A Quick Guide to Helsinki

May 8, 2015May 8, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 16 Comments

I get lots of emails from people visiting Helsinki, asking what to do while they are here. So here’s a list of ideas to get you started, which I will add to and update. You can also check out my City Guide to Helsinki, which I wrote for Design*Sponge.

Many museums in Helsinki have one day a month where entry is free. Many places also have different opening hours during summer and winter, so always visit the relevant website before you head out.

City walks

Katajanokka – a suburb of beautiful architecture and great coffee

Töölönlahti – frozen in winter and beautiful in summer, this bay has coffee shops dotted around it’s edge. More photos here.

Uunisaari – an island connected by bridge during winter

Lauttasaari – lovely coastal walk and summer cabins

Baana – a converted freight line is now a cycle and walking path

Five things to do on Fredrikinkatu

Five things to do on Korkeavuorenkatu

Places to visit – outdoors

Linnanmäki – amusement park, free entry, open during summer

Korkeasaari – Helsinki’s island zoo, ferry runs only in summer, bus access otherwise

Seurasaari – outdoor museum on an island, bus access

Pihlajasaari – summer island for swimming

Suomenlinna – fortress island and UNESCO World Heritage Site

Places to visit – indoors

Sea Life – great option for a rainy or cold day in Helsinki

Annantalo – arts centre with exhibitions for children with family friendly book cafe

Yrjönkatu Uimahalli – swimming hall with sauna, men & women separate, only open during winter

Natural History Museum – displays of Nordic and other animals over a few floors

Botanical Gardens – beautiful gardens in glasshouses, good option for a rainy day

Cultural

The Rock Church

Chapel of Silence

Lokal – art gallery & cafe

Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art

Alvar Aalto House

Markets

Hietalahti Market Square – summer time flea market & antiques

Old Market Hall – Vanhakauppahalli is a great place for lunch

Day Trips

Tips for Visiting in Winter & Getting Around

How to walk on ice without dying

How to walk under ice without dying

How to dress a child for Finnish winter

Using Helsinki’s Metro

Cultural Events

Saint Lucia – December

Christmas Path – December

Vappu – May

Samba Carnival – June

Baltic Herring Festival – October

All Saint’s Day – November

Cleaning Day – a giant yard sale throughout the city, held various times a year

Restaurant Day – a street food carnival where anyone can open a restaurant for the day, held four times a year

Places to eat & drink

Cafe Regatta – traditional Finnish cafe by the water, for coffee and cinnamon buns

Mockbar – Soviet style bar specialising in vodka and bad service

Moko Market & Kaffa Roastery – cafe and homewares, great for buying gifts and very family friendly.

Freese – owned by Finnish barista champion Kalle Freese, check Facebook for opening times as can be closed if busy elsewhere

Good Life Coffee – great coffee and delicious almond croissants

Skiffer – pizza bar on an island, only open during summer months. City venue during winter

Fafa’s – good falafel and vegetarian takeaway

Riga’s Central Market

April 12, 2015April 20, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 10 Comments

A review on Trip Advisor warned that Riga’s Central Market is good but only if you like the same old stuff. Ha! Depends where you come from really, because what’s same old stuff to you, may not be same old stuff to me.

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Housed in what were once Zeppelin hangars, Riga’s Central Market was opened in 1930 and covers 72,000 square metres.

You can smell the first hangar before you even enter. Not in a bad way, but in a bustling, crowded, bouquets of dried fish on the counter kind of way.

We stopped in the walkway to the next hangar to buy a couple of wooden spoons for our kitchen. Local honey and woollen socks were also on offer in this part of the market.

The next hangar was full of sweets. Latvia seems to have a love affair with pastries and, surprisingly, halva, which we found was also included in our breakfast buffet in the city.

Latvian’s are proud of their dairy production and rightly so. We saw beautiful piles of soft cheeses and curds but opted instead for some hard Dutch cheese we could bring home in our luggage.

Then it was through to the produce market. If you love vinegar like I do, then this one’s for you.

Piles of colourful vegetables preserved in oil and vinegar were everywhere, many displayed in huge vases.

Finally we walked past piles of dried goods: pasta, tea, ketchup and rice. Not terribly interesting products in themselves but still worth taking a photo of, because having never seen this packaging before, they are not the same old stuff to me!

Riga Central Market

This post has been shared as part of the Show Your World feature on the Tiny Expats blog – you can find out more here.

Meet me at Old Market Hall

February 7, 2015October 31, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 22 Comments

A short walk from Market Square is Helsinki’s old dame of market halls – Vanhakauppahalli.

Built in 1888,Vanhakauppahalli (Old Market Hall) was recently closed for renovations and reopened in June 2014. The building is a cultural heritage site and protected by the National Board of Antiquities.

On a cold winter’s day, with the wind coming in off the Baltic Sea, it’s a relief to get inside those heavy front doors. Inside, a walkway circles the hall, shouldered on either side by cafes, bakeries and fishmongers.

There are also greengrocers selling seasonal produce from Finland and overseas. It’s a great place to go for specialty mushrooms and berries, as well as big suolakurkku (gherkins) you scoop out of an open bucket.

For lunch I usually head straight for Soppakeittiö (Soup Kitchen) where the menu always consists of one meat soup, one vegetarian and their delicious seafood boullabaisse, served with lemon-infused sour cream.

On my most recent visit however I stopped at Story, where the food counter is sure to whet your appetite. I had a cappuccino (equivalent of a NZ flat white) and lohileipa (smoked salmon on bread).

After lunch I walked the circuit, marvelling at the number of things you can do with salmon. In my mind I always hear the southern drawl of Bubba from the movie Forrest Gump (salmon bbq, salmon cocktail, salmon pie…..).

There are other forms of protein on offer for the more adventurous too, like Russian King Crab and Spanish jamon.

As well as traditional Finnish offerings there is also a vegetarian cafe and a stall selling Vietnamese filled-rolls, spring rolls and salads.

And there’s an Alko, the only store in Finland selling wine and spirits. This one is touted as being ‘the world’s smallest Alko’ (which is a little bit like American teams winning the ‘World Series’ in a competition only open to American teams).

There are other Market Halls in Helsinki but this is one of my favourites. If you get a table by the window you can watch the ferry to Suomenlinna making it’s way past the huge cruise ships churning up the frozen sea.

Go with a friend or go on your own – just make sure you go. I’ll be the one making my way from coffee, to soup to dessert and back as I make my way around Old Market Hall.

Vanhakauppahalli – Eteläranta, Helsinki

Ravintola Story

Note: I was approached by Meetings Booker to write about my favourite meeting place in Helsinki. This is not a sponsored post and all thoughts are my own (as was that open salmon sandwich, which I cannot stop thinking about). www.meetingsbooker.com

Lounasaikaan (lunch time) at Market Square

April 30, 2014August 2, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 6 Comments

Miko and I had a few errands to do today and ended up at Market Square. The markets there are open Monday -Saturday and on Sunday too in summer. For sale is a variety of seasonal produce as well as gifts and souvenirs. In winter there is a heated tent that you can sit inside to have your kahvi (coffee).

Christmas comes early for those who like reindeer!

The first stall we came across was selling food from Lapland. On offer were potatoes and vegetables in a garlic sauce and reindeer cooked a few different ways – sautéed reindeer, reindeer soup, reindeer sausage….right next to the stall selling reindeer soft toys.

Kahvi and munkki (coffee & doughnuts) on offer for May Day Eve

It’s the Finnish Vappu festival (Spring Festival and May Day Eve ) and stalls were offering kahvi (coffee) and munkki (doughnuts traditionally eaten this time of year ) all around the square. Other stalls had on display mountains of new season strawberries, potatoes and beans.

Finland is known as the land of a thousand lakes and fish provides an important source of protein to the national diet. Miko and I visited a woman on her boat to buy some salmon cakes and fried Baltic herring for our lunch.

Baltic herring is sited as one of the most economically important species fished in Finland. Not only is it good for the economy but it contains much needed Omega-3 fatty acids, minerals and vitamin D. Each year in October, Market Square hosts a Baltic Herring Fair, a Finnish tradition dating back to the 18th century.

Fried Baltic herring & a salmon cake

We sat beside the water and enjoyed our lunch until some uninvited seagulls joined us. I was taken with their black faces and wing tips but they scared my dining companion and we had to leave.