Helsinki (and Tallinn) travel guide

I have lived in Finland for 4 years now, and every now and then people come visiting and ask for guides, tips, and itineraries. It’s time to put all of it into one blog, so you can visit Helsinki (and our beloved city, Tallinn) with ease.

The guide starts from what you should prepare before landing in Finland, what to expect when you land, and so on.

This guide does not include the touristy Finland like Santa Village and Rovaniemi. This is Helsinki and Tallinn only.

TL;DR: 3 nights Helsinki + 1 night Tallinn minimum. Download the HSL app. Book the Tallink ferry early. Card only, and lastly, bring swimsuit.

This list is July 2026 updated — if you read this in the future, things might have changed already.

Before you land

• Cashless city Finland is basically a cashless society — you don’t need to prepare or exchange cash, just bring your travel card or credit card and you’re set.
• the HSL app (or just a contactless card) Download the app before you arrive, though tapping a contactless Visa/Mastercard on board works too (more on this in Transportation).
• eSIM / roaming: You can buy at the airport, internet here is extremely fast and stable, and surprisingly unlimited 5G package is cheaper than Thailand.
• Weather: summer Helsinki and winter Helsinki are two different planets. June–August you get near-endless daylight, November-December you get almost none of the sun. Pack & plan accordingly.
• Sauna: You must do a sauna — sauna originally comes from Finland — and you should bring a swimsuit with you and be ready to dip yourself in the Baltic Sea or a lake.

Getting from the airport to the city

Okay let’s talk about how to get from airport to the city.

You don’t strictly need the HSL app, the Helsinki-region transportation app, as you can tap a contactless Visa/Mastercard on the reader as well.

But the app is still the best way to get out of the airport, since it can navigate you and choose the fastest route for you.

Use the app to buy the ABC zone ticket, or tap your card once you board. There are 2 trains running from the airport to the city, one going left to right and the other right to left, and they run in a circle — the P and I lines. And IMO, the train is comfortable, roomy enough for 1 piece of luggage per person easily.

But if you’re visiting with 2 or more as a group, a taxi is probably a better way. You could use Bolt, Uber, or Taksi Helsinki to get you from the airport to the hotel. The price, in my experience, is around 20–40 euros for a normal 4-seater car, and there’s a dedicated taxi/rideshare pickup zone at the airport too, really easy to find.

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, a country of 5–6 million people, so I wouldn’t expect Helsinki to be huge. Everything is within walkable distance. This part covers where to eat, where to have coffee, attractions, and some gems in my opinion.

Hotels

• Scandic — the reliable Nordic chain, there’s one in every corner. You can’t go wrong. Breakfast is nice too.
• Citybox — budget pick, self check-in, no nonsense, no breakfast too.

There are also some luxury hotels if budget allows:

• Hotel St. George — the design one, really good breakfast and bakery. Real deal!
• Hotel Kämp — the classic grand hotel, where visiting many celebrities stay.
• NH Collection Grand Hansa — right in front of Central Station. Fun fact: it’s run by Minor Group, a Thai hotel group 🇹🇭

Attractions

• Oodi Library — the library that you might wanna have a local explain why it is so cool and worth the taxes!

• Esplanadi — the road where every shop is there, nice in summer, a way to the market hall.

• Helsinki Cathedral — the white church, most famous church in Helsinki, Lutheran church.

• Uspenski Cathedral — the red-brick orthodox church, 5 minutes from the white one. I called it Russian church.

• Helsinki University Library — I think it’s the one most crowded by students, so if you want a real, authentic library and to see how locals actually use one, this is the place for you.

• Cafe Regatta — tiny red cottage by the water, you can grill sausage here, and it is nice both summer and winter.

• Sibelius Monument — close to the Cafe Regatta, and if you are music-history person, this is a place for you to learn more about Finnish famous composer.

• Suomenlinna — sea fortress island, my top pick. It is really great all season, you can travel there by ferry at Market Square, the HSL card already included, fun fact: artist residency lives here to craft the art!

• Market Square and the yellow umbrellas — well, it’s a gimmick market and food hall, nice for first-timers but it is a pretty touristy place. I would not recommend it if you want to experience the local food.

• Sauna — you can’t leave Finland without one.

  • Löyly I recommend this one, most accessible sauna for travellers and visitors, we host after-work activities here often as well. It’s swimsuit-friendly and mixed, which makes it an easy first sauna for tourists.
  • IMPORTANT: at Löyly you must bring a swimsuit, you can rent but I recommend to just bring one. Don’t forget to bring swimsuit to Finland, people!

Funfact: Traditional public saunas elsewhere in Finland are usually nude and gender-separated, so the swimsuit tip above is specific to Löyly, not a Finland-wide rule.

• Eira, Merisatama, Kaivopuisto — seaside neighborhoods south of the center, quiet, best water views in the city. Nice for a slow walk if you have the time. I like Eira ranta the most, it closes to Löyly too.
• Katajanokka — cool architecture, and in the summer, you might catch the icebreakers docked there! They only work 3–5 months a year breaking sea ice in winter, so over summer they just moor here, side by side, right by downtown.
• Museums: Ateneum, Sinebrychoff, Mannerheim Museum, Kiasma — they are all worth it, I love Ateneum, it’s Finland’s national art museum and it’s right next to Central railway station.
• National Library of Finland — free, and it’s actually really beautiful library next to the white church.
• Rooftop views: Atelier Bar — one of the nicest rooftop places in Helsinki.
  • Or the observation deck at the Verkkokauppa.com building — yes, there’s literally a fighter jet up there! 😬 (credit to u/NervO_)

I don’t drink, so nightlife isn’t really mine to comment on — but Kallio is where locals go for it.

Restaurants and Cafes

• RAMS Roasters — best cinnamon buns in the city, really good coffee one. Pretty crowded but totally worth it.

• Fisken på Disken — The salmon soup here is the best, and they won “best salmon soup” in Helsinki too. I am here once a month regularly and I found my most favorite white wine here too.

• Lykke — great coffee place I recently found and really nice barista who makes great iced latte in town.

• Enchanté — french-style coffee place, good bakery. My regular too.

• Baba’s Döner — best kebab in town, not cheap tho! but I love it the most.

• Pompei — lunch like real local, only open weekdays, a must! Check the menu beforehand!

• Kaisan Pizzeria — best pizza place in Helsinki, only serves 32 doughs a day, NO PHONE & PHOTO allowed inside. Best margarita I had in my life.

• Restaurant Teller — one of the fine-dining spots I like and visit often, the bread here is good, and the food and wine selection are worth it.

• The Other One Thai Kitchen — arguably the most consistent and tastiest Thai restaurant in Helsinki. It tastes better than many Thai restaurants in Thailand too — the chefs know how to make a dish, and trust me, I’m Thai 🇹🇭

People here have different preferred tastes, me too, and there are a lot more food options in Helsinki than one might think. I’d recommend researching a bit more, but the list above is the one I curated — if I have to go abroad for some time, I will eat everything on this list before leaving Finland.

Funfact: Finland doesn’t have the culture that other countries have, where food is a company benefit or there’s a kitchen within the company — instead Finland has a lunch benefit called lounasetu, so locals can have lunch outside at an affordable price. It’s not a public subsidy — the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) sets a taxable value band each year (€8.80–€14.00 for 2026), and the employee pays at least 75% of that value, with the employer covering the rest. That’s why weekday lunch prices tend to sit in that band and come in lower than dinner and weekend prices. So if you spend time here during weekdays, you can try many, many restaurants at a cheaper price, e.g. Fisken på Disken sells salmon soup at 25 euros for dinner and weekends but only 19 euros for weekday lunch!

Transportation

The whole Helsinki area (including Espoo and Vantaa) shares the same transportation system, called HSL.

Download the HSL app anyway, even if you end up tapping your card most of the time. It’s stable, easy to use, and honestly the map is more reliable than Google Maps here. And it’s way-way more reliable than many countries in Europe. Probably best transportation app and system in my opinion.

You have 2 ways to pay:

• buy the ticket in the app before you jump on the bus, train, or tram, like other cities in Europe — and I mean before: buying the ticket in the app while the bus is already moving counts as fare dodging now, they got strict about it.
• Or, tap your contactless Visa/Mastercard on the reader once you’re already on board, and it charges you automatically.

If you get caught without a valid ticket, the fine is 100 euro. Not worth it.

The physical HSL travel card still works too — it’s not being phased out. What’s actually disappearing are the ticket machines; only about 70 are left at major hubs. So app or contactless card, either way.

Shopping

I’d say Helsinki is not a shopping destination but it is not that bad, and nobody here wears anything flashy, so please don’t expect much. No brand names — if you see someone wearing flashy clothes, bags, or watches, assume they’re a tourist.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t shop here tho!

• Stockmann — the big department store right in the center. Not cheap, but you’ll find pretty much any brand you want here, Finnish ones included if you’re after a souvenir.
• Marimekko, it’s originally from here, founded by Armi Ratia, and she built it into the brand that defines Finnish design abroad.
• Moomin — Yes, Finland is the home of Moomin, and if you watched the Moomin animation when you were young, you might want to buy some cute stuff from them.
• The Design District — a whole neighborhood of local boutiques and independent Finnish brands, with some nice cafes worth checking out too. Worth a walk to see the area for yourself.
• Kyro — best Gin in my opinion, you must give it a try, just Gin tonic or Gin soda, that’s it! I bought it back to Thailand every single time for my dad & mom, it’s refreshing.

But if you plan to buy loads of alcohol and drink a lot, Finland is not for you — we have alcohol tax and it gets really expensive, one pint of beer could cost you 8–12 euros easily.

But if you want to drink, you must visit another city of Finland, which is…

Tallinn, Estonia Finland

Can’t visit Helsinki without visiting another Finnish city 😛 Yes — Tallinn, Finland.

I’m kidding. It’s just that Finns visit Tallinn more often than anyone. Well, at least I keep visiting once every 2–3 months, consistently, for years. 😂

For the record, since some readers genuinely ask: Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, a separate country. It uses the euro, it’s in the EU and Schengen, so no extra visa needed if you’re already in Finland! It’s a joke!

Tallinn has its own charm. It’s chill, and I have many friends there too. Let me list where you could spend your time.

How to get there

You book the ferry. There are technically 3 lines, but I recommend only 2:

• Tallink — best in town, best experience, newest ships, fastest crossing (~2 hours). Recommend this for first-timers.
• Eckerö — second best, cheaper, doable.

Both depart from our famous West Terminal 2. (The third line, Viking, departs from Katajanokka on the other side of town — don’t mix up the terminals.)

If you’re on a budget or short on time, grab the same-day round-trip ticket instead of booking two separate days. It’s cheaper, and still plenty to cover the major sights in Tallinn.

Tips: the ferry ticket is not like booking a flight, but they do spike on high-season dates, so book ahead then. And bring your passport or EU ID — there’s no border check inside Schengen, but the ferry company or security guard may want to see ID. We have an Estonian friend who forgot his passport once when visiting Finland, it did not end well, he was detained for an hour before they sent him back to Estonia at the end of the day.

Hotels

• Citybox is the one I always stay at — close to the ferry terminal, Rotermann, and every attraction, cafe, and restaurant.

I haven’t stayed anywhere else, but Tallinn generally has plenty of good, affordable hotels, even the great high-end hotels don’t break the bank compared to Helsinki. Worth shopping around if Citybox isn’t your style.

Attractions

• Old Town — the whole thing is the attraction. There are 3 viewing platforms on Toompea Hill you need to visit:

  • Kohtuotsa (the famous rooftop view)
  • Patkuli (city wall + harbor view), and
  • Piiskopi (the quiet one). All free, all open 24/7.

• Oleviste kogudus or St. Olaf’s Church — one of the highlights in Tallinn’s Old Town, you can climb up there and get a panoramic view of Tallinn, totally worth it in my opinion. It closes in winter tho.

• Kuberneri Garden (next to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral)

• Alexander Nevsky Cathedral — a really cool, huge church in Tallinn’s Old Town.

• Kadriorg — palace and park. I love this place. It is calm, can walk for an hour!

• KUMU — the Estonian Art Museum. Within the Kadriorg park, I love the piece here, and I spend 1+ hours here easily.

• Linnahall — if you’ve watched Tenet, this Soviet-era monster is the opening scene location. Closed inside, but you can walk on top of it, and the seaside sunset from there is great.

• Maarjamäe Memorial — another Tenet location, and a striking piece of Soviet architecture on its own.

• Telliskivi — the cool area. Bakeries, desserts, bars, restaurants. I love hanging out here.

• Kalamaja — wooden houses neighborhood, hipster energy, next door to Telliskivi.

Restaurants and Cafes

• RØST Bakery — love it, best cinnamon bun ever. Great coffee.

• Pub Kompressor — arguably local food. I like it, but Estonians disagree 😂

• Peppersack — medieval-themed, best restaurant so far, touristy but real tasty compared to other touristy places around Tallinn, you must order Garlic bread and their honey beer and herb beer, they dont sell anywhere.

• mitch matcha & more — best matcha in town. It’s literally the only matcha specialty cafe in town, but still, best.

• Pelm — I love Slavic dumpling and borscht soup in this place so much, warm fresh-made dumpling with a lot of sour cream really satisfies me.

• Estonian Burger Factory — I like it, I think it’s pretty good burger with some beer spot in Tallinn. I regularly visit when I want something tasty and reliable.

• Bruto — I like the cookie here really much.

• Karjase sai — one of amoung best bakery & pastry in Tallinn, It’s always my go-to as well

• Kiosk no.4 — Good coffee chain in Tallinn, but I love the No.4 the most.

• Fotografiska Restaurant Tallinn — A fine-dining, I have been here once and had a really good experience, worth visiting.

Transport

You honestly won’t need it — Old Town, the harbor, and Telliskivi are all walkable.

But Kadriorg park you need the tram, in Tallinn, for residents the transportation is free, completely free, but for tourists, you need to tap your credit card on the bus or tram, they will deduct you by end of the day.

If your legs completely give up, Bolt (the Estonian Uber) is everywhere and affordable.

Shopping

The biggest selling point of Tallinn is alcohol. It’s clearly cheaper than Finland — this is why the ferries exist, let’s be honest — though the gap is shrinking every year as Estonia keeps raising alcohol taxes.

The giant booze stores SuperAlko are conveniently right next to the harbor. You’ll see Finns with trolleys. Now you know why.

Some tips and etiquette

• Finns love quiet and privacy.
• Don’t play with other people’s kids or dogs without asking first.
• Tap water is drinkable everywhere, clean, and the tastiest in the world. I’ve visited more than half of Europe — Finland has the best tap water, period.
• No tipping culture here. It’s always optional.
• Finns might not smile at you, but they don’t mean anything by it. They’re actually friendlier than you think — much better than places that smile a lot and talk behind your back.
• Don’t expect brand-name flexing. If you see someone with expensive flashy stuff, they’re a tourist. Locals don’t wear anything flashy — it’s the Nordic rule of living.
• Sunday hours are short. Some shops and restaurants close early or entirely — check before you go. But most shops and grocery stores open on Sunday, just for a short hour.

How long should the whole trip be?

5 days in total where you spend 3 nights in Helsinki and 1 night in Tallinn is the minimum, assuming you arrive and depart around noon-ish.

This is the plan I usually recommend:

Day	City	Plan
1	Helsinki	Land, drop bags. City walk day, Esplanadi → Market Square → Helsinki Cathedral → Uspenski Cathedral → Suomenlinna → Dinner in the center.
2	Helsinki	Morning at Oodi → then walk up to Cafe Regatta → Sibelius Monument → Lunch and Sauna at Löyly in the afternoon.
3	Tallinn	Morning Tallink ferry → Walk the Old Town, hit all 3 viewpoints → Lunch at Peppersack → Kadriorg park → Dinner in Telliskivi. Stay overnight in Tallinn.
4	Tallinn	Grab the cinnamon bun in RØST in the morning, walk around the old towns one last time → Visit matcha at mitch → Lunch and buy some souvenir → afternoon ferry back.
5	Helsinki	Last day in Helsinki, you maybe visit the places, try some food that you did not try

Day 2 usually has more room than the table suggests — if you’re not sauna-ing all afternoon, don’t forget to explore Eira/Kaivopuisto, Katajanokka, or one of the museums above.

You will cover 70–80% of what a local would do.

What this guide doesn’t cover

This isn’t a complete guide yet. Helsinki, Tallinn, and Finland as a country have so much more to explore. I still haven’t mentioned the biggest and most major part of Finland: the nature, the beautiful green land, and you know what, Finland has 187,888 lakes and yes, more than any country in the world

And I still haven’t mentioned:

• Turku — the old capital of Finland, with a long history tied to Sweden, while Helsinki has more history with Russia (it’s close to Saint Petersburg for a reason).
  • Turku also has its own famous ring road, the Archipelago Trail, that you could ride a bike or road-trip over, or like many Finns do, sail over ⛵
  • And My coolest friend ride the bike there 5 days, check it out!
• Porvoo — a small, cozy town close to Helsinki, about an hour away by bus, with colorful buildings everywhere.
• Nuuksio, Seurasaari, Vallisaari, Pihlajasaari (one of Finland’s nude beaches), and Lonna, the sauna island

But that could be another blog for another time!

Alright, I hope this guide helps you enjoy Helsinki, Finland more than the tour guide would 🙂 Ping me on Instagram or email if you would love some recommendations.

Enjoy the trip!