WALKING TOUR : HELSINKI

by Gary · Published 3 May 2023 · Updated 2 May 2023

PORT OF CALL IN FINLAND

BALTIC CRUISE

Helsinki was best seen on a walking tour according to my guide book to Baltic Cruising.

I’m not inclined to disagree.

The capital city of Finland was our third port of call on my 2012 Baltic cruise. Yes, this blog is a bit of a throwback!

It was the first of several capital cities that are staples of the Baltic cruise circuit. We would also visit the capitals Tallinn in Estonia, Stockholm in Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark on this journey.

At the time St Petersburg in Russia was on the itinerary. Our other ports of call after sailing from Southampton in England were Bruges in Belgium and Warnemunde in Germany.

Oh and let’s not forget my home for this 14 night cruise, Celebrity Cruises cruise ship “Celebrity Eclipse”.

That is a beautiful ship and was one of the largest I had sailed on at the time.

I highly recommend the wonders of a Baltic cruise. Its certainly somewhere I would go back and see again.

But for this post I am going to focus on our port of call in Helsinki.

Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Ship, my home for my 14 night Baltic Cruise

For more about one of my other ports of call, Copenhagen, I visited more recently in 2022 and there’s a video of things to do on my YouTube Channel.

A WALKING TOUR

A Baltic cruise is one of the most popular European cruise itineraries.

There are plenty of guide books out there covering the Baltic region overall. That is handy as you’ll have noticed from the itinerary that you visit lots of different countries and wouldn’t want to carry a guide book for each.

The book I chose mentioned a couple of the highlights of Helsinki, but really promoted a self guided walking tour to see them all.

We were in port for a full day, with a late departure. Long enough that I felt like I could comfortably go and explore by myself, rather than paying for a shore excursion.

I covered most of the walking tour in the book quite faithfully, but there were a couple of other things I wanted to see in Helsinki.

The joy of it being self guided, and having a map, was that you could adapt it to your own wants and abilities.

That said this was a long walk. Not one for the less mobile.

PORT OF HELSINKI

Unsurprisingly my walking tour began in the port of Helsinki.

This was the northernmost point on the Baltic cruise itinerary.

Back in 2012 it was also the furthest north I had ever set foot on Planet Earth, although that record has since changed hands. Its currently held by Akureyri in Iceland.

The port is very industrial and functional.

Yes, it may welcome cruise ships, but it also gets visits from huge cargo vessels and even ice breakers.

Ice Breaker ship in the Port of Helsinki, the start point for my walking tour

Ship in the Port of Helsinki, the start point for my walking tour

The first leg of the walk isn’t the most exciting. But if like me this is your first visit to Helsinki, then everything you see on your walking tour will be new and it starts to build up the flavour of life in the city.

I like to explore the side streets of a city, not just the major landmarks. It always surprises me what you see that never makes the guide books.

Sightseeing on my walking tour of Helsinki

KAUPPATORI – MARKET SQUARE

First on the walking tour agenda was Kauppatori, Helsinki’s open market square.

When I visited there were gazebo covered market stalls overlooking the waterfront.

There were lots of people there too, both locals and some of the thousands of cruise passengers from my ship.

The square is overlooked by the splendid city hall, although to be honest it almost fades into the background, with lots of activity going on around it.

I was more engrossed with the liveliness of the market area and my first real impressions of Helsinki. It was a lot to take in.

The beautiful buildings, like City Hall and the Presidential Palace, which again was so unassuming I didn’t even take a photo of it, formed more of a back drop to the buildings that did dominate the city skyline.

CATHEDRALS

Uspenski Cathedral

Overlooking the city on a slight hill is the Uspenski Cathedral.

It has an unmistakably Russian style that dates back to the time when Finland was ruled by Russia.

With its red brick structure, and towers topped with gilded domes, this is the main cathedral of the Finnish Orthodox Church.

Its raised position gives you a nice view over the rest of this area of the city too.

Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki - the next walking tour highlight

Helsinki Cathedral

That view leads you over to what I have come to think of as the most distinctive building in Helsinki, the Lutheran Cathedral.

I can’t say this is necessarily an iconic building, because if you haven’t been to Helsinki you have probably never heard of it. I certainly hadn’t.

However now, whenever I see a picture of this cathedral on TV or in a book, I instantly recognise Helsinki. You suddenly see it a lot!

My walking tour guided me downhill to backtrack on myself and head over to Helsinki’s Senate Square.

This is overlooked by Helsinki Cathedral, which shines white, with a central tower and its pale green, gilded domes.

Quite beautiful and one of my favourite buildings in the city.

Helsinki Cathedral with the Presidential Palace in front behind the trees

Helsinki Cathedral overlooking Senate Square, next stop on the walking tour

THE RAILWAY STATION

Helsinki Railway Station is a marvellous piece of art and architechture worth a visit on the walking tour

As you will know if you have read some of my other blog posts I do like a good railway.

Helsinki train station earns its place on the walking tour more as a piece of art however. It is an unexpected architectural gem.

The granite clad station building sits underneath a tall clock tower with the clock tinged with pale green that almost matches the domes of Helsinki Cathedral.

Built in 1919 it has a very modern design for the time.

And guarding the entrance are four striking lantern bearers, two either side of the facade. These stern, muscled giants watch over the thousands using the train station every day. They are works of art in their own right.

The train station actually wins the competition for my favourite building in Helsinki.

The design is just the style I love.

I wasn’t going through the train station, but around and across the footbridge over the tracks.

My next destination is another piece of history.

Crossing the railway tracks on my Helsinki walking tour

HELSINKI OLYMPIC STADIUM

The Summer Olympic Games were held in Finland in 1952.

Having passed over the railway tracks the Helsinki Olympic Stadium was next on the walking tour itinerary.

From outside it is not an obviously impressive building.

You can see the curve of a building that could otherwise easily be an apartment block.

Its function is given away by the rows of flagpoles, even empty ones at the time of my visit.

And the best way to see it is by climbing the tower that sits at one end.

From the top of the tower you look down upon a roofless oval sports stadium.

The weather on my summer visit was lovely, so even for somewhere this far north a roof was apparently not required. A couple of the central stands did have cover.

The central grassy sports field was surrounded by the red and white lanes of the oval running track.

The Olympics interest me, and I am slowly visiting the stadiums that have held the games on my journeys around the World.

This was a nice stadium to add to the collection.

Helsinki Olympic Stadium, as seen from the top of the tower

While the tower also gave spectacular views over the surprisingly low rise region surrounding Helsinki.

It was possible to see both Cathedral towers and even our ship in port way over in the distance.

A sudden reminder of how far I had already walked!

Helsinki Olympic Stadium, as seen from the top of the tower, which also gives great views of the city

SIBELIUS MONUMENT

I took a detour from the guide book at this point.

The map in the book highlighted the Sibelius Monument, to the west of the Olympic Stadium, as something to see. But the walking tour was returning to central Helsinki.

I want to see everything, so I followed my own path.

I am so glad I did.

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer, famous for symphonies such as “Finlandia”. I actually listened to a concert where one of his works was performed the other day.

That actually brought back memories of the visit to this monument and inspired me to write this blog post. Inspiration comes in many forms!

The monument, located in Sibelius Park, is free to visit. It was built in 1967, 10 years after his death.

The abstract style of the monument looks like a tree made of organ pipes. You could imagine the wind blowing through them to create music.

Sibelius himself is immortalised with a mask to the side, that very much reminded me of the melting clocks in a Salvador Dali painting.

Its yet another thing that I saw on my Helsinki walking tour that I liked a lot, even if it didn’t make the guide book tour.