Things to Do & Must-See Attractions in Helsinki

Home to both the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo) is the Finnish capital’s main concert hall. Sitting opposite Parliament House in the prestigious Töölönlahti district, the building and its copper facade may look gargantuan from the outside, but actually, most of its rooms are underground.

Home to the Sibelius Academy as well as Finland’s national orchestras, the center was unveiled in 2011. With a modern and understated design, the center’s unusual interior layout features weaving hallways, as well as a unique main hall, where up to 1,704 visitors are seated in a full circle around the orchestra. Designed to sit in harmony with the stately buildings that surround it, the Helsinki Music Centre and its design have been well-received.

The Ateneum Art Museum (or Konstmuseet Ateneum) houses Finnish paintings and sculptures from the 18 century to the 1950s. There's also a small, interesting collection of 19th and early-20th century foreign art, including a copy of Auguste Rodin's bronze The Thinker, and paintings by Van Gogh, Gaugin and Cézanne. The building itself dates from 1887. Downstairs is a cafe, good bookshop and reading room.

The list of painters at the Ateneum reads like a 'who's who' of Finnish art, housing paintings and sculptures by Albert Edelfelt, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, the Von Wright brothers and Pekka Halonen. Pride of place goes to the prolific Gallen-Kallela's triptych from the Kalevala depicting Väinämöinen's pursuit of the maiden Aino.

The Finnish National Gallery's other main museum, the Sinebrychoff, contains the largest collection of Italian, Dutch and Flemish paintings in Finland. The museum also features Russian and Karelian icons, silver, porcelain and furniture.

Finlandia Hall (or Finlandiatalo) is Helsinki's concert and congress hall. It is also an architecture masterpiece by famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898 - 1976) who was sometimes referred to as the Father of Modernism. In Helsinki, Aalto wanted to realize the major plan for a grand square and avenue flanked by cultural buildings, including the Parliament Building, first thought of by Eliel Saarinen in 1917 when Finland became independent of Russia. He drew plans for a grand center to Helsinki in 1961 and modified them in 1964 and 1971; you could say the city was a lifelong project of his.

Finlandia Hall was designed in 1962 and built between 1967 and 1972. The congress wing followed in 1973 - 75. For Aalto it was a major part of realizing his grand plan. The building shows many of his ongoing concerns - few right angles, design around existing trees on the site, the use of Italian marble and Finnish granite.

Located a mile from the city center in the Töölö district, Helsinki Olympic Stadium (Helsingin Olympiastadion) is the biggest arena in Finland, with 40,600 spectator spots. Finland was originally meant to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, but the outbreak of World War II delayed the games until 1952, when the country finally got to host the big event. Today, the stadium is home to the national soccer team and houses big-name concerts and sports events every year.

For views of all of Helsinki and its downtown, take the elevator to the top of the 72.21-meter Stadium Tower. Why the idiosyncratic height? Well, that was the gold-medal winning result of Finnish athlete Matti Järvinen’s javelin throw in the 1932 Summer Olympics, of course! Aside from its 14-story viewing tower, the Helsinki Olympic Stadium also has a restaurant, an Olympics museum and, quirkily enough, a youth hostel.

HAM Helsinki Art Museum is one of the largest museums in all of Finland, featuring its main venue in Helsinki's historic Tennis Palace complex; a regional outpost in Uusimaa; the HAM Gallery (formerly known as the Kluuvi Gallery); and much of the city's public domain art. All in all, the art museum has a collection of nearly 9,000 pieces, most of which are of the modern Finnish variety. Both contemporary and modern works are displayed at the museum, and pieces are often brought in on exchange from partners in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in Europe. The works cover a wide variety of regions, genres and history.

Helsinki’s Museum of Finnish Architecture dedicates three stories to design, with a special focus on Finnish architecture from 1900-1970 in its permanent collection on the second floor. The Finnish collection is especially interesting for those interested in Modernism and renowned Finnish architects like Alvar Aalto.

Located in Helsinki’s design district, first floor temporary exhibits showcase both international and Finnish architecture. As the second-oldest museum of architecture in the world, a visit to the small museum is an interesting way to learn about Finnish culture and Scandinavian style. Located in a beautiful neo-renaissance building dating back to 1899, the archives on the second floor are open to the public and feature over 50,000 drawings, many of which are originals. The archives also include an extensive selection of photographs, slides, and models. On the ground floor there’s a bookshop and library.

Helsinki City Hall, also called Kaupungintalo, didn’t always have an administrative purpose. In fact, it was originally designed as a cultural entertainment hotel by the famous German architect Carl Ludvig Engel back in 1833. The beautiful white and blue façade in the imperial style has remained, but today, most of the classical interiors have been replaced by more modern glass structures. In 1913, the former grand hotel was turned into Helsinki City Hall and although it has served as a hospital during the First World War, the building has since then hosted the offices of the mayor of Helsinki. There are also several other rooms for City Board and City Council meetings, which take place every other Wednesday in the council chamber. If you love architecture, you can simply bring your camera and wander, but visitors are also able to attend various events and exhibitions inside the building.

One of the largest museums in all of Finland, the Helsinki Art Museum, is located within the Tennis Palace complex in central Helsinki. However, the museum also has a regional art museum in Uusimaa, keeps the Kluuvi Gallery, and also maintains much of the city's public domain art. The main museum itself has been located in the historic Tennis Palace space since 1999 and hosts one of the largest collections of art anywhere in all the Nordic countries. All in all, the art museum has a collection of nearly 9,000 pieces, most of which come from modern era Finland.

The vast majority of the museums exhibitions are temporary, and the works found within the museum are not necessarily locked into any particular region, history, or genre. Both contemporary and modern works are displayed at the museum and art is often brought in on exchange from partners in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in Europe.