Helsinki 2025 Diary

Day 1 - A journey 

An easy flight on Finnair, into an almost deserted Helsinki airport.  Probably because they had the time, everyone was questioned about their itinerary, and all of the conversation around the bag pick up was about what people had been asked about.  I have to say this is the first time my Expedia app has ever been useful. 

We got the train from the airport, and arrived at this spectacular art deco station.

The hotel is in a huge square just around from the station, and after settling into our rooms (another hotel without any mirrors near a desk) we went out for a basic dinner and a walk to get our bearings.  Of course I was expecting it but it's lovely to see it still light at midnight; I think sunset is officially 11pm, but basically it stays dusk all night.   

We found a lovely garden esplanade which runs along to the market/harbour area in the centre of town.  It has some exhibits from the Helsinki Biennal on display, but perhaps my favourite thing there is the permanent statue of poet/writer (Kansa) who seems to have a permanent arrangement to have a seagull on his head.  Apparently he collected Finnish folk tales and is largely responsible for the Finnish national story.  

Day 2 - A lot of walking!

We had a walking tour around central Helsinki with an entertaining guide who was born in Argentina but fell in love with Helsinki and the Finnish taciturn national character. We saw two cathedrals alike in dignity (One Lutheran, one Russian Orthodox), state buildings, animals used as meet up markers, a Finnish rock  star in the radio station (the guide seemed quite excited!),  grumpy faces on a building and a lovely, inspirational library.  

The library was a gift to the people of Helsinki on the 100 year anniversary of Finland's independence from Russia, and it is beautiful.  It's a gorgeous building architecturally, sitting in a square opposite a main concert hall, and adjacent to lovely wild gardens, which have play areas and a short walk to a lake and woodland in the centre of the city.  But inside is lovely too, light, a proper community space, buzzing with energy and people playing chess, games, lunching, lazing about in one of the many lounging areas if not actually properly studying.  It's clearly a central reference point which is further evidenced by the filming being done in the entranceway when we first arrived.

It also has exceptional toilets, completely gender irrelevant and accessible, with clever use of light so that although it is in the basement it feels light, airy and welcoming.  There are actually signs saying 'no photos' so I assume I am not the only one tempted - so a stock photo from the internet instead.

In the afternoon we took the ferry to Suomenlinna which is a lovely forested, rocky island just 15 minutes off the coast of the main Helsinki city, and a world heritage site.  Previously a fort, there is now a small community living on the island although completely inundated by day trippers.  Lovely countryside and views, lots of cafes and a bit too hot, although I felt bad complaining about the mid 20s, given the heatwave back at home but still…. 

The city on Tuesday evening was a bit buzzier than last night although still not hectic like a London or New York.  Food wise, the city is like any European capital with a full range of international offerings as well as a few Burger Kings etc.  Veggie burgers for dinner and an earlyish night although it’s still light outside.  An early start tomorrow for Tallin 

Day 3 To Tallin

An early start and a tram ride to the ferry terminal for a two hour very smooth crossing.  We were a bit late for the start of our guided tour as we took the long route into the old town, but luckily they waited for us.  There was a song festival in Tallin this weekend which meant lots of traditional songs in the town square, but also the majority of the people on our walking tour were members of an English choir performing at the festival.  They were pleasant enough but were very chatty which I had mixed feelings about…  

Anyway I loved the story about the dilapidated truck which is there because the owner failed to get a deal when the government bought the land to make a park.  They won’t buy it as it is too expensive but the owner has to pay land tax and is limited in the use he can put to the land, so he parks his ancient truck there instead in the middle of his tiny patch of land in the middle of the park.  

Lots of churches, and a great story about the Russian Orthodox cathedral which stares down the Parliament across the square in a longstanding face-off which neither can now win.   There’s an ancient chemist shop that has been there since the 1400s, for 350 years under ownership of the same family, and lots of fab buildings and touristy tat shops for us to enjoy.  

And we are told the monument in the main square is an Iron Cross rather than a Nazi symbol....

Loved the Kiss and Sail entrance to the port - assume it is drop off, but this is a much better description!  

Day 4 - A boat trip and some art and history

We had a trip out around the archipelago to start - it was a bit cloudy but we decided to go for it and we had a lovely time, the geeks amongst us enjoying the swing bridge, including our seagull hitching a lift.

Every island seems to have a sauna around every corner and I have additional admiration for the Finnish stamina to be dipping into that sea.  

We stopped for lunch in a square with a pop up street food, bar and music venue. 

Then the design museum - so much ‘Scandinavian’ stuff is actually Finnish, I would probably be quite cross at their lack of fame if I was them, but luckily they seem too chill for that.  

The Ateneum galley has a late night on a Thursday and we thought we would pop in for an hour- over 2 hours later they were making closing announcements as we were leaving. It had some specific  exhibitions including one with lots of gorgeous works like this by Maija Lavonen

And another exhibition focused on women artists, and this woman, Sally von Kügelgen, is one of my favourites, defiantly painting gorgeous male nudes from life classes at a time when this was prohibited for women

The Ateneum serves as one of the National Galleries, and I loved all the work by Albert Edelfelt.  This one 'Conveying the Child's Coffin'  is very sad but gorgeous 

 But this work by Ismo Kajander, with their own take on Sunflowers, made me laugh

As did this one, 'Lost' by Akseli Gallen-Kallela which summarises the way that I feel at least once during every city break type holiday 

We had a very stressful time checking in for our flights with an online app that wasn’t playing ball plus the pressure of industrial action at the airport meaning there was no help to be had - having resigned ourselves to being left on the tarmac, we begged and looked pathetic enough that the receptionist at the hotel let us use a pc in the business suite and we finally ended up with boarding passes. We needed a drink after that which was a lovely way to round off the day 

Day 5 -  Helsinki Biennal 

We started off by walking to the HAM museum which has a chunk of the Biennal there.

Loved the film in particular which was a pretty moving exploration of the impact of climate change on the Sami people's lives, which also looked and sounded amazing.  

Then we moved on to the 'Rock Church' which, although we got lost on the way, and and I am a committed atheist, was well worth a visit.  Gorgeous light and acoustics .  There was a pianist  playing and the sound was great so we had a couple of minutes of calm before carrying on.  

Then shopping - bought some nice Finnish stuff for ourselves, then a sauna very quickly before our evening meal because as sauna is much more a national religion than any actual religion it felt rude not to.  We ended our trip with a walk to the market square and harbour and were pleased to see the real residents of Helsinki out in force.  There was a huge queue of pretty well behaved teenagers snaking around the market and harbour on their way to a club but also a band and classic car meet for the families and oldies.  A great way to finish our trip.