Helsinki Delights in Winter

Finland Winter from Summer

There couldn’t be a bigger contrast. In the long days of summer, when the sun hardly seems to set, Helsinki is a vibrant city, packed with visitors and crowds pouring off the cruise ships. Go in winter and you see the Finnish capital in a quite different light.
The colors of summer have gone. Blue skies are replaced with shades of grey. Nights are longer than days. Real daylight doesn’t quite happen. And yes, it’s cold. Even the harbour freezes up. But the snow gives a new look to city streets, icing and defining the detail on wonderful Art Nouveau buildings. Candles flicker on tables in cosy cafés and smart restaurants. Brightly lit shop windows beckon. It’s warm inside.
In summer, life is lived outdoors: on the streets, in the countryside, at beaches and in summer cottages on the islands. Come winter, the Finns don’t hibernate. Far from it. In Helsinki, weekend clubbing is still very much on the agenda, as are outdoor activities including skating, cross-country skiing, even swimming.

Visiting Helsinki in winter

If you like art and music the winter months are a good time to visit Helsinki. The city has many excellent museums and galleries, great concerts and opera, lively music venues, art and photography exhibitions and film and music festivals.
With fewer tourists around it’s a good time to meet local people. Go skating at the Ice Park in the Railway Square alongside the iconic Central Station. It’s open between November and March, there’s music every day and skates can be hired at the café. Watch world-class ice hockey, the Finnish national sport, at the Hartwall Arena. It’s accessible by local bus, tram and train.
Take bus 66 or 66A from the city centre to Paloheinä, where the recreational centre offers cross-country skiing and snowshoe hiking (between December and April). The rental shop can supply all the equipment necessary and most of the ski trails are illuminated until late into the evening.
There’s fabulous indoor swimming on Yrjönkatu street, next to the Forum shopping centre and right in the heart of the city. The Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall is in classic Art Deco style and you don’t even need to bring along a cozy. In fact swimming costumes have only been allowed since 2001, as a concession to more prudish visitors. Women’s days are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday; men’s days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Visit The Finnish Sauna in Winter

A visit to a  Finnish Sauna is the ideal way to get to meet city residents. Saunas are essential to the Finnish way of life and every hotel, apartment block and most private homes have one. There’s a famous public sauna in Kallio, an old working class and now trendy suburb in the north of Helsinki, where the spacious saunas (separate for women and men) are heated by huge wood burning stoves.

Ice Swimming Club

Feeling brave? Then join the winter swimming aficionados at the Rastila seaside camping site at Vuosaari in eastern Helsinki. A carpeted pier juts into a tree-lined bay of the Baltic Sea where the ice has been cleared, and there’s a shorefront sauna.
Helsinki’s inner harbour may be frozen but that doesn’t bother the ferries that cross to the fortress Suomenlinna. Hop on one, the 15-minute journey is an interesting experience and the fortress, with its shops, museums and restaurants has its charms without the summer crowds. While waiting for the ferry, join locals in a warming drink or snack at the nearby Market Hall or on board the three-masted schooner moored nearby, where a bowl of salmon soup never tasted better.

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Tagged as: Avantouinti, Cold Watyer Submersion, Winter Swimming