An Illustrated Guide
eat · drink · sauna · wander
A short, hand-painted guide for travellers with one or two days in the Finnish capital — built from years of walking tours and the questions people actually ask.
The Chapters
Chapter 1
Six places worth your time
Helsinki begins, as most Finnish days do, with coffee. Finns drink more of it than anyone else on earth. Step into a wooden door, ask for a korvapuusti — the cardamom-scented cinnamon bun — and you are doing it right.
Merikannontie 8, Töölö · near Sibelius Monument
A tiny red log cottage by Taivallahti Bay that feels like the Finnish countryside dropped into the city. Fresh korvapuusti (cinnamon buns), blueberry pie, and an outdoor fire to grill your own sausage — open year-round, even in January snow.
Pohjoisesplanadi 33 · Kämp Galleria
Helsinki classic since 1992. Enormous windows overlooking Esplanadi Park. Ground-floor café, Nordic restaurant and the Library Bar upstairs. Table service — rare in Helsinki.
Pohjoisesplanadi 19
Come for the architecture. Art Nouveau masterpiece by Lars Sonck — vaulted ceilings, stained glass, stone pillars, a grand piano. Handmade gelato and cinnamon rolls.
Kluuvikatu 3 · near Helsinki Cathedral
Founded 1891 by Karl Fazer. Helsinki's most historic café, baking up to 2,000 pastries daily. Watch confectioners through the glass. Grand café atmosphere.
Töölöntorinkatu 7 · Töölö
Open since 1994 — café by day, bar by night, with a laundromat inside. All-day breakfast. Full alcohol licence. Beloved by students, artists and politicians.
Neitsytpolku 10 · Ullanlinna
Tiny family-run café near Kaivopuisto Park. Specialty coffee from top European roasters; everything baked in-house. Legendary cinnamon buns. Laptop-free zone.
Chapter 2
Go early — they mean it
There is a small queue, and then there is none, and then there are no croissants left. The window goes dark. You learn, as locals have, to come early.
Cygnaeuksenkatu 6 · Töölö
Arguably the best croissants in Finland. Run by Finnish-Spanish baker Daniel Tobal Autiokari — tiny shop, room for two, almost entirely takeaway. Light, buttery, crunchy outside and soft within. Small batch daily.
Chapter 3
Rooftops, cocktails & local favourites
Evenings here are slow and golden. Climb a spiral staircase for the view, ring a doorbell for the mezcal, or wander to Kallio where the bars feel like a friend's living room.
Hotel Torni · 12th & 13th floor · Yrjönkatu, Kamppi
Helsinki's first rooftop bar, 70 metres above the city atop Hotel Torni (1931). Elevator to the 12th floor, then a narrow cast-iron spiral staircase to the open terrace. Panoramic 360° views: city, harbour, Baltic Sea. Cocktails, champagne and the classic Finnish lonkero.
Erottajankatu 5 · Design District
One of Helsinki's best cocktail bars, in the heart of the Erottaja cluster — the city's densest concentration of cocktail spots. Inventive drinks, low lighting, knowledgeable bartenders. A perfect starting point for a cocktail crawl through the area.
Uudenmaankatu · Design District
A tiny speakeasy-style bar focused on agave spirits — tequila, mezcal and everything in between. Ring the doorbell to enter. Featured by 50 Best Discovery as one of the city's most distinctive bars. Intimate, expert and a little theatrical.
Ring the doorbell — that's how you get in.
Hämeentie 13 · Kallio
A relaxed neighbourhood bar in Kallio — Helsinki's most characterful district. Less polished than the central cocktail bars and all the better for it. Good for a real local feeling: mixed crowd, casual vibe, late nights, occasional DJs.
Vilhonkatu 4 · City Centre
A beloved Helsinki beer bar with one of the city's strongest tap selections — Finnish craft brews alongside Belgian and German classics. Unpretentious, warm, and a reliable choice any night of the week.
A Finnish craft brewery with a loyal following — easygoing, well-made beers and a casual atmosphere. Worth seeking out for anyone interested in the Finnish craft beer scene.
Chapter 4
Restaurants & market halls
Finnish food is the forest, the sea, and a long winter. A bowl of creamy salmon soup, a slice of dark rye, a few lingonberries on the side — supper as a quiet act of survival.
Must-try dishes: Lohikeitto (creamy salmon soup), Poronkäristys (sautéed reindeer with lingonberries), Mustikkapiirakka (wild blueberry pie).
Aleksanterinkatu 22 · Senate Square
Savotta means 'logging site'. Rustic interior with century-old floor planks, vintage Finnish artefacts, staff in traditional attire. The creamy salmon soup is the must-try. Also: reindeer roast, bear stew, Arctic char and Karelian pasties.
Hämeentie 1, Hakaniemi
Beautiful red-brick market hall built in 1914. Fresh fish, cured meats, cheeses, pickles, jams and pastries. Downstairs: produce. Upstairs: specialty stalls and small lunch spots. A true taste of everyday Helsinki.
Kanavaranta 7F · South Harbour
One of Helsinki's most respected Finnish restaurants, in a historic red-brick warehouse on the South Harbour. Seasonal Finnish ingredients — game, fish, forest mushrooms, root vegetables. A favourite of discerning locals.
Espoo · panoramic restaurant
A stunning panoramic restaurant perched above Espoo — spectacular views over the Finnish archipelago. Known for excellent salmon dishes. Worth the short trip from Helsinki.
Chapter 5
Helsinki's world food scene
For a small city, Helsinki eats well from far away — surprisingly good sushi, pho that warms a winter night, dim sum the local Chinese community swears by.
Helsinki punches above its weight in international cuisine — a genuinely excellent sushi scene, a strong Vietnamese tradition and quality Chinese spots.
A long-standing Helsinki favourite for quality Japanese sushi. Traditional preparation, fresh fish, calm atmosphere.
Relaxed neighbourhood sushi spot known for good value and consistently fresh fish. Great for casual lunch or dinner.
Japanese-run sushi restaurant with an authentic approach. Known among Helsinki's Japanese community for doing things properly.
Helsinki's go-to for Vietnamese pho and street food. Generous portions, rich broths, bright fresh flavours.
A well-regarded Chinese restaurant — reliable, tasty and popular with the Chinese community, always a good sign.
Chapter 6
Finland's long drink
It is yellow, it is fizzy, it tastes of grapefruit and summer. Born in 1952 to feed thirsty Olympic visitors, lonkero became Finland forever.
Finland's most iconic drink — gin mixed with grapefruit soda — was invented for the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics. The city needed a fast, easy drink to serve thousands of international visitors, and lonkero was born overnight. Light, refreshing, unmistakably Finnish. On tap at most bars and in cans at every supermarket and kiosk (Alepa, K-Market, S-Market). Try one at Ateljee Bar with a view, or grab a can for a fraction of bar price.
Chapter 7
Quintessential Helsinki — please go
There are more saunas in Finland than cars. You undress, you sit, you sweat, you swim in cold water, you sit again. By the third round you understand the country better than any museum could teach you.
A sauna is not a luxury in Finland. It is a way of life. Three very different ways to try it.
Hernesaarenranta 4 · Hernesaari
Helsinki's most celebrated public sauna and waterfront restaurant. Stunning wood-clad architecture on the Baltic shore. Swim directly from the saunas — yes, even in winter. Full restaurant serves Finnish food morning to midnight. Named one of TIME's 100 Greatest Places in the World.
Katajanokanlaituri 2a · next to Market Square
An open-air pool complex right in the heart of Helsinki, on the South Harbour with the Cathedral and Ferris wheel as backdrop. Heated freshwater pool, a children's pool and a chilly Baltic seawater pool — plus three saunas (men's, women's, mixed). The most central sauna experience in the city.
Sompasaarenlaituri · Kalasatama
A free, volunteer-run, 24/7 public sauna on a rough bit of waterfront in Kalasatama. No staff, no booking, no admission — bring your own firewood and swimwear (though many go without). Mixed, communal and gloriously unpolished. A genuine local experience and Helsinki at its most Finnish.
Bring a towel, water and firewood. Respect the etiquette — quiet, courteous, take turns.
Chapter 8
An hour from Helsinki, a century back in time
Have an extra day? Take a bus from Kamppi terminal — about an hour east — and step out into Porvoo, Finland's second-oldest town. Cobblestones polished by six centuries of footsteps. A row of red ochre warehouses leaning gently into the river, painted that colour in the 18th century to welcome the Swedish king. A cathedral on a hill, wooden houses in pastel rows, a tiny old town that asks only that you walk slowly and look closely.
Porvoo is best as a half-day or full-day trip. Buses run frequently from Kamppi Bus Terminal in central Helsinki — roughly 1 hour each way, around €10 one-way. No reservation needed.
Vanha Porvoo · along the Porvoonjoki river
The reason you came. Wander the cobblestone lanes of Vanha Porvoo (Old Town) — wooden houses in mustard, sage, dusty pink — and walk along the river to see the iconic red-painted warehouses, one of the most photographed scenes in Finland. Pop into tiny boutiques selling Finnish ceramics, candies and design.
Kirkkotori 1 · on the hill above Old Town
A stone-and-brick medieval cathedral first consecrated in the 15th century. Step inside for the cool quiet and the painted vaulted ceiling. The hilltop setting gives a lovely view back over the wooden roofs of Old Town.
Old Town · Välikatu
Two beloved old-town cafés inside crooked wooden buildings — creaking floors, mismatched chairs, homemade cakes. Order a slice of blueberry pie and a coffee and watch the afternoon go by. This is what people travel here for.
Välikatu 4 · Old Town
Porvoo's famous chocolate and liquorice maker since 1871. The little factory shop in Old Town sells truffles, foam kisses (suukko) and salted liquorice — the essential Finnish edible souvenir.
Take bus line operated by Pohjolan Liikenne or Onnibus from Kamppi Bus Terminal in central Helsinki. The ride is about 1 hour through Finnish countryside and arrives at Porvoo's small bus station — a short walk from Old Town. Return buses run regularly until late evening.
Buy your ticket on the Matkahuolto app or pay the driver in cash. Sit on the right side going there for the best forest views.
