'Helsinki in One Day' Challenge!

Time visited: August 2022

Time spent: Eight hours

After watching numerous videos, reading countless blogs and browsing through Visit Finland and Helsinki for hours on end, we had a plan to explore as much of Helsinki as possible on our first day in the city, to get to know the lay of the land!

The Plan

• Uspenski Cathedral

• Market Square

• Old Market Hall

• Senate Square

• Helsinki Cathedral

• Esplanadi

• Kamppi Chapel

• Rock (Temppeliaukionkirkko) Church

• Sibelius Monument

• Cafe Regatta

That's a doable 5.5 kilometres, and then the return to the Airbnb another 3.5-4 kilometres.

The Reality

From our Airbnb in Meritullinkatu, we walked to Uspenski Cathedral, but it was a Monday. The Cathedral is closed on Mondays. (Actually, most museums and galleries are, including Kiasma! Do bear this in mind when you plan your trip to Helsinki. And do visit Kiasma.) We returned to Uspenski Cathedral the following day. The steps stank of urine and it was awfully stuffy inside, but it did have a beautiful old gothic charm and the dome was breathtaking.

The Market Square is only a stone's throw from Uspenski Cathedral. We went there for lunch. The food options were pretty standard - and all within €6-12. We bought salmon soup (lohikeitto), kebab meal (kebab annos) and a hotdog (hodari) - total cost €25. Do pop into the Old Market Hall if you're in the area. We went there a couple of times during our stay in Helsinki and bought grilled salmon and reindeer salami.

Senate Square is a short walk from Market Square. It's a lovely open space, and even on a gloomy day like the one when we set out on this walk, Helsinki Cathedral looked absolutely majestic. This neoclassical building is the classiest church we've ever seen! Class oozes from the glinting organ, the gleaming pulpit.

After sitting on the stairs of the Cathedral for a little while and people-watching, we headed to Kamppi Chappel through Esplanadi. There were interesting and impressive statues on the way, especially Havis Amanda, the statue of a mermaid rising from the sea, and the statue of the Finnish national poet Runeberg and a Suomi girl resting her arm on a panel with the verses of the Finnish national anthem Vårt Land.

From Esplanadi, we took the bustling Mannerheimintie, the main thoroughfare, towards Kamppi Chapel - the Chapel of Silence. From all the travel videos we'd watched, we knew what to expect, both outside and in, but we were still awestruck by its scale. We sat inside the chapel for a few minutes. There was absolute silence between the comings and goings of visitors. Photography is not allowed inside.

Here is a bit of trivia: the external spruce walls of the chapel have been weatherproofed by wax that uses nanotechnology!

Then we headed back to Senate Square because Leena was there. Leena, a Finnish educator whom Rakesh was interviewing for his research on Phenomenon-Based Learning, a pedagogy championed in Finland, was also a tour guide and we were buzzing in anticipation of a guided tour of the city!

Leena took us to an olden-day classroom in Helsinki City Museum for the interview. She had brought some rye crispbread (, which we brought back to Melbourne and had with slices of Gouda cheese and pear), a box of Moomin pastilles (, which lasted several days, thanks to ShNaajh's rationing), and some maps and travel brochures (, which came in very handy during our stay).

After the interview, Leena took us around Helsinki, showing us the iconic sights of the city and telling us stories, and we couldn't have been happier that the day wasn't going to plan!

We walked by Stockmann Centre, stopping briefly to look at the clock above the main entrance. 'Under the clock' is a popular meeting place.

Then we visited a place where we really, really wanted to go but probably wouldn't have had it not been for Leena: Torni Hotel!!! Leena walked straight in as if she owned the place! We followed her sheepishly and took the service lift (because it was much quicker to arrive) to the top floor (12, I think). And there it was - the toilet! We entered the toilet and were rewarded with the best view of Helsinki, just as Travel Man promised! We also went up to the rooftop bar for a panoramic view of the city.

From Torni, we took a bit of a detour through the Amor Rex Museum complex. The museum was underground, and we didn't visit it, but the surface was an exciting place. There were mounds of varying heights - like 'inverted craters', with skylights for peeping into the museum.

Next, Leena took us to Helsinki Central Library Oodi. This magnificent library was a gift (probably from the City Council) to the people of Helsinki on the centenary of Finnish independence. It was huge! There were books of course, but also gaming rooms, recording studios, music rooms, 3D printers, study rooms for individuals and groups, and plenty of space for people to meet and connect.

ShNaajh and I visited Oodi again the following day because she wanted to use a gaming room. But the gaming rooms were all booked, unfortunately, so ShNaajh had to be content with playing an old-fashioned Mario game with me!

Across from Oodi is the Helsinki Music Centre, with an interesting sculpture of a fish in front! This giant singing fish is inspired by a poem by Aaro Hellaakoski - 'The Pike's Song': "From his hole so wet and drenching a pike rose up to tree to sing". If music is your passion, do go in, but don't expect to see the pike perform!

Our next destination was Rock Church, We walked for about a kilometre, past the Parliament of Finland and the National Museum of Finland. Visitors are welcome to the Parliament House during the term to observe a plenary session at no cost. Even guided tours are free! We didn't have a chance to do that. We visited the National Museum though, a few days later.

We arrived at the Rock Church, which must be the quirkiest church there is! Entry cost €5 and it was worth it. As you stepped inside the cavernous space, you were bathed in the natural light filtering through the skylights surrounding the copper dome ceiling, You saw the rugged rock walls and finally believed that this architectural feat was excavated into solid rock. Wouldn't it be amazing to sit there all day with time hyperlapsing around you and see the light spread and move throughout the church at accelerated speed?

We were down to the last two places Leena had on her list: Sibelius Monument and Cafe Regatta. They were within a few hundred metres of each other, but the monument was about 1.5 kilometres from the Rock church. We knew nothing about Jean Sibelius, the Finnish composer, when we started planning for this trip, but soon came a time when we'd play Finlandia on loop while putting together our Finland itinerary, the energy and excitement of the composition making our hearts throb! The Sibelius Monument is cool. Its steel organ pipes dazzle even on a gloomy day. A popular spot for selfies was under the pipes, Leena told us before bidding us farewell!

Finally, Cafe Regatta! The iconic red cottage by the sea. The hot chocolate. The cinnamon bun. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. Or was it?

If we'd only ordered hot chocolate, I think we would've been fine. But no, we had to have cinnamon buns and croissants with Nutella (altogether €21)! We got our food and drinks and found a nice spot right by the water. No sooner had we sat down and taken the baked goods out of the paper bags than the sparrows arrived. An army of them. Fearless and hellbent on stealing our food. It was an ornithophobe's nightmare! I put my cinnamon bun back in the bag, picked up my hot chocolate, abandoned Rakesh and ShNaajh and left the premises! I stood on the path outside that runs parallel to the water and finished my hot chocolate. The bun I ate on the way home! You can read more about the drama here!

I do not say this lightly. If you want to drink your hot chocolate in peace, avoid eating anything there. I don't know if the sparrows are around in winter, but they certainly are in summer and are very active!

It was time to return to the Airbnb. By the time we reached 'home', we'd walked 17 kilometres, according to Google Timeline!

The Revised Plan

If you have only one day to spend in the very compact and walkable city of Helsinki, we highly recommend this route. Just make sure it's not on a Monday! And wear comfortable shoes.

Happy walking!