10 Travel Tips for Helsinki

Known as the “Daughter of the Baltic”, Helsinki is Finland’s capital city and sits on a peninsula in the Gulf of the country.

On our visit, we cooked sausages over the fire, immersed ourselves in a ridiculous amount of art galleries, and admired the grand architecture surrounding us. There is something special about wintertime when you have thick snow on the ground along with a bright blue sky and on our recent trip to Helsinki, we experienced this perfect combination which enhanced our visit.

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City breaks are fun but they can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially if you’re visiting for the first time. So we’ve put together a list of tips for your next visit, from ways to save money, helpful apps and handy advice we picked up along the way.

MONEY SAVING TIPS

PUBLIC TRANSPORt

If you’re planning on using public transport multiple times then it’s probably worth getting a HSL Day Ticket. A 1-day card for example is €8 and a 3-day card is €16. These cards can be used on public transport like the bus, tram, and train.

2. HELSINKI CARD

If you want to wrap yourself up in Finnish culture and an abundance of art then purchase the Helsinki Card. This card has a number of benefits, including free entry to over 25 museums, galleries and attractions, as well as discounts on shopping and services. This card also gives you unlimited travel on HSL public transport.

If you’re planning on visiting galleries, museums AND using the public transport then purchase the Helsinki Card as this offers both.

There are 1-3 day cards on offer. The 1-day Helsinki Card is €51 for free entry to attractions and 24-hour public transport. Here is an example of what attractions are included with the card and how much they are individually.

Suomenlinna sea fortress: €38.00
Panoramic sightseeing bus tour: €32
Canal route cruise: €25
Amox Rex art gallery: €20
Ateneum Museum: €18

So if you’re planning on going to a few attractions and using public transport then the Helsinki Card can save you a lot of money!

What I like about these cards is that they don’t activate until you start using them. If you don’t enter your first gallery until Wednesday at 3pm then the card is active till Thursday at 3pm. The card is valid for 24-hours, 48-hours or 72-hours from first use in an attraction or on public transport. Meaning you don’t loose any wasted time.

3. MUSEUM CARD

If you’re in Helsinki for more than 3 days or expanding your travels outside the city then the Museum Card might be best for you. The card, which lasts 1 year, costs €74 and covers over 300 museums in Finland.

4. FREE THINGS

A big money-saving tip we always include is utilising free things to do around the city. There are plenty of places to visit in Helsinki which are free.

Here is an example of free things to do in the city

Sompasauna sauna
The Helsinki Winter Garden
Free walking tour
National Library of Finland
Helsinki City Museum

Some galleries and museums offer free tickets at certain times of the month. Check this link for all of the dates and times.

For example:

National Museum of Finland: free first Friday of the month, 4 pm-6 pm
Finnish Museum of Photography: free on the last Wednesday of the month, 5 pm-8 pm
HAM Helsinki Art Museum: free on the last Friday of the month, 11.30 am-7 pm

Read our article “12 FREE THINGS TO DO IN HELSINKI” for more free things to do in Helsinki

5. STUDENTS

If you’re under 18 or a student, many galleries and museums offer free or discounted tickets along with student days.

For example:

HAM Helsinki Art Museum: free for those under 18
Design Museum: discounted price of €6
Amos Rex: Students, unemployed and everyone under 30 years old have a reduced price of €5. Under 18’s are free

WINTER TIPS

6. WINTER CLOSURES

When planning your trip, always check the opening times of galleries, museums and attractions. Some may be closed during the winter period. Attractions like the canal cruises and hop-on, hop-off bus tours aren’t in operation during the winter months.

Read our article WINTER GETAWAYS ON LAKE SAIMAA for a winter wonderland holiday in Finland

7. IT’S COLD

It’s pretty cold in the wintertime. Winter is long with the temperature remaining almost constantly around or below freezing (0 °C or 32 °F) from mid-November to late March. The average temperature in February is -5.5°C (22°F). The coldest month of the year is February and the warmest is July.

When it’s this cold, remember that batteries die a lot quicker. So bring portable chargers for your phone, laptop, camera and any other electronics you’ll be using while there.

One of the coldest places we’ve been so far is Estonia. Our phones couldn’t take the cold temperatures which we weren’t expecting and this proved difficult as all of our information, map and itinerary were on our phones

APPS

8. HSL APP

When in a new city for the first time it can be overwhelming to understand the public transport system. The HSL app is a handy app that allows you to book tickets and see the best route to get from A to B.

You can plan your route and buy tickets for the bus, tram, train, ferry and metro using the app.

Simply put your two (or more) destinations onto the app and it will give you multiple journey options with the various modes of transport, times and prices.

MISCELLANEOUS

9. CLOSURES

When planning our trip we noticed that a lot of galleries and museums are closed on Mondays. Bear this in mind if you’re only in Helsinki for a few days and want to visit as many as possible. It might be best to arrange your days accordingly or adjust your schedule for other activities on Monday.

While on the subject of closures, we found a lot of cafes are closed on Sundays. So bare this in mind when planning your trip. If you have a specific cafe to visit, check their opening days and times.

10. ALCOHOL

When we went to our first supermarket in Helsinki we noticed that there wasn’t much of an alcohol selection, it was heavily taxed, and on top of that, the alcohol content was under 5.5%.

The only exception for buying alcoholic drinks over the 5.5% limit is going to licensed restaurants and bars but this is only for drinking on the premises. If you want to buy alcohol to drink in your hotel or elsewhere then you have to go to a state-owned Alko store.

Alko is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It’s the only store in the country which sells beer, wine and spirits over 5.5%. Alko premises are closed on Sundays. And most stores in the country are open Monday to Friday from 9 am-9 pm and Saturdays from 9 am-6 pm.

Thank you to the Helsinki tourism board for generously providing us with the HSL day tickets and the Helsinki cards! #gifted

We’re always up for saving money and finding tips when travelling. Do you have any travel tips for Helsinki? If you do then please let us know below in the comments!