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Suggest you browse through it, loads of interesting suggestions: https://www.myhelsinki.fi/

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Helsinki is a totally unique combination of quirky urbanity and peaceful nature that gives silence and space to feel more, hear more and experience more. It offers you the freedom to have it all. ...

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Nolla – Fancy food with zero waste. Unusual ingredients, also a microbrewery. https://www.restaurantnolla.com/

Luovuus kukkii kaaoksesta – lit. Creativity blooms in chaos. A tiny restaurant without a fixed menu, instead you get what the chef has come up with based on the ingredients he has available that day. Seems to be surprisingly reasonably priced (50 e for 4 courses) https://www.luovuuskukkiikaaoksesta.fi/

Nokka – Innovative Nordic cuisine using wild / sustainably sourced ingredients. A bit on the fancier side. Maybe has a Michelin star? https://nokkahelsinki.fi/

Wellamo – Nordic cuisine

Finnjävel – Has a Michelin star.  https://finnjavel.fi/en/

There's probably more but these are just some that pop to my mind!

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We are passionate about showing that innovative cuisine and sustainability can be perfectly paired. Savor the delectable tastes of our zero-waste dishes and be a part of the sustainable dining movement.

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The pizza place Putte's has seriously the best salad bar in town. It's excellent, often go there for lunch.

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Lily Lee – Chinese style fine dining https://www.lilylee.fi/
Boon Nam – Lily Lee's sister restaurant, but Thai https://www.boonnam.fi/
Gaijin – East Asian fusion https://www.gaijin.fi/
Farang –  East Asian fusion https://www.farang.fi/
Momotoko – Ramen-style dishes, cheap, chain with several locations
Hills Dumplings – Excellent dumplings, cheap/moderately prized
Lie mi – Famous for its dish called the Shanghai taco. Asian fusion food, moderately prized, non-fancy.
Mei Lin – Good Sizhuan food.

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Madonna in Kallio, very Instagrammable colourful interiors and good Italian food. Also possible to sit outside.

Naepolitan pizza is surprisingly popular in Helsinki, if you're interested, there's several places that do it.

For pizza, Skiffer is also excellent. Has several central locations.

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BasBas –  has cult rep, good food but I don't quite get the hype. The main BasBas may be difficult to book, but its little sister, BasBas Kulma (kulma=corner) is more accessible.

Pastis – Haven't been, colleague who is also a chef recommends.

Elm – I think this is French/Italian bistro style. Haven't been, but have heard good things.

Muru – might actually be more Nordic. Never been, but know many who like this place. https://www.murudining.fi/en/

Alexanderplats – near you, very good.

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and be among the first to know about our events and campaigns

Our sales service is open from Monday to Friday 9am to 3.30pm. You can reach us by phone +358 300 472 335 (0,34€/min + pvm/mpm) or you can send us an email to varaukset@murudining.fi

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Ravintola Muru - Helsinkiläinen bistroklassikko ja viiniravintola

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Ravintola Muru on helsinkiläinen bistroklassikko. Viineistään palkittu ravintola on saanut muun muassa Wine Spectatorin kunniamaininnan.

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If you're interested in cocktails/drinks, there's several good places, e.g.

Goldfish – Mad Men-style tiny cocktail bar
Chihuahua Julep – old-fashioned speakeasy with windows that keep you hidden from passersby but allow you to people watch
Trillby and Chadwick – a 1930s detective agency themed speakeasy near your hotel
Liberty or Death – cocktail bar by the same people as T & C
Torni – bar on top of Hotel Torni, with 360 degree views on the city
Kuuttila – have actually never been to this place but would like to, a tiny hole-in-the-wall with neon interiors

There's also tons of independent breweries and bars focusing on beer in case you're interested.

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If you fancy a sauna + swim, then Löyly is probably for you. I've only been there for drinks, they have wonderful views and good (but pricy) cocktails. https://www.loylyhelsinki.fi/

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Löyly - ainutlaatuinen ja elämyksellinen saunaravintola

Elämyksellinen saunaravintola Helsingin Hernesaaressa, joka on nimetty Time Magazinen World's 100 Greatest Places-listalla.

Keittiömme palvelee maanantaista lauantaihin klo 11:00-22:00 sekä sunnuntaisin 11:00-21:00.

Otamme pöytävarauksia ma-la klo 16 eteenpäin sekä lauantain brunssikattauksiin
klo 11-13 & 13.30-15.30.
Lounaallla ja sunnuntaisin palvelemme itsepalvelukonseptilla.

Löylyn syys-/talvikaudella suosittelemme varaamaan pöydän etukäteen, jotta pääsette nauttimaan sekä À la carte- tarjonnasta, että loistavasta lauantaibrunssistamme! À la carte-varaukset maanantaista lauantaihin klo 16.00 alkaen. Tarjoamme myös upeat puitteet yksityistilaisuuksiin.

Löyly tarjoaa upeita elämyksiä ja lämpimiä hetkiä kaupunkilaisille ja matkailijoille kotimaasta sekä merten takaa. Aurinkoisista päivistä kelpaa nauttia upealla terassilla tai näköalaravintolan puolella ympäri vuoden ja saunat ovat kuumana joka päivä.

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Löyly - Helsinki - Tarjoaa upeita elämyksiä ja lämpimiä hetkiä

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Keittiömme palvelee maanantaista lauantaihin klo 11:00-22:00 sekä sunnuntaisin 11:00-21:00. Otamme pöytävarauksia ma-la klo 16 eteenpäin sekä lauantain brunssikattauksiin klo 11-13 & 13.30-15.30. Lounaallla ja sunnuntaisin palvelemme itsepalvelukonseptilla. Löylyn syys-/talvikaudella suosittelemme varaamaan pöydän etukäteen, jotta pääsette nauttimaan sekä À la carte- tarjonnasta, että loistavasta lauantaibrunssistamme! À la carte-varaukset maanantaista lauantaihin klo 16.00 alkaen.

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Porvoo (45 min bus/car ride from Helsinki)

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Porvoo (45 min bus/car ride from Helsinki)

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Porvoo is older than Helsinki, it has a wonderful old town of mostly 18th-19th century wooden buildings and a medieval church. Lots of cute shops and cafés, it's one of the most popular day trip destinations for both Helsinki residents and visitors. Has also very good restaurants, but we will most likely want to book them beforehand because it's tourist season.

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It takes about 2 h by ferry to Tallinn (ferries go several times per day, but we need to book beforehand). Tallinn's old town is medieval, and there's also lots of architecture from other times. The city is beautiful to walk in and the food is excellent.

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1. Head from hotel to Bulevardi and walk to Hietaniemi market square

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1. Head from hotel to Bulevardi and walk to Hietaniemi market square

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We'll start from the hotel and walk through the Bulevardi (=boulevard) street. There's e.g. Helsinki's oldest café (Ekberg) and a market hall and a fleamarket.

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On the southside of Bulevardi is Punavuori, which is a formerly working class area with lots of shops and restaurants that is generally nice to walk in. South from Punavuori is Eira, which has always been posh. As a result, it has lots of beautiful old villas and some lovely restaurants – as well as a branch of Kaffa Roastery, yet another independent coffee place :D

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1. Walk to Oodi Library and then through Baana to Etu-Töölö

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1. Walk to Oodi Library and then through Baana to Etu-Töölö

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Oodi Library is next to the Central Railway station, it's one of my fave places in Helsinki. It's a public library, but essentially a public living room. I also like the architecture a lot. We can spend a lot of time there (there's a café) or just walk by it in 5 min.

We'll then take the Baana, an old railway 'tunnel' that was turned into a cycle/pedestrian route that goes through the city centre and takes us to Etu-Töölö without any traffic hassle.

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I will come get you from the hotel and we will take the metro to Vallila. It's a formerly working class area that consists of old wooden houses with shared gardens – one of the most sought-after addresses at the moment. Turns out there's also a café run by the Helsinki Coffee Roastery (Päijänteentie 29).

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We can choose – take the tram or walk through Vallilla + a large park.

The Arabia district got its name from the Arabia porcelain factory (est. 1873 and still going strong) that is located there. Most of the porcelain/homeware is made elsewhere nowadays, but the factory building houses everything from an art/film university and a public library to design shops and a cool free design museum (if you like glass/porcelain).

Both Arabia and the adjoining Kumpula district are full of similar wooden houses with small gardens as Vallila, the factory workers would have lived in them. There's also a manor house (Annala) with horses and quite extensive grounds. We can just breeze through here or have a bit of a wander.

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Eira is on the seashore, we can grab ice cream and walk by the sea back towards your hotel.

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4. Grab a late lunch-to-go from Stockmann

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4. Grab a late lunch-to-go from Stockmann

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Stockmann's department store is on the north side of Esplanadi park. Its food department has a lot of goodies (and an extensive coffee section), so we could pick some bits from here and head to Suomenlinna.

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Senate Square with the white Helsinki Cathedral is maybe 300 m from your hotel. It and the Market square + Esplanadi park are the most touristy areas so quite crowded (Nordic version of crowds though, not Oxford St type). However, the cathedral especially is very pretty (from the outside) and there are lovely little shops around it.

WARNING! If you decide to grab an ice cream, beware of the sea gulls. I mean it. You may think they don't notice you, but you are wrong. So wrong. They will take over at some point, mark my words.

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This is a more residential area consisting mostly of art nouveau-style apartment blocks with little shops and restaurants. Very pretty!

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The ferry costs the same as a single bus ticket, takes about 10 min from the market square. Suomenlinna was built as a fortress in the 18th c and is a UNESCO heritage site. It has a quite colourful history and is very touristy but also a place where ordinary Helsinki folks like to head for a picnic. Lorna and I went day drinking there when we were 16 :D Now we can do that legally, or just focus on the food.

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Restaurants in the Senate square area/Kruununhaka if we are hungry (close-ish to your hotel so easy to get to even if not combined with this walking tour)

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Restaurants in the Senate square area/Kruununhaka if we are hungry (close-ish to your hotel so easy to get to even if not combined with this walking tour)

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All of these are cheap (10-12 euros for a meal) to moderately (15-25 e for a main) priced:

3 Kruunua: a traditional "kortteliravintola" (restaurant serving people who live in the same block), same interior and menu since the 30s/40s. Good hearty Nordic food, e.g. elk sausages, meatballs, pyttipannu, pan cakes, French toast... Only open on evenings. I have a feeling Lorna may actually have visited this 15 years ago with us?

Qulma: a lunch restaurant run by this guy called Mark Aulén, serves good soup and bread, for some reason super popular with the Japanese.

Café Lov: A German café run by German(-speaking) staff, serves super good Flammkuchen with Schwarzwald ham.

Café No 5: Run by older Vietnamese ladies, serves excellent pho. I used to spot the former Minister of the Interior, Maria Ohisalo, here often during lunchtime :D

Café Engel (by the Cathedral): Lovely Nordic/French bistro-style food, but often super full.

Koreahouse: The first and best Korean in Helsinki, offers all your Korean classics. Korean tourists come here by busload.

Kind of between the Cathedral area and Kruununhaka is also a place called Kanavaranta, old red-brick storage buildings turned into restaurants and cafés. Johan & Nyström in particular is known for its coffee. However, this is so close to your hotel that you can add a visit to J&N at any point of the trip.

Within a couple of hundred meters from your hotel is also the Old Market Hall (est. 1889) which has small restaurants and Allas Sea Pool (seawater swimming pools, concerts, overpriced drinks and a lovely view).

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Take the P train from Central railway station

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Take the P train from Central railway station

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Get off at airport, not Aviapolis.

The train takes about 30-40 min from central Helsinki to the airport.

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Usually everything works smoothly. You can take up to 2 l of liquids in your hand luggage now, in max. 200ml containers. You don't need to take anything out of your luggage when you go through security.

There's lots of shops at the airport, focusing mostly on fashion/design, alcohol, and beauty products. There's also plenty of shops after passport control (ie non-EU flights area), plus a nice area with benches and a 360 "audiovisual experience" of Finnish nature through the seasons.

My preferred place to eat/have coffee is the Nordic Kitchen in the non-EU side, but it's nothing special, so if you're not hungry or have brought stuff with you, you won't lose anything by not eating there. There's also a Moomin-themed café :D

The airport has expanded a lot since I think you have last been here, so just make sure you don't leave getting to your gate to the very last minute or you may have to run :D

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It may be difficult to find a place to eat this late, so I would suggest having a big lunch before you leave London. There may be some restaurants open at the arrivals hall (the public side) at the airport, and there is an Alepa supermarket which has plenty of ready-to-eat meals, salads, bakery products...

Your hotel will of course also be able to help you with food I think :)

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Take the I train (left track) towards Helsinki and ride all the way to the end. 

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Take the I train (left track) towards Helsinki and ride all the way to the end. 

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You will need tickets that cover ABC sectors. Unfortunately it's not possible to pay by tapping your card, so you will need to either use the HSL app or buy a ticket from the machines on the platform. I will look into this in more detail and will update you.

Note that for some bizarre reason ticket gates/turnstiles in public transport aren't a thing. So you need to buy a ticket, but you don't actually need to show it to anyone or anything during your travel, unless someone in a blue or green uniform comes up to you and asks for it. In that case you've managed to get on a train that is subject to a random ticket checking, and everyone found to ride the train without one will be issued an 80€ ticket :D

"Helsinki" usually means the central railway station when used in public transport. Even if you get on the wrong train at the airport, you will eventually reach it.

Päärautatieasema = central railway station in Finnish
Rautatientori = lit. railway market, marketplace on the right side of the station.
Elielinaukio = Eliel square, square to the left of the station.

The central railway station is quite nice, esp. inside, designed by Eliel Saarinen (father of American-Finnish architect Eero Saarinen who designed e.g. the futuristic JFK terminal and the St Louis arch). It's a good example of Finnish Jugendstil, ie Art Nouveau of the turn of the century.

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You could technically take a tram as well, but I wouldn't, especially since I don't think your luggage is going to be massive. 

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Lapinlahti is the site of Finland's first purpose-built mental hospital, built in the neoclassical style in the 1830s. The hospital moved out in the 2000s, and now there's all kinds of artsy/café -type stuff happening on the grounds (although they are under threat of being driven out by a hotel development). It's essentially a nice park to walk in and have a cuppa. On summer weekends there's also a flea market.

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3. Walk by Arabianranta to Vanhankaupunginkoski

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3. Walk by Arabianranta to Vanhankaupunginkoski

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We will walk by the seashore to the place which used to be Helsinki's 'old town' in the 16th century. There's actually no town, just a rapids and some old redbrick buildings – however, it is pretty!

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There's an S-market that's open 24h right opposite the central railway station (right side, bottom floor of Sokos dept store). Personally I find their selection of ready-to-eat meals to be inferior to the Alepa at the airport.

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3. Walk by Kruununhaanranta to Tokoinranta and Hakaniemi market hall

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3. Walk by Kruununhaanranta to Tokoinranta and Hakaniemi market hall

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We'll walk by the shore, passing old uni buildings and botanic gardens to Hakaniemi. Hakaniemi and the areas where we will spend the rest of this route used to be working class areas, I can give you a bit more of their history when we're there. We'll first come to the Hakaniemi market hall (i.e. the place where locals actually go to instead of the Old Market Hall). We can eat/have coffee here as well or just browse the stalls.

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4. Walk up Hämeentie through Alli Trygg park to Torkkelinmäki

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4. Walk up Hämeentie through Alli Trygg park to Torkkelinmäki

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Lovely residential area on a hill. The walk will also take us by a public sauna for a bit of local flavour.

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This is a tiny island near Suomenlinna, with a coffeeshop and a restaurant. We could head here before going to Suomenlinna or after it, for lunch/coffee/dinner. I've actually never been :D But have heard good things about it.

https://www.lonna.fi/

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4. Lammassaari (Sheep Island nature reserve)

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4. Lammassaari (Sheep Island nature reserve)

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Right next to the 'old town' is the Sheep Island nature reserve. It's definitely worth a visit. We can take a picnic with us or can eat before/after going there, there's some cafés right outside it.

If we're lucky, we'll spot some birds (there's a couple of bird watching towers), small Finnish cows (kyyttö is the name of the ancient breed) or indeed sheep.

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One of my absolute favourite restaurants at the moment. Bistro-style laidback restaurant/café/bar that serves Nordic/European food. Cannot be booked in advance. There's also a couple of other good, laidback, moderately-prized restaurants nearby if this one is full.

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3. We'll continue by the sea shore towards Taka-Töölö

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3. We'll continue by the sea shore towards Taka-Töölö

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This is another leafy, lovely living area, this time mostly in the Functionalist/1930s style. It's next to the sea, and there is the possibility of going for a swim if it's warm.

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The park is on a hill maybe 1 km from Harju8. It's free entry, and there's 7 free rides. Most of them are for little kids who are too young to go on other rides, but there's also a panorama tower from which you can see the whole city.

The ambience here on a summer's night is lovely, and there's also an old wooden rollercoaster (one of the few still in operation in the world), but you have to get a token for that.

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7. Still hungry/decided not to eat a proper meal before? Or just want a drink?

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7. Still hungry/decided not to eat a proper meal before? Or just want a drink?

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There's e.g. Albina & Alexis (European food, very nice) nearby (may require booking), and we can also retrace our route back to where Harju8 is. A&A also have a lovely cocktail bar from which you can see far.

Oh, also – we can always grab drinks from supermarkets as well and enjoy them outside. No open container/public drinking laws are observed in Finland, you just have to make sure you go to the supermarket before 9 PM.

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4. Cinnamon rolls/sausages at Café Regatta

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4. Cinnamon rolls/sausages at Café Regatta

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Café Regatta is probably one of the most photographed buildings in Helsinki. Even if we have to queue, it will be enjoyable. Cinnamon rolls are their perhaps best-known product, but you can also get for example Finnish sausages (pre-cooked, not raw) to grill by yourself on open fire.

I think it may also be possible to rent canoes here, if you're interested?

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This is a Georgian restaurant right next to your hotel. I've been there twice and had the supra sharing menu both times. I don't know anyone who has not loved it.

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We'll continue on the seashore and end up on rocks overlooking the bay. It's quite lovely, so if we want to do a picnic/drinks break here, it's also possible.

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This is a small island with old historic buildings showcasing how peasants lived in different parts of Finland. There's also lovely cafés, of course, and a chance to swim. We come here often to walk the dog and chill.

It's free entry, you only pay if you actually want to go into the buildings.

The prime minister and president's official residences are in this area (not on the island though, but we'll walk past them), as well as President Kekkonen's (if you have read up on Finland in the Cold War or the origin of the term finlandization, you will know this bald guy with huge glasses who was the president for 30 years) house (now a museum with a lovely café).

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I live in Munkkiniemi, and there's a really lovely French bistro. It could be a nice place to have dinner.

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Munkkiniemi also has a lovely seashore with a café that's open late. Oh, and ice cream.

The tram #4 goes from Munkkiniemi to city centre (approx. 200m from your hotel), so getting back is not going to take long.