A long summer weekend in Helsinki itinerary

Posted on by Julie

Yes, I’m stretching the definition of “a long weekend” a bit. A month ago, I had about four days in Helsinki and so I thought I’d tidy up what I did and turn it into an itinerary to give you an idea of how to spend a few days in Helsinki in the summer. Mine was three full days and two half days because of the way the flight times work out. It’s a little longer than a weekend but I’m sticking with it.

Day one

My flight was at 7.30am, getting me to Helsinki around midday with the two-hour time difference. I took the commuter train from the airport to the central station (lines I or P). I recommend getting a public transport pass. Central Helsinki is zone A; the airport is zone B. I got a five-day ABC pass which worked out cheaper than a five-day A pass + two single tickets from/to the airport.

When I arrived, it was too early to get into my accommodation so I left my luggage in the lockers under the central station and walked down Aleksanterinkatu to South Harbour. You might want to do some shopping in Stockmann, the largest department store in the Nordics, or go to the big bookshop, or just find a cafe and chill – Helsinki does good cafe culture. I went to look at Allas Sea Pool and then occupied myself with a visit to Flying Cinema. It’s a similar concept to FlyOver Iceland – drone footage of Finnish nature on a big screen, complemented by tilting seats, wind machines and spray to make you feel like you’re flying. FlyOver does do it a bit better but if you’ve got half an hour spare, I’d definitely give Flying Cinema a whirl.

A grey concrete building that's actually mostly large glass windows. Along the top, it has the logo of Flying Cinema and also of The Palm in pale blue Art Deco letters, referring to the bar that occupies the other half of the square building.

Then I took the tram back to the station, claimed my luggage and went to my accommodation. I spent some time on a food shop and just chilling and then I went to Allas Sea Pool for the evening. In hindsight, I should have gone to the pool in the afternoon. Your ticket is for three hours but it closes at 9pm, which means locking the gate behind the last swimmer at 9pm. Therefore, for best use of your three hours, I’d advise getting there for 5.30pm at the latest. I don’t think you can book a single ticket online but I’d pop in ASAP for a timed ticket if I could.

Three pools, two bright blue, one sea-coloured, on a large deck floating in the harbour on a sunny day. Helsinki is visible across the harbour.

I then went home but if you’re not exhausted, you should definitely explore Helsinki’s bars & restaurants.

Day two

The first thing I wanted to do was Löyly, Helsinki’s big shiny public sauna. Definitely book this one in advance. Alternate the wood and smoke saunas with cold showers and a swim in the Baltic and then have lunch on the terrace at Löyly’s restaurant.

A selfie, wearing a yellow jumper and yellow bucket hat, sitting on a rock outside Löyly, which is a great hulking structure made of planks of wood with gaps in between, in a kind of geometric hump shape.

I think what I actually did was buy fresh bread on the way home and eat in my apartment and then probably had a nap (never again getting up at 2am for a flight!). Late afternoon, I took the tram back to the South Harbour and got the ferry to Suomenlinna. This is part of Helsinki’s public transport network so it’s free on your pass, goes about every 20 minutes and takes about 15 minutes. Suomenlinna is an island fortress turned UNESCO World Heritage site with an active naval college on it. These days, it’s a cross between an open air museum and a green place to escape the city. Not that Helsinki is a chaotic bustling metropolis bit this is a bit of a haven nonetheless. I liked going over after 5pm, when everything had closed and most people had gone home, for a really chilled evening. Obviously check ferry times but they were running well into the night when I was there. I came back in time to catch the late evening sun over the water – Helsinki’s too far south for true Midnight Sun but it doesn’t get properly dark until about 2am and doesn’t last long.

The skyline of Helsinki as seen from a ferry out on the bay. It's a cloudy evening but there's a faint yellowish glow low over the horizon. Not the most spectacular not-quite-sunset ever.

Day three

The next big thing on my to-do list was Korkeasaari Zoo, on its own island in the bay and best accessed by bus 16 from the central station. This takes you to the ticket office and then you walk across the bridge onto the island itself. There’s major construction work going on right now but by 2026 or 27, it’s going to be linked to central Helsinki by either a tram or a light railway over a new car-free bridge.

The temporary wooden structure joining the old Korkeasaari bridge to the island instead of following its old route straight into construction work.

Korkeasaari is all a bit of a labyrinth, with animals grouped loosely by origin and connected by lots of paths. There’s a recommended route on the map you’ll be given or you can make it up as you go along. The bears have their own castle, the monkeys have a kind of theatre/mountainside and the cats have a kind of glass-fronted jungle. I’ll admit, I’ve seen zoos that seem to have slightly more stimulating enclosures but Finland is one of the most progressive countries in the world and I don’t think it’s that far behind with modern zoo practices.

Inside the tropical house, one of the few indoor enclosures at Korkeasaari. It has a glass roof that suggests it curves downwards and it's full of wild green plant life.

Beware the nesting barnacle geese. The zoo has roped off areas, particularly around the shore, to stop visitors disturbing them so please respect that. Barnacle geese are smaller than the geese I’m used to but I daresay they’re just as violent when provoked.

A Goose to Finnish translation infographic, showing four barnacle geese and translating their behaviour in each to a few words in Finnish and a smiley or angry face going from green down to red to show how angry the goose is in each.
Goose to Finnish translation

In the afternoon, I came back to explore Helsinki a bit. Now I went into Stockmann, into a couple of the many Marimekko branches (out of my price range!) and into Helsinki Cathedral (free but they love donations in the box). I’m a pernickety cathedral fan and while I like its Neoclassical exterior, I found the inside bland. Blue-white walls that looked like 90s sponge-texturing (my godmother loved this effect when the kids were younger) and very little decoration.

Inside Helsinki Cathedral. Most of it is a plain light blue-grey, with some white decoration around the inside of the arches. This particular picture shows the only decorative features - an organ with pink and gold highlights curved around the inside of a dome and an elaborate gold chandelier.

Uspenski Cathedral, the big Orthodox red brick one, was closed today otherwise I’d have crossed it off at the same time. Instead I went to the harbourside SkyWheel. All self-respecting capital cities have an observation wheel these days. Depending on demand, you’ll get three or four circuits to take in the city from above through bright blue glass. But what makes SkyWheel special is that it has a rotating sauna. You get to use it for an hour, switching members of your group any time the wheel stops. Back on the ground, you get exclusive use of the hot tub and there’s some kind of bar or lounge. It’s far too expensive for one person but if you’re there with a group of eight or twelve, a hen party maybe, a private scenic sauna would be a really good thing to do.

A view over Helsinki's South Harbour, Allas Sea Pool and Helsinki Cathedral as seen from behind some very blue glass most of the way up the SkyWheel.

What did I do that evening? Went home, I think. Again, I recommend you find a bar, cafe or restaurant. Grab a bite at the market on the South Harbour or go to the food hall on the opposite side.

Day four

According to the postcards, Helsinki’s big tourist attraction is the Church in the Rock, a few tram stops up from the central station. I pictured something cave-like but in fact, it’s a “building” just under two storeys high blasted out of a hill. Imagine something like a giant tealight holder, a straight-sided round hole in a rock. This thing has a copper dish as a roof, supported by concrete struts. For tourists, this one does have an entrance fee. It’s surprisingly bright and airy, with modern purple upholstered chairs and an upstairs gallery.

Inside the Church in the Rock, a circular space with rough raw rock walls reaching about one storey high. Above them is a flat copper dome supported by concrete pillars which let in outside light.

Then I took the tram back to the station and walked along Esplanadi Park, a long, thin and immaculately manicured park between neoclassical buildings. Since it was hot and sunny, I stopped for an ice cream. The north side of this park is also where you’ll find the souvenir shops that are so lacking on Aleksanterinkatu. I bought a Christmas tree decoration, a woven sauna cover and some flag stickers for my scrapbook.

A small tub of chocolate ice cream in a park. Behind the ice cream is a statue on a tall plinth surrounded by a circle of impeccable grass and flowers and you can just make out the ice cream cart on the left.

At the end, back at South Harbour, I finally popped into Uspenski Cathedral (also free). It’s small again – Finnish cathedrals apparently don’t do naves – but it’s a lot more elaborate than its Evangelical Lutheran sister. It’s a shame the base colour is a kind of brown-greige but it’s well-decorated, with appropriate amounts of gold and plenty of gold furniture, memorials, icons etc – plus a small shop, mostly for religious-related things, like icons, rosaries, candles and books.

Inside Uspenski Cathedral. There's a huge gold altar piece filled with icons and the walls, ceilings and arches are a brownish-grey colour but filled in with intricate patterns, gold and more icons.

Now it was time for a boat trip. There are several companies all offering similar trips for similar prices so unless there’s a route or boat you particularly want to do, just jump on whichever is going next. I went with Stromma and did their 90 minute city highlights tour, which took us out towards Löyly, across to Suomenlinna, out to the new bridge project and Korkeasaari and back via the shore route past Uspenski. Even on a lovely warm day it was freezing on the water. The inside seating was full and I prefer to be outside anyway but they provide blankets so you can wrap up.

A selfie wearing a yellow bucket hat, sunglasses and a pale blue blanket because it's freezing. I'm on a boat and behind me is a bit of water and then one of Helsinki's many forested islands.

This being my last evening, I spent it on Suomenlinna again. If Allas was a little warmer I might have gone there, or if Yrjönkatu pool hadn’t been closed for renovations, I might have gone there. It’s a Victorian-era traditional pool (not that Queen Victoria is a reference point in Finland) with a fabric-free sauna where most people opt not to get dressed when they emerge and jump into the pool.

A small cove on Suomenlinna where it's sheltered enough to swim. There's a half-circle of yellow beach at one end and relatively high steep sides of rock protecting it from the wind. Sitting here, if I look to the left instead of the right, I can see across to Helsinki but I haven't included that photo because it's straight into the lowish evening sun and thus silhouetted.

Day five

I had to head for the airport just after lunch so I left my luggage in the station lockers again and considered my options. I’d have liked to go to Seurasaari, another open air island museum but Google Maps thought the bus there would take a while. There were a couple of beaches and saunas on my to- do list but I didn’t have long enough. So I went back towards South Harbour but this time continuing after Aleksanterinkatu ran out, following the edge of the marina around an island I hadn’t realised was an island until I found Finland’s icebreaker fleet, moored here for the summer. In winter, these five behemoths keep shipping and trade running across the Baltic and its northern extension, the Gulf of Bothnia. For more on that, I recommend Horatio Clare’s Icebreaker.

Finland's icebreaker fleet. Five or six large boats with huge chunky block-like towers set on very sturdy hells. Most of them are yellowish with black bottoms. One visible and one hiding have dark blue bottoms and white towers with swoops of Finnish blue.

To be honest, once I’d admired the big boats, I mostly just killed time around the harbour. I’d done everything I had time for and I didn’t have time for the remainder of my list. So I went back to the station and took the train back to the airport.

Helsinki Central Station, a building of pinkish-brown brick with copper-green accents, like a frill around the great arched front and along the front. There is a green-topped tower just visible. The doors are flanked by two giant figures on each side holding a glowing green globe. It's built in the Modernist style.

And that was my long summer weekend in Helsinki. I can’t give you a precise temperature but the last week of May was pleasant – blue sky and hot sunshine but with a chilly breeze off the Baltic that meant you had to at least carry a jumper most of the time. Perfect summer weather for a polar bear who doesn’t thrive in the heat but doesn’t actually want to live in a huge coat all year round.

Don’t miss:

  • The Finnish korvapuusti
  • A real Finnish sauna
  • The Modernist central station
  • Senate Square