Helsinki
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. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages.
Typical weather
1981–presentCity Rhythm
measuredOpening hours, by kind of place
median across mapped venuesVital absurdities
measured · the Anti-AwardsSame time system
by rhythmWhat to do each season
4winter
cold, snowy, dark (latitude 60°N — ~6 hr daylight midwinter); mean −4.5 °C Feb, Jan-Feb mean min −5 °C; snow cover reliable but shorter than inland; Baltic Sea partly freezes
- the Viapori (Suomenlinna) sea-fortress ferry keeps running but the Kauppatori market square retreats to indoor halls
- indoor cultural economy at full strength: the National Museum, Ateneum, Kiasma, the Helsinki Music Centre, the Finnish National Opera
- ice swimming (avanto) — a parallel-city civic ritual with sauna + ice-hole
spring
rapidly lengthening days, melt; mean −1.5 to 8.2 °C, snow melting; vappu (1 May) is the social explosion
- Vappu (1 May) — the largest civic festival of the year; student caps, champagne in Kauppatori, the city turns out en masse
- outdoor café culture tentatively reopens on the Esplanade
- ice breaks up in the harbour; ferry season begins
summer
mild-warm, near-white nights (latitude 60°N); mean 13.4-17.1 °C, July mean max 19.0 °C; an almost-nightless night in late June — the sun barely sets
- the city decamps to summer cottages (kesämökki) and the archipelago; Helsinki thins out for Midsummer (Juhannus, late June)
- the Kauppatori market square and the Esplanade fill; ferry traffic to Suomenlinna, Tallinn, Stockholm at peak
- Flow Festival (August), Helsinki Pride (late June), Tuska Open Air Metal Festival (early July)
- the Pihlajasaari and Suomenlinna beaches activate
autumn
rapidly shortening days, cooling; mean 2.9-12.6 °C; ruska (autumn colours); the Baltic cools, evenings draw in
- Helsinki Book Fair (October), Helsinki International Film Festival (September), the Night of the Arts
- indoor cultural season restarts; restaurant menus shift to game and root vegetables
- the autumn dark and the rain drive the city back indoors
What it is known for
Important moments in a year
Vappu
- the largest civic festival of the year
- student-cap wearing
- park-and-market crowds
Juhannus Midsummer
- city thins as residents decamp to summer cottages
- bonfires on the archipelago
Independence Day
- solemn civic ritual
- students' torch procession to the cemetery
Flow Festival
- three-day music and arts festival at the Suvilahti former power station
Tuska Open Air
- metal festival in Suvilahti
- international crowds
Nuit Blanche / Taiteiden Yö
- Night of the Arts — citywide late-opening cultural events
On the record
source-trackedKnown as the "Daughter of the Baltic" or the "Pearl of the Baltic", Helsinki is located at the tip of a peninsula and on 315 islands.
A narrow, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long Helsinki Central Park, which stretches from the city centre to Helsinki's northern border, is an important recreational area for residents.
The City of Helsinki has about 11,000 boat moorings and over 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres; 54 square miles) of marine fishing waters adjacent to the capital region.
Helsinki has a cold hemiboreal humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb, Trewartha Dcbo).
Due to the moderating influence of the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic Current, winter temperatures are higher than the northern location would suggest, with an average of −4 °C (25 °F) in January and February.
Winters in Helsinki are significantly warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season in the capital is much shorter due to its location in the extreme south.
Helsinki is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages.
Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
On Aleksi [Aleksanterinkatu] you can find plenty of shops and the largest department store in Scandinavia, Stockmann, which is definitely worth a visit.
Getting around the centre is probably easiest by foot or by bike.
The method behind this atlas — 196 pp. Not published yet.