run from Merisatama pier at the southern end of Kaivopuisto Park tram 3B hourly from 9:30AM to 8:30PM, 10-15 min, €5.50 return.Korkeasaari
(http://www.korkeasaari.fi...). A large island in central Helsinki best known for Helsinki Zoo, with approximately 200 different animal species. Connected to the mainland by bridge bus 11 from Central Railway Station, in summer you can also open for a 15-min ferry ride from Hakaniemi and Market Square. Entry to the zoo €10/5 adult/child.
olympic sights
Helsinki is an Olympic city, the host of the 1952 Olympic Games.
Olympic Stadium
(http://www.stadion.fi/ind...). Originally built for the Olympics and renovated for the 2005 World Athletic Championships. Next to the stadium are soccer fields. There is Museum of Sport in the stadium building. Another stadium called Sonera stadium is not far from the Olympic site. The most popular building in the complex, though, is the Uimastadion, Helsinki's largest outdoor pool open May-Sep, whose three pools and water slides draw around 5,000 visitors a day in the summer. After the war, the pool was used to store herring and potatoes! Open M-F 9AM-8PM, Sa-Su 9AM-6PM..
Olympic Tower
The stadium features 72m high tower 14 storeys that offers a great view over the city. â¬5 adults / â¬2 children as at November 2011.
suomenlinna
If you see only one place in Helsinki in the summer, make it Suomenlinna (http://www.suomenlinna.fi...). The "Gibraltar of the North" was once the greatest sea fortress in the Baltic, built by the Swedish in the mid-1700s at great expense to protect their eastern flank. But when the Russians invaded in February 1808, the bulk of the unprepared and bankrupt Swedish army hastily withdrew, allowing the Russians to conquer Helsinki without a fight and besiege the fortress. With no reinforcements in sight, commander Carl Olof Cronstedt surrendered unconditionally two months later, and Finland was ceded to the Russians. Cronstedt's actions probably saved countless civilian lives, but King Gustav IV needed a scapegoat and sentenced him to death for treason; fortunately, the losing king was himself soon overthrown, and Cronstadt lived out his years gardening.
Today's Suomenlinna is still living in its own time with only old buildings, few cars, fewer than a thousand inhabitants and lots of old fortifications, catacombs and cast iron cannons. But it's not just a museum: the sprawling complex houses restaurants, cafes, theaters and museums, and is a very popular place for a picnic on a fine summer day, watching the vast passenger ferries drift by on their way to Estonia and St Petersburg. It was included in UNESCOâs World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique monument to European military architecture.
Entry to the island itself is free, but you need to pay for the ferry ride. The HSL ferry from Market Square is the cheapest and most convenient way of getting there at €4 for a 12-hour tourist return. The ferry is a part of the Helsinki local traffic, so if you have an HSL Day Ticket it includes ferry travel. The ferry runs approximately every half hour. On summer weekends the island is a popular picnic destination and you may have to wait for a long time as hundreds of people crowd the ferry terminal. In this case it may be worth it to use the more expensive private ferry company at the other end of the Market Square.
Guided tours of the island in English are available daily at 11AM and 2PM in Jun-Aug and on Sat/Sun only at 1:30PM the rest of the year, €7/person, and history buffs will want to drop into the Suomenlinna Museum (http://www.nba.fi/en/suom...) at the Visitor Centre €6,50.