17 Cool Things to Do in Helsinki in Winter (2025)
“Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Except you, you badass. Welcome.” These are the actual official words of Finland’s tourism board one year, and I have to say… they aren’t entirely wrong.
In my personal experience, visiting Helsinki in winter is cold, quite a bit colder than my previous forays into Nordic winter travel when I visited Stockholm and Copenhagen in the winter. Even just across the Baltic Sea a two hour ferry ride away, Tallinn was markedly less cold than Helsinki.
And yet despite this persistent, reach-your-bones cold, Helsinki is one of my favorite cities in Europe — yes, even in winter. So much that I’ve visited Helsinki in winter twice, most recently in March 2024, and I’ve updated my post with recommendations and photos from my recent trip.

⌛ Planning your wintery Helsinki trip in a hurry? Here are my quick picks. ❄️ Best Helsinki Tours & Experiences 1. City & Suomenlinna Guided Tour (Helsinki’s UNESCO site!) 2. Helsinki Architecture Tour (the best of the city’s design!) 3. Helsinki Card (free public transit and museum entry!) 🛏️ Best Helsinki Hotels 1. Hotel St. George Helsinki (lovely design hotel with lots of art!) 2. Scandic Simonkenttä (mid-range Nordic chain hotel) 3. Eurohostel (budget hostel with free sauna!) Arriving in Helsinki by plane? Book your airport transfer here with Welcome Pickups. |
Helsinki may be cold, but its residents are hardly fazed by the rough winters; the quietly bustling city goes about its daily business as usual all winter long, even on the darkest, iciest, coldest days of the year.
But you don’t have to tough it out all day long if you’re visiting in winter: there are tons of great indoor things to do in Helsinki in winter, from café hopping and soaking up all the Finnish design to secondhand shopping for trendy pieces (Finns have great taste!) to exploring the many excellent museums in Helsinki.
Yet as used to the weather as Finns are, they’re still human, just powered by two sources of energy to fight the cold and dark winters: coffee and saunas.
There’s a reason that Finnish people drink the most coffee per capita in the world, and that reason is the (6-months-long) winter. And as for saunas, well, there more saunas than cars in Finland – yes, seriously. There are two saunas for every five Finns, so yea, this is definitely a country that takes its saunas seriously (it even has a city that its designated the Sauna Capital of the World, Tampere!).
Without further ado, here are my tips for surviving – and yes, even enjoying – Helsinki in winter, including the best hotels in Helsinki. And if Helsinki is just your first stop on a Finland winter itinerary, Rovaniemi in winter is likely up next — read this post to help you plan your winter visit to Rovaniemi.
17 Things to Do in Helsinki in Winter
Day-drink some glögi at the Christmas Markets

Like many countries in Europe, Finland has Christmas market fever. Unfortunately for me, however, I just happened to miss out on it by arriving in late November. I had attended the opening night of the Tallinn Christmas market, so I assumed I’d make it in time for Helsinki’s market, too.
But nope: the Helsinki Christmas Market runs a bit later than most Christmas markets in Europe. For the 2024 Christmas season , the period is November 29 to December 22, 2024. It is a shorter period than most markets, just over three weeks whereas others are open for as long as six weeks. But if you happen to be in Helsinki in December when it’s open, this is one of the top things to do!
If you’re in Helsinki during this festive time of year, head to Senate Square, where the main Helsinki Christmas Market is located, to search for unique trinkets and handcrafted Finnish souvenirs, as well as traditional festive Christmas foods and drink – especially hot mulled wine, called glögi in Finnish.
The Helsinki CHristmas Market is open daily from Sunday through Thursday from 11 AM to 7 PM and Friday and Saturday it’s open an hour later, until 8 PM. Admission to the Christmas Market is free… but you’ll definitely want to set aside some money for some beverages and souvenirs.
Take a frosty day trip to Suomenlinna

While Helsinki’s winter temperatures are chilly and thus only seeking refuge in cozy museums or cafés is tempting, trust me: it’s absolutely worth the effort to visit Suomenlinna even in winter.
A key storyteller in the tumultuous narrative of the region’s history, the fortress island of Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is a unique testament to the story of Finland.
Built in the mid-18th century, this sea fortress has seen battles and traded hands between multiple powers. Spread across six interconnected islands, the fortress is a blend of human ingenuity working with the natural topography of the islands to create a beautiful but functional barrier that sheltered Helsinki from aggressors.
The outdoor walking trails offer a gorgeous journey through park areas, linking historical structures like the King’s Gate Drawbridge and various intriguing sites.
Despite winter’s icy grip, Suomenlinna remains readily accessible via regular ferry services from Market Square. Best of all, the ferry costs only as much as a standard metro ticket! Allocate several hours to wander around and appreciate historical marvel.
For a respite from the cold, the Suomenlinna Museum (€9 for adults) and the Military Museum’s Manege (€7 for adults) are open year-round and provide warmth as well as historical insights. The other four museums are only open in the summer.
If you really need to warm up, the Suomenlinna Brewery located near the ferry terminal promises internal warmth via a selection of diverse beers on tap! The opening hours vary greatly, so check the website which lists the opening times of the brewery and other restaurants and cafés; just select the date of your visit and it’ll tell you everything that’s open.
While visiting Suomenlinna on your own is definitely easy enough to do on your own, a guided tour greatly enhances the knowledge you get from one of these tours. There’s a lot to see and not a lot of informational placards giving context to the sights. I highly recommend this tour, which includes a guided tour of Helsinki via bus as well as a tour to Suomenlinna plus roundtrip ferry tickets.
Check out the Helsinki Cathedral by day or night

Helsinki is celebrated for its forward-thinking vision when it comes to design and architecture, and the modern-looking white Helsinki Cathedral stands as one of the city’s prime examples of Neoclassical architecture.
While your mind may immediately to go a Catholic church, Helsinki’s Cathedral is actually the seat of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran church. Inside, this becomes even more obvious: the interior is actually a little plain, definitely not ornate like your standard European church.
For visitors braving the Helsinki winter, the cathedral offers a beautiful sight day or night, whether its the Christmas Markets of December or the Lux Festival in January (2025’s dates are January 8th through 12th), when the cathedral’s white façade becomes a canvas for a variety of captivating light shows!
Entrance to this popular Helsinki attraction is free.
Go secondhand shopping in Helsinki’s Design District

In a city as trendy and cool as Helsinki, why not take advantage of some of the residents’ superb street style by shopping their hand-me-downs?
The Design District of Helsinki is a great place to go for a walk and browse some of the great secondhand and vintage stores, looking for a deal. I like walking down Iso Roobertinkatu which has a lot of great shops in that area, including Flea Second Hand, Fida Roba, and Relove Secondhand & Café Freda.
If you need to warm up with a coffee in between your shopping, I recommend Coftea or Andante Specialty Coffee.
Take a traditional Finnish sauna

Going to a Finnish sauna is a very special thing to do at any time of year (I take one almost every day if I can help it when I’m in Finland.) So if you go through all that trouble of visiting Helsinki in the winter, you should at least get to enjoy this lynchpin of Finnish culture!
There are a number of places to experience Finnish sauna culture, but if you’re looking for a public sauna option outside of your accommodation, a popular choice is Löyly, a gorgeous blend of modern architecture and sauna culture!
The sauna is public, with separate locker rooms and showers but a shared sauna room (mixed gender) – therefore, bring appropriate swimwear.
A two-hour sauna session costs €25 and includes a towel, seat cover, soap, and shampoo. Each additional hour is €12 after that, so it’s not too expensive to make a day out of it here. There’s also a restaurant you can dine at after your sauna!
I recommend you book in advance online; however, walk-ins are available if there is space.
Take a Finnish food tour

For a nice way to warm up in winter, taking a Helsinki food tour is a great way to get insight into Finland’s culinary traditions. Guided by a local food expert, this tour will have you savoring a variety of traditional treats from a local restaurant as well as the famous Old Market Hall.
You’ll taste several quintessentially Finnish treats, like cold-smoked reindeer meat from Lapland, the unique “squeaky bread” cheese, the deliciously tangy Arctic cloudberry jam, and Finnish coffee. As you taste, you’ll hear stories of Finland’s past and present, presented through its food!
Go on a Helsinki architecture walking tour

Helsinki has a well-deserved reputation for design and architecture, with its stunning eclectic mix of architectural styles which is rare to find contained within one single cityscape.
In the middle of Helsinki’s city center, you’ll find everything from the elegance of Neoclassicism to the boldness of Gothic Revival to the flamboyant flourishes of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil to the minimalism of Nordic Classicism and Functionalism.
All of these words go over your head? Understandably. Helsinki tells a story of several centuries of architecture all in one city. The best way to understand Helsinki’s design scene is through this immersive architecture walking tour through its most impressive landmarks, led by an expert guide.

This tour showcases the best of Helsinki’s design and architecture, including the genius designs of the National Library of Finland, Central Railway Station, Oodi Public Library, the Chapel of Silence, and Kiasma, among others.
You’ll get to explore the interior of unique structures like the Rock Church and the iconic Finlandia Hall and learn about famed architects such as Engel and Saarinen, understanding their contributions to the city’s architectural legacy.
Visit the Orthodox Church.

One of the more interesting buildings in Helsinki is the Uspenski Cathedral, an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral.
This is the kind of church most commonly found in Russia and Eastern Europe, so if you haven’t traveled this part of the world much, it’s a really unique place to visit as a lot of the church’s interior architecture as well as worshipping customs are quite different than what you’ve likely seen before.
Admission to the cathedral is free, but note that it is closed on Mondays in the winter.
Shop and sample at the Old Market Hall

The Old Market Hall (Vanha Kauppahalli in Finnish) has been around since the last years of the 19th century, but it’s been renovated very recently to renew its splendor. It’s conveniently located very close to Market Square, and it’s a place to find some of the finest gourmet Finnish foods.
There are numerous vendors for all sorts of local specialties, including freshly caught seafood from the Baltic Sea, and hearty Finnish soups like lohikeitto (a salmon chowder) to warm you up from the cold.
There are also unique and unusual items for sale, such as moose sausages, smoked reindeer, and reindeer hide gloves, that have a distinctly Finnish feel and make excellent souvenirs (or Christmas gifts)!
Warm up in the Helsinki Design Museum

Over the last few decades, Nordic countries have become famous for their thoughtful approach to design, and Helsinki embraces this reputation happily. Aesthetics are big in Helsinki and so it follows that there would be a museum dedicated to Helsinki’s crush on design.
And it makes sense: just like Danes love their hygge (just see Copenhagen in winter for the proof), Finns also stay indoors for a large portion of their winter. You might as well be indoors in a delightfully cozy, soul-warming, aesthetically pleasing environment!
This museum is one of the most unique ones in Helsinki, featuring all sorts of photographs and design items that exemplify the Finnish love for design.

The building itself is gorgeous, constructed in the late 19th century by architect Gustaf Nystrof, who intended it to be a place for collecting arts and crafts; in the late 20th century, it became a full-fledged design museum.
Tip: If you’re visiting several museums in Helsinki, they can really add up! Using a Helsinki Card will not only help you save money but also encourage you to sightsee more. By spending the money in advance and having it as a sunk cost, you’ll be less likely to skip worthwhile sights in order to pinch a few pennies, which will improve the quality of your visit.
Explore the Helsinki Art Museum — in or outside its walls

You could say that the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) is one of the largest in the world… because HAM calls itself a “museum the size of Helsinki.” With nearly half of its 9,000-piece collection spread throughout the city in key locations, that is a fair claim to make!
Possibly one of the most unconventional museums in the world, HAM doesn’t have a singular dedicated building. That’s because its works are proudly displayed all over the city, in service of the idea that the people of Helsinki actually own the works.
With literally thousands of works displayed across parks, offices, streets, libraries, and more, this museum presents Finnish art both in and outside of the museum walls.
While you definitely could technically “see” the HAM Helsinki Art Museum without ever stepping into its walls, the central building is definitely worth a visit and the €20 admission charge, especially if it means getting warm!
Tip: Admission is also free on the last Friday of every month!
Admire the works at the Ateneum Art Museum.

The lovely Finnish National Gallery, hosted at the Ateneum Art Museum, is another excellent choice for a way to spend a winter day in Helsinki to get out of the cold.
Housed in a 19th-century architectural masterpiece designed by Theodor Höijer, the museum features a diverse array of works from the 1800s through the 20th century. It features prominent Finnish artists like Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Helene Schjerfbeck, while also honoring international talents such as the Impressionists, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin.
General admission costs €22 at the door (€20 if purchased online), or it is included if you have already purchased a Helsinki Card.
Check out Helsinki’s more contemporary artistic side.

Many of the old-fashioned art museums have the same few dozen artists in common — but the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma (Nykytaiteen Museo Kiasma in Finnish) promises something unique to Helsinki.
The contemporary wing of the Finnish National Gallery, tickets cost €22 at the door (€20 if purchased online) or are free with a Helsinki Card.
Housed in a strikingly modern building designed by the American architect Steven Holl, Kiasma challenges traditional expectations in art with a diverse array of thought-provoking contemporary works.
The museum’s collection and exhibitions reflect a commitment to diverse perspectives and mediums, with their exhibits designed to provoke dialogue about modern issues and art’s role in life.
Kiasma features an ever-changing exhibitions of Finnish and international artists as well as its own permanent collection. For the 2024-2025 winter season, there’s an incredible temporary exhibit called Milky Way Tour, which features 22 artists’ different perspectives on digitalization, AI, humanity, and the (ab)use of Earth’s natural resources.
Visit the Helsinki Winter Garden

The Helsinki Winter Garden, or Talvipuutarha in Finnish, is a lovely green oasis amidst the city’s stark white snowy winter landscape. Established over 125 years ago, this garden features over 200 plant species, and it’s a delightful visual contrast to the icy Finnish winters.
Housed within a beautifully preserved glasshouse, its three distinctive rooms display a wide array of flora, including exotic plants and succulents, seasonal flowers, and palm trees. Best of all, it’s absolutely free! You can find it next to the Olympic Stadium, at the north side of Töölönlahti Bay.
Head out to Nuuksio National Park

One of the best things about Helsinki is how close to nature the city is! Not only is it right on the Baltic Sea, but Helsinki is also close to a stunning national park, as well as lovely Finnish Lakeland.
The gorgeous Nuuksio National Park is located very close to Helsinki, perfect for an easy trip into the Finnish snow-covered landscape without straying too far from the city. From Helsinki, you can simply catch a regional train to Espoo and then head onto the national park either independently or on a guided tour.
This tour includes a half-day exploration of Nuuksio National Park, though note that you meet at the Helsinki Train Station and transit to and from Espoo is not included (it’s about €11 for a roundtrip ticket).
Explore the charming city of Porvoo

If you want to visit one of the most picturesque towns in Finland, you should add a day trip to Porvoo to your Helsinki winter itinerary. 50 kilometers from Helsinki, the charming town of Porvoo has been an inspiration for Finnish artists over the centuries, and when you visit, you’ll see why when you fall in love at first glance.
It’s hard to say what’s the most charming about Porvoo: its crooked and peculiar cobbled streets, its lovely red shore-houses (painted in honor of King Gustav III of Sweden), or the way nature and landscape meld together as if in a painting.
You can easily visit Porvoo by bus, which takes about an hour and costs around €7-9 each way when booked in advance online. There are a few bus lines, but Ooni Bus has the most departures, about once hourly.
However, you can also take a guided day tour from Helsinki, which may be more convenient for some people who prefer a little more guidance when it comes to understanding the history and top sights of the town. It does sell out in advance because the groups are rather small, so keep that in mind when planning your Helsinki visit.
Check out availability and inclusions on this day trip to Porvoo
Head across the Baltic to Tallinn for even more winter magic!

One of the incredible things about Helsinki is that you are just a 2-hour ferry ride from the capital of another amazing country, Estonia. Tallinn has one of the best-preserved medieval Old Towns, and so it has a certain charm to it that Helsinki can’t quite replicate – especially when Tallinn is coated in snow.
As I mentioned earlier, Tallinn also has earlier Christmas Markets, so if you are a little too early for the Helsinki markets, it can be a good day trip to make! But even if it’s out of Christmas market season, Tallinn is worth visiting for its stunning colorful buildings, its unique sense of preserved history, the interesting museums, and the vibrant street art on the streets of hipster Kalamaja.
Plus – it’s decidedly cheaper than Helsinki (and I wouldn’t blame you for bringing some alcohol back with you over to Finland like the Finns often do!) so it is a great day trip if you are on a budget. The ferry is affordable and runs frequently, typically at least once an hour all day long, even in winter.
You can easily book your ferry tickets online via GetYourGuide if you plan to visit Tallinn independently (book online here) or you can opt for a day tour that includes a guide (which you can find here).
Where to Stay in Helsinki in Winter
Budget: Eurohostel
Want a cheap option but also to feel like a little bit of a baller with a free morning sauna? Look to Eurohostel, which offers clean, wallet-friendly dorms, singles, doubles, and triples – perfect for a variety of budget-seeking travelers!
Located in Katajanokka, Eurohostel is an easy walk or quick tram ride to all of Helsinki’s main points of interest.
Mid-Range: Scandic Simonkenttä
I’ve stayed at a number of Scandic Hotels in the Nordics and I always find them to have a fantastic price to quality ratio. There are a handful of Scandic options in Helsinki, but the best location in my eyes is Scandic Simonkenttä located in Kamppi, just a short walk from Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square.
It has a gorgeous boutique design in the lobby and common spaces, spacious rooms, elegant room decor, and best of all — free sauna and gym access.
Luxury: Hotel St. George Helsinki
For a sleek, boutique 5-star design hotel full of Finnish art, look to Hotel St. George Helsinki in the trendy Kamppi area.
The building dates back to the 1840s and has been renovated beautifully to feature tons of luxe amenities like on-site restaurants, bars, and even a bakery, plus a sauna, indoor pool, gym, and spa. The bathrooms feature marble floors, a rain shower, and luxurious free toiletries.
Some of the suites have perks like balconies or terraces (though in winter this may not be so useful!) and the St. George Suite even has a private sauna — though the prices for this suite may make you sweat!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.
I see you have had quite an adventurous time at Helsinki, Finland! The structures of the Helsinki museum and cathedral really look beautiful. I must say you are a wonderful photographer. I also liked the way you shared with us your stay at Helsinki in winter. I learnt a lot from your post and will definitely visit Helsinki with family and friends!
Thanks Kanika, I hope you enjoy your upcoming trip to Helsinki!
I just booked flight to Helsinki on 21/01/20(my birthday) for 5 days…I know what you mean by calling us badass lol, my friends thinking I must be crazy but hey, I cannot wait truly..I also want to go to Lake Bodom, my fav.band is children of bodom, I am glad I found you web site 🙂 Pat.
Hi Pat, that sounds absolutely amazing — enjoy your trip and don’t worry too much about the weather, it’ll be amazing! Just be sure you make the most of the limited daylight 🙂