The tram, the number 3, a green-and-cream carriage that has been rattling through the streets of Helsinki since the 1930s, rounds the curve at Senate Square, and the view through the rain-streaked window is a collision of architectural ideologies: the neoclassical cathedral (Carl Ludvig Engel, 1852, the green dome, the white columns, the statue of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian emperor who granted Finland autonomy in 1863, still standing in the square), the Uspenski Cathedral (the red-brick Orthodox basilica on the Katajanokka peninsula, the golden onion domes visible across the harbour, the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe), and the contemporary glass-and-steel of the Allas Sea Pool floating on the harbour below. Helsinki sits at a geographical and cultural hinge. The ferries to Tallinn (Estonia, 2 hours, €25) and St Petersburg (currently suspended, 3.5 hours when running) leave from the same harbour. Sweden is a 50-minute flight or a 16-hour overnight ferry (the Silja Line, the cabin, the buffet breakfast, the archipelago sliding past the window at dawn). Russia is 400 km to the east, close enough that the train station signs are in Finnish, Swedish, and Russian. Finland was part of Sweden for 600 years, part of Russia for 108 years, and has been independent since 1917. The layers are visible in every street.

Helsinki: A City Shaped by Empires

Senate Square and the Imperial Legacy: The square, designed by Engel in the 1820s after Russia moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki, the entire city centre rebuilt in the neoclassical style to assert imperial authority, is the most dramatic public space in Finland. The cathedral (the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral, the dominant landmark, the stairs, 46 of them, the meeting point for Helsinki’s youth on summer evenings, the bottle of sparkling wine, the view of the harbour, the tradition is called “the steps” and it is the simplest and most democratic Helsinki experience) dominates the square. The Government Palace, the University of Helsinki, and the National Library fill the remaining three sides. The square is the geographical and symbolic centre of the city, and the decision to leave the statue of Alexander II standing, one of the few imperial monuments to survive the Russian Revolution and Finnish independence, is a quiet statement of Finland’s historical pragmatism: the Tsar who gave Finland its autonomy is remembered. The Tsars who tried to take it away are not.

The Sauna (the Finnish religion): Finland has 3.3 million saunas for 5.5 million people, more saunas than cars. The sauna is not a luxury. It is a necessity, a ritual, and, in the words of the Finnish writer Juhani Aho, “the poor man’s pharmacy.” The city’s public saunas: Löyly (the modern design, the wooden terrace cascading into the Baltic, the water temperature, the Baltic, in Helsinki, 10-18°C depending on the season, the shock of the cold plunge a Finnish rite of passage). Kotiharjun Sauna (the last wood-fired public sauna in Helsinki, opened 1928, the building unchanged, the sauna room, 80°C, the löyly, the steam that rises when water is thrown on the hot stones, intense, the silence, the conversation in Finnish, the experience almost entirely unchanged since the 1920s, €14, bring your own towel). The sauna etiquette: naked (swimsuits optional at some public saunas, check ahead), silent or quietly conversational, the löyly thrown by the person nearest the stove (ask first, “Heitänkö löylyä?”, Shall I throw some steam?, in Finnish, or just gesture, the gesture is universal). The cold plunge, the sea, the snow, the cold shower, is not optional. The cycle (hot-cold-rest, repeated three times) is the ritual that Finns have been practising for 2,000 years. The sauna is the reason Helsinki was named the world’s most liveable city in 2024 by the Monocle Quality of Life Survey. The survey was, by all accounts, heavily influenced by the saunas.

The Design District (the Finnish aesthetic): Helsinki’s design district, the neighbourhoods of Punavuori, Kaartinkaupunki, and Ullanlinna, the concentration of galleries, shops, and studios, is the global capital of Nordic design. The shops: Artek (the furniture company founded by Alvar Aalto in 1935, the bent-wood stools, the Aalto vase, the Savoy vase, the wave shape, the design unchanged since 1936), Marimekko (the bold prints, the Unikko, the poppy pattern, the dress that Jacqueline Kennedy wore during the 1960 presidential campaign, the pattern that became a symbol of Finnish optimism and female independence in the 1960s), Iittala (the glassware, the Aalto collection, the glasses that are in every Finnish home and every Finnish museum). The Design Museum (Korkeavuorenkatu, €15, the history of Finnish design from 1870 to the present, the Aalto room, the furniture, the glass, the architecture models, the highlight) is the institutional version. The streets, the independent boutiques, the vintage shops, the cafés where the coffee (the Finns drink more coffee per capita than any other nation, 12 kg per person per year, roughly four cups a day, the statistic is widely cited and only slightly exaggerated) is served black and strong, are the lived experience.

Suomenlinna (the island fortress): The fortress, a UNESCO World heritage site, built on six islands by the Swedish crown in 1748 to defend against Russian expansion, the name originally Sveaborg (Swedish Castle), renamed Suomenlinna (Finnish Castle) after independence, is a 15-minute ferry ride from the Market Square (€5, the Helsinki regional transport ticket covers the ferry). The fortress, the ramparts, the cannons, the tunnels, the King’s Gate (the ceremonial entrance, the original 1754 design, the view of the Baltic), is the essential Helsinki day trip. The café in the fortress, the Café Piper, the courtyard, the view of the sea, the cinnamon bun (korvapuusti, the Finnish cinnamon roll, the cardamom, the sugar, the coffee), is the reward. The ferry back at sunset, the fortress retreating, the city lights appearing, is one of the great urban water journeys in Europe.