This is your complete guide to the city of Helsinki:
how to get here, what to do, what to see, what to avoid, how to get naked with a bunch of strangers,
and how to have the most amazing time in Finland's capital city!
Welcome to Helsinki! It's a city that's very unique both in terms of mentality and the
attractions, and after watching this video guide, you'll see why. So let's have a look
at a map of Helsinki, and you'll notice that most of the main attractions are located right here in
the middle. It's very convenient, and most of the city is walkable. But before I tell you all about
the attractions, let me tell you how to get here from the airport and how to get around the city.
Helsinki is served by only one airport, Helsinki International, and the easiest way to get to the
city centre is to use the train. Simply find the train station and buy a ticket from one of
the ticket machines. This should only cost you about €4 euros, which is about $4.50 American
dollars or £3.50. The trains that go to the city centre depart from platforms 1 or 2,
and within 30 minutes, you've reached Central Station. It's literally that simple.
Helsinki is also a massive port city, so if you're on a cruise you'll arrive at one of the port
terminals located on the map here. When you've arrived you'll probably notice that you don't need
public transport in order to get by. Especially if you stay somewhere around Central Station, most of
the big attractions are within walking distance. That said if you do want to use the public
transport system it's dead easy. Simply go to a ticket machine and buy yourself an all-inclusive
travel pass. This allows you access to the trains, the Metro, the trams, and the buses. To use the
system simply validate your tickets on one of the turnstiles before you board. Make sure you
do this every single time, as failure to validate results in €80 fine, so please bear that in mind.
Alternatively if you don't want to use public transport, there's many places where you can
hire bikes, or electric scooters and there are dedicated lanes to get you around the city.
And tip for you: don't bother with a hop-on hop-off tour bus. It's incredibly slow and
incredibly boring. If I were you just stick to the normal buses.
So now that you're here let's visit the most recognisable landmark of the city.
Helsinki Cathedral This grand cathedral sticks out a mile away,
and this is possibly Helsinki’s most photographed attraction. Especially seeing as though you've got
this giant Helsinki right there, it makes for some nice photos and videos. Once you go inside
you'll notice that the layout is incredibly, um … well it's definitely different! It's kind of
in this cross configuration and the walls are fairly plain. In fact it's probably the least
decorated cathedral you'll probably ever visit, but it's still nice to go inside.
Right outside here you'll find Senate Square. This is the main square here
in the city of Helsinki. It's actually more of a chill out space for the locals,
especially on the steps of Helsinki Cathedral. You could easily watch the world go by from here.
Whilst you're walking around here, be sure to walk past the Presidential Palace and you'll
come across this rather interesting complex, which comprises of the Helsinki Skywheel. Pretty much a
Ferris wheel that overlooks the entire city. And you can visit Allas: a sort of outdoor salt water
swimming pool. You need to pay to use this, but access to the restaurant and sky-bar is
absolutely free. I recommend that if it's a nice day like it is right now, feel free to
go up to the bar and just chill out with a drink overlooking the entire harbour here in Helsinki.
A couple of streets away you'll find the other most important cathedral in the city.
This is the Uspenski Cathedral; the Russian Orthodox Cathedral that services the city.
It's very impressive from the outside and from the inside it's even more so.
It's definitely a lot more lavishly decorated than Helsinki Cathedral, and when I visited, I seem to
have bumped into a whole bunch of people wanting to get married in here. It's a very popular venue
for weddings and I must have come across three of them during my time here at Uspenski Cathedral.
But let's head back towards Central Station, and you'll realise that all
of the buildings around here are modern. This is the place where you'll find modern eateries,
modern bars and modern shopping centres such as Stockmann. But to be honest,
this is stuff that you'll find pretty much everywhere here in Europe or back at home.
Walk past the statue of the three blacksmiths and you'll come across Esplanadi.
This is a long thin park space that's located slap-bang in the middle of the city. Just in
case you want to be surrounded by greenery, flowers or be entertained by the local bands
that play there. Especially on a nice day. But one of the quirky things to do whilst
you're around here is to visit the Torni Hotel, specifically the Rooftop Bar.
It's free to enter and once you get up there you'll find this nice 360-degree view of the
entire city of Helsinki. It's very nice but that's not the quirky bit. The quirky bit is if you visit
the toilet on the corner, where you also get this lovely panoramic view whilst you're having a poo?!
And no, this isn't two-way glass so people can see your wipe pose.
This is an actual toilet and this is your view from the toilet. Woo-hoo!
At this point of the video let me tell you about the food and drink that you'll find here
in Helsinki. There's places everywhere such the Helsinki Brewhouse, where you can find uniquely
Finnish beers. But there's one word that you'll see literally everywhere in the city: ravintola,
ravintola, ravintola! Ravintola means restaurant, and there's no shortage of places where you can
eat here in Helsinki. The two places that you'll most likely find traditional Finnish food;
#1 Market Square, where all of these stores will serve you very very unique food items.
There's an indoor Market Hall where you can literally have anything from funnel
cakes to Turkish coffee, caviar, but this is actually the best place to try Finnish fish.
The other place where you can try traditional Finnish food is just north of Central Station
at the world-famous Hakaniemi Food Market. This is a place where you can try all sorts of weird and
wonderful stuff, and there are three unique food items that I want you to try while you're here.
The first of which is something called “Lonkero”. It means ‘long drink’ in English,
and it's basically gin and fruit juice. You'll find this pretty much everywhere in the city,
and it's actually quite a refreshing drink. The second food item is reindeer meat, which they
sell in abundance here. I highly recommend the reindeer burgers. The last food item I
want you to try is a bit of an acquired taste. This is Salmiakki. Which is salty liquorice.
It sounds as disgusting as it tastes. I doubt that you'll like it initially off the bat, it really
is an acquired taste, but it's very popular with the locals. If you do happen to actually like this
stuff, visit Roobertin Herkku, the specialised sweet shop that sells 25 different versions of it.
They also sell normal sweets as well, just so you know.
Whilst you're in the middle of town, you might come across the Kamppi Chapel. This wooden
structure is supposed to be a silent chapel in the middle of the city. When I arrived though,
it looked pretty much like a wooden shed and it was anything but quiet. Honestly take pictures of
it from the outside, but don't bother going in. If you want to see a proper church visit Saint
John's Church. Not only is it free of charge to go inside, but it actually is a real working church,
not a wooden shed pretending to be a church. And it's pretty grand inside this is probably
one of the nicer churches that I went to here in Helsinki. Alternatively visit Kalio Church.
It looks very imposing from the outside and when I went inside it seemed awfully quiet. I didn't
realise why it was so quiet until I saw the coffin slap bang in the middle. Yeah, they were probably
prepping for a funeral. I'm not sure if this was actually open, but when you do go inside
it looks pretty much like this. Just don't be walking into other people's funerals like I did.
There's one slightly bit of negative advice that I will give you at this point of the video.
Avoid the museums! They're definitely not like the museums that you'll experience in the west
and some of them are just downright strange. Here's a highlight reel of some of the weird
stuff that I found in the city's museums. Wnless you're specifically interested in it,
I would highly recommend that you don't waste money seeing stuff like this. Especially seeing
as though quite a lot of it is very pornographic. If you have to visit museums, I recommend visiting
the city museum which is completely free of charge. The National Museum,
where you'll get to see some actual historical stuff, and the Atenium Art Gallery, where you'll
see actual art as opposed to pornography. Whilst you're walking around, you might
come across the Finnish Parliament Building, the National Library and the National Opera House.
But a few streets away you'll inexplicably find this hill made out of rock. That
people seem to be sunbathing on?! Believe it or not this is a church!
Yes this is the famous Temppeliaukio Church. A church that they've completely carved out of rock.
It's pretty trippy to see it from the inside, they've done a fantastic job with modern
architecture, even the baptismal font is made of rock! And when I arrived there seemed to
be a bunch of kids rehearsing for a concert, so you get a bit of a song and a dance here as well.
If you go north of that, you'll come across Olympic Park, specifically this … Olympic
Stadium/ The venue for the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. It's still a working stadium,
and you can pay to go up the tower if you want to. Other than that, you can actually
just wander around and take pictures of the track, etc. Around here, you'll also find other
community sporting complexes. This is the home of the Finnish National Football Association,
and it's also home to professional side IFK, so if you like your sports, this is a good place to go.
But if sports aren't your thing,
head on over to Linnanmäki. This is the theme park that's located in the city.
It's got a good mixture of rides for adults and kids, and you definitely won't be bored here.
But if that's a bit too loud for you, head across the way to Sibelius Park.
It's generally a nice quiet green space, but when I arrived, a whole busload of tourists parked up
to ruin my photo. So you know what? I'm just going to sit here and get in everyone's way.
Okay, now that everyone's gone, let me tell you about this thing right here.
The Sibelius Monument. This was built to commemorate
famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It consists of a statue of his face and these cool metal pipes
arranged in a sort of cloud formation. It's pretty cool to wander and have a close look at
these pipes. Apparently when it's windy, they end up playing a tune, so that's pretty cool.
It definitely affords you some nice photos and videos, and it's a very
unique sculpture. I don't think you'll ever come across this ever again in your life.
Oh you just got something on your nose there Mr Sebelius, let me clean that. Okay now we're good.
But if a quiet green space is what you're after, find the statue of the two naked boxers. No idea
why that's in the middle of a park, but right next door you'll find the Botanical Gardens.
If you want to visit the indoor greenhouses that costs money, but the outdoor bit is absolutely
free. And to be honest that's probably the more interesting bit, it's a nice spot to
get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and look at some nice flowers at the same time.
But look across the park and you might find a whole bunch of people doing this.
If you're wondering what this is, this is Mölkky. This is the national game of Finland
and it closely resembles Skittles. It's an incredibly popular pastime with the locals
and sometimes you'll walk into a tournament just like this. It looks like an easy game to play but
I assure you it's a lot more difficult than it looks. Whoa, check out the mullet on that guy!
And if you get a chance to challenge a local to this game, I guarantee you'll have fun here.
You've probably heard that Saunas (or Sow-nas) as they're known here in Finland
are incredibly popular, and I did believe this was true until I saw it for myself.
You can literally find saunas everywhere, even the Burger Kings have saunas built in them. I'm
honestly not joking! But if you have to visit one sauna, I highly recommend visiting this one.
This is world famous Löyly. This sauna located on the sea is also home to a pretty swish restaurant
and nightclub. But if you're just interested in the sauna bits, you can pay to use their saunas.
And the saunas themselves are pretty damn good! Some of them offer you amazing views of the sea,
some of them are incredibly humid, and some of them are just blisteringly hot.
But with all of them you can cool off afterwards in the freezing cold sea. It sounds pretty
horrendous but it's probably one of the most refreshing things that you'll ever do, and this
was my favourite thing to do on the entire trip. The next attraction on our list is only reachable
by boat. Because this is Suomenlinna, the island fortress. This island was once charged
with protecting the port of Helsinki, and once you get off the boat you'll see that most of it
is pretty fortified. It looks like someone's built fortresses on a whole bunch of islands, and that's
exactly what they've done. But what you don't see from the water is the fact that these are pretty
much self-contained towns. With their own shops, with their own houses, with their own churches
and people still do live here on Suomenlinna. If you're looking for a bit of an adventure,
these islands are definitely worth exploring, and there's something interesting around every corner.
But be warned, if it's crappy weather like it was when I visited, it's really not so fun.
The last attraction that we're visiting today is the Open Air Museum of Seurasaari Island.
To reach this place, you'll need to get bus number 24 from Kamppi Station,
and it will drop you off at the footbridge of the island. Once you walk across the footbridge,
you'll be at the heart of Seurasaari, and you'll notice these traditional Finnish
buildings. These have actually been imported from different parts of Finland, and each
one has been painstakingly reassembled, piece by piece so that people can enjoy them here.
You can walk around the outside of them for free, but if you want to go inside any of them,
you'll need an entry ticket that you can purchase at the visitor centre near the footbridge.
Take your time wandering around some of these buildings because they are pretty amazing,
and it gives you an idea as to what life is like in rural Finland. It's also home to Finland's
oldest church and it happens to be a very popular wedding venue, especially in the summertime.
If you're not interested in the buildings, it's still a very lovely island with some
amazing views across the water. Overall, guys, if you want a city
break that's a little bit different, where the attractions are a little bit quirky,
and where the food is definitely not normal, Helsinki is definitely the place for you.
Okay Ninh, I'm sold. What do I need to do? Well, you need to come here to Helsinki. I've
already mentioned the ways that you can get here from the airport and how to get around the place.
I highly recommend getting an all-inclusive travel card if you're lucky to do absolutely everything,
but if you find that all of the attractions you're interested in are located near Central Station,
you could probably get away with not using public transportation at all.
If you're looking for a place to stay, I recommend staying somewhere near Central
Station as everything is pretty much walkable from there. I personally stayed at the Holiday Inn near
Central Station, and it proved to be literally the perfect location, but other hotels are available.
The cost, well, I've got bad news for you. Helsinki is a pretty expensive city in terms
of attractions, food, drink, and hotels, so be prepared to spend some money whilst you're here.
Is there anything else I need to know? Yes, if you're planning to do absolutely
everything, I recommend purchasing a Helsinki Card. This will allow you access to most of the
attractions here in the city and provide you with free public transportation.
You can buy this at various kiosks around the city.
Please don't travel on any public transportation without a valid ticket. As earlier mentioned in
the video, please validate your tickets before boarding any form of transport as
the fines are steep. The spoken language here is Finnish, but quite a lot of people speak English,
so you'll be absolutely fine. The locals also speak Russian and Swedish,
so as long as you speak any one of those three languages, you'll be A-Okay here in Helsinki.
If you buy anything in a plastic or metal container you'll be charged a
small deposit fee. You'll get this fee back once you deposit your container in one of the
many machines located across the city. Speaking of which, unless you're in a
licenced bar or restaurant sales of alcohol are prohibited after 10pm.
So if you find yourself in a supermarket after 10pm you won't be able to buy any alcohol.
If you found the city guide helpful, please be sure to like share and subscribe. Comment on
that comment section below, and if you've got any other bucket list ideas, tweet them at me. If I
get enough suggestions I'll probably make a video about it. But guys thanks very much for watching,
and we'll see you in the next episode. Ninh Ly – www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK