Midsummer Day is a public holiday in Finland, and the celebrations surrounding the summer solstice are rooted in ancient traditions. Since time immemorial, when winter ends the days grow longer, the snow melts away and the warm temperature covers the trees with green leaves and the ground with flowers. According to Finnish traditions, the best […]

Every June, the streets of Helsinki come alive with the sounds of samba.  The Helsinki Samba Carnaval is presented by the Finnish Samba School Association as part of their annual samba championship, and the local samba schools put on their best performances in true Rio style. Much like the Rio Carnival, each samba school perfects […]

Vanhankaupunginlahti means the “old city bay”. Helsinki was originally founded here in 1550 by King Gustav Vasa I, just a 20-minute tram drive away from the current city centre. An equally easy and rewarding way to get here is by cycling. Nowadays, the mouth of the Vantaa River serves nature lovers, tech freaks and culinary […]

Statues and sculptures abound throughout Helsinki, and these statues tell interesting stories that are often lost on passersby. Now, Helsinki has developed an innovative way of telling you the stories behind each statue – by letting the statue do the talking! Currently there are fifteen statues which have this feature. When you visit the statue […]

Here are 10 must-see museums for you to visit in Helsinki that offer a wide variety of collections for every taste: AMOS REX The re-invented Amos Rex museum is a meeting place for art and urban culture, located in the centre of Helsinki. Mannerheimintie 22-24, 00100 Helsinki Tel. +358 (0)9 684 4460 E-mail: museum@amosrex.fi Open: Mon 11 […]

So many nightclubs, so little time! Here are our top 12 nightclubs to help get your party started when you’re in Helsinki. Apollo Live Club Located in a former movie theatre in the heart of the city, Apollo is a unique nightclub with live performances and karaoke in the basement on weekend. During weeknights, you […]

Profane art (or secular art) had its hesitant origin in Finland in the 18th century Isak Wacklin’s rococo portraits and in Nils Schillmark’s paintings, which employed the Neoclassical idiom. Elias Martin’s landscape paintings documenting the fortification of Viapori represent a unique curiosity from the same period. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Finnish artists absorbed influences from the […]

The influence of plein-air painting The adoption of the plein-air method drove Finnish artists out into the midst of the peasantry and into the natural landscape. Artists, who usually had an upper-class background, began to make excursions into the “original Finland” that was supposed to lie in the forest wilderness of Karelia. Romanticism Landscape painting […]

Helsinki has a diverse range of museums, galleries and private art collections and here we present 35 for you to choose from. Pick your favourite for a day out, or even just for an afternoon excursion. Or work your way through our list and decide afterwards which one is your favourite! Either way, you will […]