Ok, so Helsinki like a local. No BS advice, like visit the cathedral, or go to Suomenlinna island. You have thousands of other blogs for that. Here I will do something else.
I decided to list the things that I keep doing for years since I moved to Finland. Surprisingly, almost none of them ended up in bloggers’ things-to-do lists. I think this list will be useful for travelers, who go beyond tourist routes. So, let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Introduction
It has been 9 years since I came to Finland, and I had done all the touristy things way before that. Those are not bad, but I almost never did them twice. If you’ve been living in a country for long – you find other things that make you happy.
When I tried to explore “Helsinki like a local” on the Internet – I found that many bloggers partly repeat lists by Google and Tripadvisor. Yea, I guess museums and churches are nice, but as I tell in my Travel Finland Guide, the world has better alternatives. If you want to see churches – go to Italy, you will see more impressive things for less money.
All this has brought me to the idea of creating this list. You will find the non-touristy things to do. It doesn’t mean there are no tourists, but those aren’t on a regular itinerary. I think the list will never be final, I will add more items when I see something cool and worth mentioning.
Things to do in Helsinki like a local
Here is my list of things, in no particular order.
1. Jolly Dragon events
Home for expats in Heavensinki. They run several events during a week, around forth of people are Finns, and the rest are foreigners. You can just show up, and organizers will introduce you to everyone. You can find people to explore the area with, get to know about the city, and much more.
Check shedule of the events here.
COVID 19 NOTICE: large gatherings are temporally closed, there are only small sport events
My favorite is Friday’s expat gathering, I rarely miss it. Normally, it brings together around 80+ people. They meet at a large public area in Memphis restaurant in central Helsinki. Organizers go out of their way to make it fun and to make everyone feel welcome. Ther are also discounts for drinks. They start at 7 PM and there is normally an afterparty after 11.
Another notable one is language exchange. It happens every Monday evening and gathers more than a hundred people. You pick up a language sticker put in on a table, and everyone who wants to speak this language may join.
2. Nepalese restaurants
There are so many of them! And usually, they are pretty good! Anomaly? Well, yes. Fellow Finn told that they have predictably good food. (Finns love when everything is predictable and according to plan).
Many go to Finland to try original local food. But I think, this Nepalese cuisine adapted to Finland, is original as well. They normally serve meats or tofu in some sort of sour-spicy souse, together with rice naan bread.
They usually have special discounts during lunch hours.
3. Sompa sauna
This actually gets mentioned in travel guides, but most still miss it over. I think it is much more than a regular sauna. It is a cultural phenomenon. Sompa sauna is free and gathers absolutely all kinds of people. Finns are generally not very talkative, but for some reason, they do talk a lot in saunas.
The sauna is not located downtown, and it is quite a bit of a walk. But in my opinion it worth it. It has a place to swim with an outstanding view! We often get there in the early morning in summer, after parting all night… 😀 Almost all of us are expats, and Finland is the only country where we do this.
4. Nature within the city
Tour guides tell you about the major central parks. Kaivopuisto, for instance, is really high-rated on Tripadvisor. And, in my humble opinion, they are not nearly as good regular Finnish countryside.
The thing is – Helsinki has outstanding connections to nature. Normally cities have parks surrounded by buildings. Helsinki is the opposite. There are forests and farmland, city districts are located within. The exception is very downtown.
If you are traveling, take a bike and ride away from the city center. Or take a train to Espoo and go for a ride there. Seriosly, you haven’t seen Finland if you’ve been downtown all the time.
5. Lakes and archipelago
Finland is known as the land of thousands of lakes and islands.
A typical Finnish way to spend a holiday is to rent a cottage. I think calm and relaxing rest is the best thing Finland can offer. And there is no better way to do it than renting a cottage next to a lake. Somehow, most of the time, we end up renting a cottage in Hauho area to the north of Helsinki.
And archipelago! I think it doesn’t get enough attention! There are hundreds of archipelago islands. Finnish nature in all its beauty! Every year I make a Couchsurfing event, and we go all together to camp on one of the islands. I recommend going to Espoo and get on a ship that goes island hopping. Check my post about Espoo Archipelago for details.
Other than that, together with friends, we often meet a sunset of a shore of a lake or sea. Some of our favorite areas include shoreline along Munkkiniemenranta, Humallahdenpuisto, Marjaniemen uimaranta, and sometimes (pretty touristy) Seurasaari.
One of my favorites recently is a small lake in a lake in Vantaa. It is called Hiirilammet The water is very calm and it is fully surrounded by forest. There is no wind and wherever you stay – you see beautiful reflections.
6. Kallio neibourhood
Kallio is bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and some of the best pieces of street art in Helsinki.
If you travel to Finland to party – you are doing it wrong. Go to Berlin or St. Petersburg or Madrid. But if you are already Helsinki – that’s the place to go.
In tour guide, they tell it is the most laid down neighborhood. For bars and restaurants, I would prefer it to downtown Helsinki. In my opinion, prices and selection are better, food isn’t as conservative and there aren’t as many chain restaurants. I remember spending lots of time there when I was a student.
7. Kirpputori
These are flea markets, and they are super popular in Finland. Normally, in most countries, those are outdoors, and many times they are seasonal. In Helsinki they happen outdoors as well, I recommend checking this post for details.
But, I personally like the ones indoors. They work all year long and have long opening hours. Just search Kirpputori on Google Maps.
The owners decorate them well. Many feel almost like a museum, worth visiting just to take a look. I rarely buy stuff there, but I have a particular passion for books about photography art and for photo frames.
Further reading
Check out my list of Things to do in Finland
Join my community!
I love working on Engineer on tour, but it is a time-consuming thing to make. I am always improving and trying to bring you the best from photography and travel.
Currently, my main platform is my Facebook Photo Page. I will be happy to see you among my followers’ families and engage in a friendly discussion. Let me know how I’m doing and feel free to suggest some topics to write about.
You can also find me on other social media:
FACEBOOK 2 (blog updates only) / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / INSTAGRAM 2 (only Finland) / PINTEREST