Espoo, Helsinki sub-region — Population, elevation and map

About Espoo

Espoo is a municipality. Location: Helsinki sub-region, Uusimaa. Population: 256,760. Elevation: 38 m.

From Wikipedia

Espoo (; Finnish: [ˈespoː]; Swedish: Esbo) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately 326,000. It is the 2nd most populous municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, which has approximately 1.6 million inhabitants. Espoo is on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland and borders Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi. The city includes the enclave of Kauniainen.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

Built: 1458
Area: 312 km²
Official website: espoo.fi

Source: Wikidata

Travel notes for Espoo

From Wikivoyage

Espoo (Swedish: Esbo) with a population of a quarter of a million is the second largest city in Finland. It's part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and the small city of Kauniainen (Swedish: Grankulla) which is completely encircled by Espoo.

Espoo as a tourism destination is popular for its easily accessible Nuuksio National Park (situated in northwestern Espoo) and seaside with 40 km long Espoo Waterfront Walkway and 165 islands in Espoo archipelago. The destination suits best for active recreation and outdoor exploring as well as for cultural and event stays. Official tourist information are provided by local destination management organization Visit Espoo.

Understand+

Espoo has several local regional centres, thus divided into seven major areas: Vanha-Espoo, Espoonlahti, Espoo, Kauklahti, Leppävaara, Matinkylä and Tapiola. The Espoo center (Espoon keskus) is the administrative centre, but doesn't rise above its peers with respect to population. The population is concentrated in an inverted F-shaped area defined by the railway to Espoo centre (north) and the highway Länsiväylä (south) up to Espoonlahti. The rest is sparsely populated, and north of Espoo centre, the area is mostly forested. While Kauniainen is an independent municipality, in practice it is contiguous with Espoo and has no notable sights or services to travellers besides a small shopping center.

The science and technology-related campuses of the Aalto University are based in Otaniemi, Espoo, along with a thriving science community that includes numerous startups and organizations such as VTT – the Technical Research Centre of Finland. Nokia is headquartered in Karakallio, Espoo. Other high-tech companies such as KONE, Tekla and Fortum have their headquarters in Keilaniemi, Espoo, along with Microsoft's Finnish headquarters.

Tourist information:

Visit Espoo website

Get in+

Espoo is the western neighbour of Helsinki and Vantaa.

The south of Espoo is served by Highway 51, transforming into the local highway, Länsiväylä, while Highway 1 from Turku serves its central parts.

The railway from Turku passes through Espoo and commuter trains along it serves central Espoo, including Kauniainen. The metro reaches Matinkylä in the south-east. A light rail line connects eastern Espoo with Helsinki.

By bus:

Buses via Länsiväylä to destinations in Espoo leave from the Kamppi bus station (Kamppi shopping centre, ground floor). The orbital line 550 connects the train stations of Oulunkylä and Huopalahti with the south-eastern part of Espoo (Leppävaara, Laajalahti, Otaniemi, Tapiola and Westend).

By train:

Northern Espoo and Espoo centre (Espoon keskus) are served by Helsinki commuter trains Y, U, L and E (25 min from Helsinki) to mid and western Espoo. In addition, A train (every 10–20 min, 17 min from Helsinki) serves the east part of Espoo. See local train map. The 1 Leppävaara railway station. is the only long-distance railway station in Espoo, serving traffic between Helsinki and Turku. The other stations in Espoo are on the same line but only serve local traffic.

Southeastern Espoo is accessible from central Helsinki by metro, with trains every 3–10 minutes. Locations along the metro route include the Keilaniemi business district, Aalto University, Tapiola, Matinkylä and Kivenlahti, which serve as bus stations for feeder lines to destinations further afield. One in two trains terminates at Tapiola, while the rest continue all the way to Kivenlahti.

The "Jokeri" orbital light rail (line 15) curves across eastern Espoo, connecting Keilaniemi, Aalto University, Leppävaara and then looping across northern Helsinki to terminate in Itäkeskus.

By plane:

Espoo is served by Helsinki Airport HEL IATA, from where it can be reached by taxi in half an hour or less. Also the public transport is quite convenient. Typical routes would be:

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0 · abridged

Places bordering Espoo

Kirkkonummi
Vihti
Nurmijärvi
Vantaa
Helsinki
Kauniainen

Twin towns and sister cities of Espoo

Esztergom· Hungary

Source: Wikidata. Only places with a page on this site are shown.

Population of Espoo over time

Population of Espoo over time
2008		241,565
2009		244,330
2010		247,970
2011		252,439
2012		256,824
2013		260,753
2014		265,543
2015		269,802
2016		274,583
2017		279,044
2021		297,132
2025		325,716

Censuses and official estimates; source: Wikidata.

Climate of Espoo

Best months for sightseeing

Best months for sightseeing: June–August.

This month · November

A cold month

Day 3° · Night -2° · Rain 70 mm

Hottest month: July (day 21°)
Coldest month: February (night -9°)
Wettest month: August (78 mm)
Driest month: May (33 mm)

-2° -8°

-3° -9°

1° -5°

7° -1°

15° 5°

19° 10°

21° 13°

19° 11°

14° 7°

8° 3°

3° -2°

0° -6°

Jan

48

Feb

35

Mar

39

Apr

37

May

33

Jun

48

Jul

69

Aug

78

Sep

66

Oct

74

Nov

70

Dec

58

Bars: average monthly low and high temperature. Below: precipitation. Monthly averages for 1970–2000 at about 18 km resolution, adjusted for elevation. Highlighted months are mild and relatively dry. Source: WorldClim 2.1 (CC BY 4.0).

Show values as a table

Climate of Espoo
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average high (°C)	-2°	-3°	1°	7°	15°	19°	21°	19°	14°	8°	3°	0°
Average low (°C)	-8°	-9°	-5°	-1°	5°	10°	13°	11°	7°	3°	-2°	-6°
Precipitation (mm)	48	35	39	37	33	48	69	78	66	74	70	58

Other places to visit in this season: June July August

How to get to Espoo

The nearest airport is Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL), 18 km to the northeast as the crow flies. The nearest large city is Tallinn, 91 km to the south.

Airports

Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL) Helsinki (Vantaa) 18 kmnortheast
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL) Tallinn 94 kmsouth
Turku Airport (TKU) Turku 136 kmwest

Nearby large cities

Tallinn Population: 394K 91 kmsouth
Riga Population: 742.6K 369 kmsouth
Stockholm Population: 1.5M 384 kmwest
Sollentuna Population: 139.6K 387 kmwest

Straight-line distances; road distances are longer. Airport data: OurAirports.

Day trips from Espoo

Within 100 km: 25 historic and cultural sites, 29 natural sites, 78 lakes, rivers and coasts.

0–25 km52 places

Kuusisaari Island 13 kmSE
Vartiosaari Island 24 kmE
Fölisholmen Island 13 kmSE
Vallisaari Island 22 kmSE

25–60 km19 places

Kråkö Island 56 kmE
Mäkiluoto Island 41 kmSW
Lojosjö Lake 39 kmW
Krejansberget Mountain 26 kmW

60–100 km61 places

Prangli Saar Island 72 kmS
Aegna Saar Island 75 kmS
Mohni Island 90 kmSE
Rammu Island 82 kmS

Straight-line distances.

Places in Espoo

36 places

Bar: population relative to the most populous place in this list.

Cities & villages7

Keilaniemi · Village
Lahnus · Village
Nuuksio · Village
Oittaa · Village
Pakankylä · Village
Suvisaaristo · Village
Tuomarila · Village

Lakes, rivers & coasts3

Fölisholmen · Island
Iso Vasikkasaari · Island
Kytö · Island

Nearby attractions & nature

Everything nearby

Lake Bodom Lake, Central Finland Region
0.7 km N
Lippajärvi Lake, Uusimaa
4.1 km SE
Olympic Stadium Landmark, Helsinki
16 km SE
Helsinki Halli Landmark, Helsinki
15 km E
Kuusisaari Island, Helsinki sub-region
13 km SE
Uspensky Cathedral Attraction, Helsinki
19 km SE
Old Church Attraction, Helsinki
18 km SE
Nuuksion Kansallispuisto Natural site, Uusimaa
12 km NW

Espoo

Helsinki Municipality, Helsinki sub-region
17 km SE
Vantaa Municipality, Helsinki sub-region
19 km E
Kirkkonummi Municipality, Helsinki sub-region
16 km SW
Nurmijärvi Municipality, Helsinki sub-region
23 km N
Vihti Municipality, Helsinki sub-region
23 km NW
Kannelmäki Town, Helsinki
12 km E