Municipality

Helsinki

Located in Helsinki sub-region, Uusimaa Coordinates: 60°10′32″ N 24°56′03″ E

Location in Finland

Population: 658,864; 658.9K
Elevation: 23 m; above sea level
Local time: UTC+02:00; Europe/Helsinki · UTC+02:00
Places inside: 157; listed under Helsinki
When to go: June–August; See the climate
Airports: HEL Helsinki Vantaa Airport16 km; TLL Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport85 km

About Helsinki

Helsinki is a municipality. Location: Helsinki sub-region, Uusimaa. Population: 658,864. Elevation: 23 m.

From Wikipedia

Helsinki, until about 1930 known in English by its Swedish name of Helsingfors, is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 694,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.3 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

Built: 1550
Area: 214 km²
Official website: hel.fi

Source: Wikidata

Travel notes for Helsinki

From Wikivoyage

Helsinki (Swedish: Helsingfors) is Finland's capital and largest city. Helsinki combines modern and historic architectural styles with beautiful open spaces. The city is surrounded by hundreds of tiny islands, and is a cultural bridge between the East and West. The "Pearl of the Baltic Sea" is easy to explore on foot or on bike, and it has a laid-back vibe.

Understand+

Helsinki was established as a trading town by the Swedish Empire in 1550, but it wasn't until 1812, when the Russian Empire made it the capital of Finland, that it started growing. Today, this hustling and bustling city has 690,000 inhabitants and the capital area 1.36 million (2025). It is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. Helsinki metro is the northernmost subway in the world.

History:

Helsinki was founded in AD 1550 by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden, of which Finland was the eastern part, as a trading post to compete with Tallinn to the south in Estonia, which was Danish at that time. Helsinki was established about 5 km north-east of the current centre in the area today known as Vanhakaupunki ("the Old Town"), at the rapids where Vantaa river (at that time known as Helsinge river) flows into the Baltic Sea, which in turn gave the city its Swedish name Helsingfors ("Helsinge rapids"). Never becoming the trading post Gustav Vasa envisioned and largely bypassed by the King's Road — the major road along the coast — the village faced some hard times during its first centuries with fires and diseases; today there is but a few stones left of the original Helsinki. Eventually the city was moved further south to its current location, and in the middle of the 18th century, the maritime fortress Sveaborg (nowadays Suomenlinna in Finnish) was established on a handful of islands just in front of Helsinki, the fortress and the city together being nearly as populous as the regional capital Turku. The now world heritage-listed fortress archipelago features some of the oldest standing buildings in the city.

Get in+

By plane:

All international and domestic flights land at the compact, modern and airy 1 Helsinki Airport (HEL IATA). , which is in Vantaa, 20 km to the north of central Helsinki.

The airport is well served from across Europe, from East Asia and was also well served from neighbouring Russia before Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. There are also flights from some airports elsewhere in Asia and a few airports in the USA. Finnair used to use Helsinki's position to the north-east of Europe to offer competitive travel times to East Asia. However, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian airspace cannot be used, which has nullified the advantage.

Coming from across the Baltic Sea, you may also consider flying to some regional airport with budget flights, such as Turku or Tallinn, if their connections happen to suit. You can take a ferry from Tallinn or an intercity bus or train from the other cities, which generally have excellent connections to Helsinki (connecting flights are sparse, and you'd miss the city visit).

Helsinki Airport is on a commuter train loop, with trains every 10–30 minutes from 04:30 until 01:15, taking about 30 min to the centre. There are buses to the centre, to Vantaa, to Itäkeskus (with metro connection) in the eastern suburbs, and to other cities. Taxis are available. See Helsinki Airport#Ground transportation for details.

There are 24-hour grocery stores both at the airport (Alepa) and at Elielinaukio (S-Market), close to the Central Railway Station.

By train:

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0 · abridged

Places bordering Helsinki

Espoo
Vantaa
Sipoo

Twin towns and sister cities of Helsinki

Sofia· Bulgaria
Copenhagen· Denmark
Stockholm· Sweden
Tallinn· Estonia
Berlin· Germany
Guadalajara· Mexico
Eindhoven Municipality· The Netherlands

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

Population of Helsinki over time

Population of Helsinki over time
2008		576,632
2009		583,350
2010		588,549
2011		595,384
2012		603,968
2013		612,664
2014		620,715
2015		628,208
2016		635,181
2017		643,272
2022		664,921
2025		694,392

Censuses and official estimates; source: Wikidata.

Climate of Helsinki

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°

20° 10°

21° 13°

20° 11°

14° 7°

8° 3°

3° -2°

0° -6°

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

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 Helsinki
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average high (°C)	-2°	-3°	1°	7°	15°	20°	21°	20°	14°	8°	3°	0°
Average low (°C)	-8°	-9°	-5°	-1°	5°	10°	13°	11°	7°	3°	-2°	-6°
Precipitation (mm)	47	35	39	37	33	48	68	78	66	75	70	58

Other places to visit in this season: June July August

How to get to Helsinki

The nearest airport is Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL), 16 km to the north as the crow flies. The nearest large city is Tallinn, 83 km to the south.

Airports

Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL) Helsinki (Vantaa) 16 kmnorth
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL) Tallinn 85 kmsouth
Turku Airport (TKU) Turku 152 kmwest

Nearby large cities

Tallinn Population: 394K 83 kmsouth
Riga Population: 742.6K 363 kmsouth
Stockholm Population: 1.5M 397 kmwest

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

Day trips from Helsinki

Within 100 km: 26 historic and cultural sites, 30 natural sites, 81 lakes, rivers and coasts.

0–25 km52 places

Kuusisaari Island 4 kmW
Vartiosaari Island 8 kmE
Fölisholmen Island 8 kmW
Vallisaari Island 6 kmSE

25–60 km20 places

Kråkö Island 44 kmNE
Mäkiluoto Island 43 kmSW
Keri Island 53 kmS
Lojosjö Lake 55 kmW

60–100 km65 places

Prangli Saar Island 61 kmS
Aegna Saar Island 67 kmS
Mohni Island 74 kmSE
Rammu Island 69 kmS

Straight-line distances.

Places in Helsinki

157 places

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

Cities & villages4

Aluemeri · Neighbourhood
Harju · Village
Hietalahti · Neighbourhood
Huopalahti · Neighbourhood

Mountains & nature3

Eläintarha · Natural site
Esplanadi · Natural site
Havis Amanda · Natural site

Lakes, rivers & coasts3

Melkki · Island
Hietaniemi · Beach
Itainen Pihlajasaari · Island

Heritage & sights6

Ateneum · Museum
Crusell Bridge · Landmark
Didrichsenin Taidemuseo (Didrichsen Art Museum) · Museum
Helsinki Halli · Landmark
Helsinki Ice Stadium · Landmark
Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral · Attraction

Nearby attractions & nature

Everything nearby

Seurasaari Island, Uusimaa
2.9 km W
Kaivopuisto Natural site, Northern Savonia
2.5 km SE
Kuusisaari Island, Helsinki sub-region
4.2 km W
Mustikkamaa Island, Uusimaa
3.2 km E
Vantaa River River, Finland
4.8 km NE
Läntinen Pihlajasaari Island, Uusimaa
4.3 km S
Lauttasaari Island, Uusimaa
3.9 km SW
Gammelstadsfjärden Natural site, Uusimaa
4.7 km NE