Tourism in Finland

• Ateneum
• Kiasma
• Sinebrychoff Art Museum
• Helsinki Art Museum
• Amos Rex

• Museum of Finnish Architecture
• Finnish Museum of Natural History
• Military Museum of Finland
• Finnish Railway Museum – Hyvinkää
• Jokioinen Museum Railway

The Temppeliaukio church is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city; half a million people visit it annually.

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in the country, although it is relatively small compared to other European capitals.

Because Helsinki is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea and has many kilometres of coastline, most of its central districts are near the seaside. Helsinki is considered a maritime city and is popularly called the daughter of the Baltic.

Helsinki's coastal position makes it ideal to experience in the summertime from one of the many sightseeing ferries leaving from the port of Helsinki. Many of Helsinki's main attractions are also related to the sea, including the Suomenlinna naval fortress (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the Seurasaari Island with its parks and open-air museum. Locals often spend sunny days at the Hietaniemi beach (often simply called Hietsu), Helsinki's main beach in the district of Töölö.

In the winter-time Helsinki's northern position makes it dark for most of the day, with lighting fixtures such as Aleksanterinkatu's Christmas street (Joulukatu). During the coldest months of the winter, it is very common for locals to go for walks on the frozen sea, although authorities recommend caution when the ice is thin. There are also many places for ice swimming along the coast, some with saunas.

Air travel to Helsinki is via Helsinki Airport, situated in the neighboring city of Vantaa, a city part of Greater Helsinki. Helsinki also has popular cruiseferry links with Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. Silja, Viking and Tallink are the biggest ferry operators.

Helsinki is also the home of the Linnanmäki amusement park, which features five rollercoasters and many other rides, including the world's first Intamin ZacSpin rollercoaster.

Helsinki is a safe city for tourists and a safe place to live. In terms of personal safety, Finland was ranked 14 out of 163 countries according to Global Peace Index 2019.[9]

Helsinki also has efficient tourist information system maintained by the City of Helsinki Tourism & Convention Bureau located in the city center next to the Esplanadi park.

Helsinki was ranked 10th of the most expensive cities in the world according to UBS Group AG's Prices and Earnings report for 2018.[10] Travelers should plan to spend around US$216 or €199 per day on their vacation in Helsinki, which is the average daily cost of staying in a 4-star hotel, visiting 2 popular attractions, using public transportation, and eating out in mid-range restaurants with a glass of wine included.[11]

A view from Pyynikki observation tower towards the city centre. The Näsinneula tower is prominently visible at about a third from the left.

Tampere, also known as the "Manchester of Finland", has often been rated as the most popular city in Finland;[12] perhaps it is precisely for this reason that over the years it has grown into Finland's second largest[13] and the second best-known Finnish city in the world after Helsinki. The old industrial city built on between lakes Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, and along Tammerkoski rapids has also proved to be quite a significant tourist destination with its various national and international events,[14][15] museums (such as Moomin Museum) market places (such as Tampere Market Hall[16][17]) and, of course, its Särkänniemi amusement park, not to mention the world-acclaimed nature in Tampere.[18] Tampere's local traditional food "mustamakkara" in particular has aroused a lot of interest in the world, all the way to celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.[19][20] Tampere also have been officially declared the "Sauna Capital of the World".[21][22][23][24][25]

Many of Finland's most important highways between different cities intersect at Tampere, such as the Helsinki-Tampere Highway (part of E12). Also, air travel to Tampere is via Tampere-Pirkkala Airport, situated in the neighbouring municipality of Pirkkala, a part of Tampere sub-region.

Tampere is also known for several educational institutions, such as University of Applied Sciences and Police University College; the Tampere University, like the city, is also the second largest of its kind in Finland.[26]

A view from Lake Jyväsjärvi towards the city centre.

Lonely Planet calls Jyväskylä as a Mecca for architecture lovers around the world for its large collection of Alvar Aalto buildings. The city is the biggest city on Finnish Lakeland and capital of Central Finland.[27] Later, a modern architect Arto Sipinen, a pupil of Aalto, has influenced in the cityscape since the 1970s by designing most of the new university buildings in the city.

The Alvar Aalto Museum and the Museum of Central Finland form a centre of culture in the immediate vicinity of the historical campus of the University of Jyväskylä. Both museums are designed by a functionalist Alvar Aalto. The Alvar Aalto Museum displays the artist's most important work and design. The Museum of Central Finland specializes in cultural history. It serves both as the town museum of Jyväskylä and the provincial museum of Central Finland. Nokkakivi Amusement Park is about 20 km from Jyväskylä.[28]

One of architect Aalto's most significant works Säynätsalo Town Hall is located in Säynätsalo island on Lake Päijänne.

The city hosts the Neste Oil Rally Finland (formerly known as 1000 Lakes Rally). It is the biggest annually organised public event in the Nordic countries, gathering over 500,000 spectators every year. The rally has been held since 1951, first as a national competition, then from 1959 on as a European Rally Championship event and since the introduction of the World Rally Championship in 1973, as Finland's WRC event.

UNESCO World Heritage site Petäjävesi Old Church is located in vicinity of Jyväskylä.

A view from Porvoo River towards the Porvoo Old Town.

Porvoo has often been called an authentic small town[29] and has been chosen as one of the most beautiful towns in Finland on several occasions.[30] The city is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from the 14th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the city played an important role in connection with the Diet of Porvoo, when Finland, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire, gained autonomy in the form of the Grand Duchy of Finland.[31]

The Porvoo Old Town is a popular tourist destination, known for its well-preserved 18th and 19th century buildings and 15th century cathedral, the Porvoo Cathedral. The Old Town together with Porvoo River River Valley is recognized as historically and culturally significant as one of the National landscapes of Finland. Porvoo is also culturally important in that many of the most significant writers, starting with J. L. Runeberg, are largely from Porvoo or its immediate sub-region municipalities (such as Johannes Linnankoski from Askola).

Attempts have been made to make the Porvoo Old Town a UNESCO World Heritage site, but so far it has not been qualified.[32][33]