Helsinki

Best Things To Do

Helsinki’s Cultural Office runs this special program for children to keep them entertained during their holidays. Annantalo is an art center that is filled with children learning basic art techniques, attending small exhibitions, workshops and dance performances.

Showing 1–24 of 36 places

City guide section

Top picks in Helsinki

Showing 1–24 of 36 places

Browse the highlights below, then open any place for maps, area notes, and practical details.

Annantalo

Helsinki’s Cultural Office runs this special program for children to keep them entertained during their holidays.

Children’s Museum

To keep them engaged, the Museum holds exhibitions under attractive names like Guinea Pig, where children are told about the animals found in Helsinki.

Kids and Teens- Finnish Opera

The National Opera runs special programs for children featuring exciting stories and documentaries to promote learning and creativity.

Helsinki Zoo

Located on the Korkeasaari Island, Helsinki Zoo is the biggest attraction for children in Finland. The Zoo covers hundreds of acres of land and has a collection of animals and birds.

Esplanadi Park

Esplanadi Park is located right in the center of Helsinki with lush green lawns that are crowded by both locals and tourists in the summer months.

Senate Square

Senate Square is the most popular destination within Helsinki. It was built by a famous Russian architect, Carl Ludvig Engel(1778-1840). Today the Senate Square houses concerts, events and a site seeing tour.

Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art

The place also hosts various exhibitions around the year to entertain tourists and to display the cultural and historic side of Finland.

Tennispalatsi

This complex is a cultural center located in the Kammpi area of the city center. The place houses a lot of shops, a multi Cineplex called ‘Finkino’, an Art Museum, Tennis Palace and the Museum of Cultures.

Three Smiths Statue

The Three Smiths Statue is a famous sculpture carved by Felix Nylund at the intersection of the two most famous streets of Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie.

Statue of Mannerheim

Situated along the Mannerheim Street in the heart of Helsinki is this statue of the great Finnish Military leader, Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. The statue is a very famous cultural landmark for Helsinkians.

Mannerheim Museum

Today it serves as a museum to display his personal belongings and other special artifacts that he acquired throughout his life and his long travels as a soldier.

Helsinki City Museum

It has some of the oldest and most sacred collectables under its many roofs and tourists tend to visit exhibitions in all buildings so as not to miss out.

Botanical Garden

The Gardens include extensive acres of land dedicated to growing special wildlife flowers, shrubs and herbs.

Swedish Theater

Located in the heart of the city, along the Esplanadi street, is the first stage that Finland ever had. The Swedish theater was inaugurated in 1827 as a small wooden building.

Suomenlinna Fortress

This Sea Fortress dates back to the times when Finland had to protect its borders from international enemies and military seizures.

Coastal Artillery Museum

As the name goes, this museum is a memory of all the times that Finland has had to protect itself from external offense during the two World Wars.

Ehrensvärd Museum

Suomenlinna is a Finnish island that has a military history associated to it. This museum on the island has a model of a large ship within its confines, and other military artifacts from the 18th century.

Submarine Vesikko

The only submarine that Finland is allowed to own, Vesikko dates way back to the World War when it malfunctioned and sank a Finnish ship.

Seurasaari Open Air Museum

Located peacefully on this island, the Open Air Museum is surrounded by a park that is free for all tourists. The ride from the main city center can be either by water or road from the Erottaja.

Pihlajasaari Recreational Park

This park is multipurpose. It has sandy beaches, lush green parks, jogging tracks, bird watching sites, restaurants and a café on the park premises.

Ateneum Art Museum

Mostly housing the famous fine art works of the period 1700 to 1960, the Ateneum museum is a must visit place in Helsinki.

Uspenski Cathedral

This is the largest Orthodox Churches in Western Europe and serves the small Orthodox minority in Helsinki. The church was built by the Russians and is quite architecturally magnificent.

The kallio Church

This towering Church is the most prominent landmark in the Kallio district. It was built about 100 years ago on the blueprints laid by Lars Snock. It depicts Finnish romantic architecture.