Helsinki has several city beaches, but this one is considered the best. It’s a wide stretch of golden sand just west of the city centre, ideal in summer for either swimming or enjoying the terrace. The nicest way to get here is to stroll from Mechelininkatu west through the Hietaniemi cemetery.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
3.21 MILES
Suomenlinna, the ‘fortress of Finland’, straddles a cluster of car-free islands connected by bridges. This Unesco World Heritage site was originally built…
1.31 MILES
Occupying a palatial 1887 neo-Renaissance building, Finland’s premier art gallery offers a crash course in the nation’s art. It houses Finnish paintings…
1.56 MILES
An unmissable stop for Finnish design aficionados, Helsinki's Design Museum has a permanent collection that looks at the roots of Finnish design in the…
0.86 MILES
Built in National Romantic art nouveau style and opened in 1916, Finland’s premier historical museum looks a bit like a Gothic church with its heavy…
1.06 MILES
Situated 5.5km northwest of the city centre, this excellent island-set museum has a collection of 87 historic wooden buildings transferred here from…
1.04 MILES
One in a series of elegant, contemporary buildings in this part of town, curvaceous, metallic Kiasma, designed by Steven Holl and finished in 1998, is a…
1.06 MILES
Set beneath the iconic 1936 Lasipalatsi building, art museum Amos Rex opened in 2018. Sweeping staircases take you below ground to the exhibition halls…
1.36 MILES
Rambling over 4 hectares in the city centre alongside the north harbour, Töölönlahti, Helsinki's botanic gardens are filled with plants from Finland and…
Nearby Helsinki attractions
0.26 MILES
Famous Finns buried at this sprawling 1829-established cemetery include architect Alvar Aalto and military leader and statesman Carl Gustav Emil…
0.57 MILES
In the leafy, waterfront Sibelius Park (Sibeliuksen puisto, or just 'Sibban'), this famous, striking sculpture was created by artist Eila Hiltunen in 1967…
0.64 MILES
Hewn into solid stone, the Temppeliaukion church, designed by Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen in 1969, feels close to a Finnish ideal of spirituality in nature…
0.8 MILES
Transport enthusiasts and kids will especially enjoy checking out the vintage trams at this engaging museum, which depicts daily life in Helsinki’s…
0.83 MILES
This sprawling site once manufactured sea cables and later became Nokia’s main factory until the 1980s. It’s now a cultural complex with design studios,…
0.84 MILES
The 1938-completed Tennispalatsi (Tennis Palace) cultural and recreation centre was intended for the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were subsequently…
0.84 MILES
Inside the Tennispalatsi, Helsinki's contemporary-art museum oversees 9000 works, including 3500 citywide public artworks. The overwhelming majority of…
0.84 MILES
Housed in a Jugendstil-style building dating back to 1928, Kunsthalle Helsinki hosts up to seven major, mostly contemporary exhibitions every year. Recent…