Entertainment in Finland
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Teivo Trotting Track
Ten kilometres northwest of Tampere on Rd 3, Teivo Trotting Track offers a popular, recommended, Finnish experience. There are races nearly every Tuesday evening at 6pm, and entry is free, though you can bet as much as you like. Special buses from town run to the track on race evenings. In winter the horses race on compacted snow under floodlights.
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Ooppera Talo
Opera, ballet and classical concerts are held here, though not during summer. Performances of the Finnish National Opera are subtitled in Finnish.
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Rymy Eetu
Fancy a beer? Then you’re after a 1L pint of a genuine German pilsener or one of the huge array of brews at this Bavarian beer hall. You can order some dumplings, or bread and sauerkraut, to soak up the booze while tapping your foot to Finnish humppa (jazz-based music). The pub’s namesake is, ironically, a modest, chubby Finnish cartoon character, who is known for his nonchalant resistance to the Nazis during WWII, and who you’ll see throughout the bar’s decor.
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Panimoravintola Koulu
This is the town’s greatest brewery pub in the town centre if not all of Finland. Set in a former school, the pub’s owners have done their homework on good brews with more than nine of their own beers plus a cheeky cider. As well as inkwells and school desks, there’s a row boat on the roof, which is disorientating after a few drinks. The restaurant upstairs is solid, but you won’t be able to leave the downstairs pub.
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Hakametsä Ice Stadium
Tampere has two ice-hockey teams in the national league - Ilves and Tappara - both of which are among the best in the country, and the city is generally regarded as the home of the sport. Finland's first artificial hockey rink was opened here in 1955. The Hakametsä Ice Stadium, about 2km east of the train station, is the venue for matches on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from September to March.
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Hartwall Arena
If you're around in winter (September-March), take the chance to see a major ice hockey game. Big matches are played at the huge Hartwall Arena in Pasila, north of the centre (tram 7A or 7B). The stadium hosted ice hockey world championships in 1997 and 2004, and is home to Helsinki superleague side Jokerit. You can also catch games at the indoor arena of the Olympic Stadium off Mannerheimintie.
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Superstereo
One of the best bars in town, this university student hang-out has a pop culture–pastiche interior (check out their mural of the Vaasa skyline) and a summer-popular terrace. But wait there’s more! The clubby Munkhaus bar opens later with a pumping sound system playing electronica and danceable indie. Or chillax by ringing ahead to book the sauna for a sound-drenched soak.
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Lost & Found
You can skip the bar upstairs and head down to the dark grotto-like dance floor downstairs that’s decked out in luminescent designs. Still a gay venue (they style themselves as a ‘hetero-friendly gay club’), the tunes are often chart-based, with a sign near the DJ booth ‘Don’t request. I’ll play it eventually’. It’s often the spot for after-parties for big gigs.
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Irish Times
A convivial Irish bar with a distinctly Finnish flavour, this is a fine choice for an animated night of pubbing. It has an excellent heated terrace at the back, and regular live music and karaoke, while the downstairs bar has pool tables. There’s a snug, friendly feel about the whole set-up. There’s a cover charge at weekends, when it’s at its best.
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Teerenpeli
A real Lahti success story, this popular pub sells its own tasty beers and ciders (try the blueberry one) and even distils a single-malt whisky. It’s got quite an upmarket interior these days, with white walls, plush stools, miniquiches and a tapas menu, and is always humming with chatter or live jazz. There’s a summer branch at the harbour.
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Helsinki Club
If you're partying late, this is a mainstream dance club popular with a youthful local crowd. The interior is pretty tacky, with dodgy wallpaper and worse carpet; make it to the cooler back dancefloor if you can. During the week there is a variety of local acts, with big-name DJs at weekends (minimum age for entry on weekends is 24).
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Club Uniq
Across the road from Helsinki Club, the small dance floor gets busy most nights but the novelty vote goes to the tiny Arctic Icebar (;17:00-04:00; admission around €10) inside the club: don an insulated coat, sip a vodka shot in a balmy -5ºC, and watch the sweaty ravers outside through the glass wall. Minimum age 24.
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Corona & Café Mokba
These two quirky bars are owned by filmmakers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki and attract a savvy, grungy crowd. Corona has cool bar staff and about 20 pool tables, so it's popular with drinkers and sharks. Mokba is a tiny Russian-influenced bar with ironic Soviet-era décor, flock wallpaper and almost comically gruff service.
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Corona Bar & Kafe Moskova
Those kooky film-making Kaurismäki brothers are up to their old tricks with this pair of conjoined drinking dens. Corona plays the relative straight man with 20 pool tables and cheap beer, while Moskova is back in the USSR with a bubbling samovar and Soviet vinyl. At closing they clear the place out by playing Brezhnev speeches.
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Woodoo
Running with the slogan ‘Helping people get more sex since 2003’, this larrikin place is the alternative hang-out in Imatra, attracting a younger crowd to its terrace. The club out the back does hard beats, while the bar is a pleasant spot for a drink or game of pool. You can find your own dark corner in its large interior.
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Kaljaasi
This bar doesn't have an address, because it's on a floating platform way out in the middle of the lake and only reachable by boat! It's a stupendous spot to sit and drink . You can hire or charter boats in Lohja (ask the tourist office), or they'll pick you up from Virkkala, a village 7km southwest of town for a price.
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A21 Cocktail Lounge
You’ll need to ring the doorbell to get into this chic club but it’s worth the intrigue to swing with Helsinki’s arty set. The interior is sumptuous in gold, but the real lushness is in the cocktails, particularly the Finnish blends that toss lakka and rhubarb to create the city’s most innovative tipples.
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Grand Casino Helsinki
Grand Casino Helsinki is the city's only casino and the largest in Finland. It has 30 table games including poker, roulette and blackjack, and approximately 300 slot machines. The age limit is 18 and foreigners should carry their passport at all times for identification. Check out the mechanical horseracing.
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Tampere-Talo
Classical concerts are held in spectacular modern Tampere-Talo. Performances by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra (www.tampere.fi/filharmonia) are on Fridays from September to May. In addition to this it also puts on regular chamber music concerts, and visiting opera and ballet performances.
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Spårakoff - Pub Tram
It may sound strange, or perhaps just a good idea, but in summer you can catch the bright red pub tram from the train station, with stops at the Opera House and kauppatori. It's a bit pricey and beers cost more than they do in less salubrious establishments but it's a quaint way to do a quick tour of town.
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Café Europa
This is easily Tampere’s coolest bar. Furnished with 1930s-style horsehair couches and chairs, it is a romantic old-world European type of place complete with Belgian and German beers, board games, ornate mirrors and chandeliers, and an excellent summer terrace. Upstairs is a small weekend dance club.
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Ateljee Bar
It’s worth the climb up to this tiny perch on the roof of the Sokos Hotel Torni for the city panorama. Taking the lift to the 12th floor is the best option, then there’s a narrow winding staircase to the top. Downstairs, the courtyard Tornin Piha is a cute little terrace with good wines by the glass.
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Visa Grande
Handily placed for a post-Skata drink, this pub does a good trade with locals and manages some solid meals ranging from the pizza and pasta lunch buffet to steak dinners. It’s also one of the late-opening watering holes but after a few too many the underfloor fish tank can make you a little nauseous.
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Finnair Stadium
Next to the Olympic Stadium, this is the home ground of local footballers, HJK Helsinki. The team’s the closest thing Finland has to a Real Madrid or a Manchester United, having won 21 Finnish league titles and even having made a foray into the group stages of the Champions League a few years back.
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Never Grow Old
This enduringly popular bar hits its stride after 10pm, with plenty of dancing, DJs and revelry in the tightly packed interior. The goofy decor includes some seriously comfortable and extremely uncomfortable places to sit, and a log-palisade bar that seems designed to get you to wear your drink.
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