I’ll start with something that may upset a few Swedes:
I liked Helsinki more than Stockholm.
We arrived in Finland after spending 48 hours in Stockholm, taking the overnight ferry across the Baltic Sea and waking up the next morning in Helsinki.
I had enjoyed Stockholm.
It’s beautiful, historic and undeniably impressive.
But Helsinki surprised me.
Almost immediately, it reminded me more of Copenhagen—another Scandinavian city I love.
Helsinki felt younger.
More relaxed.
More approachable.
There were bikes everywhere, cafés spilling toward the water, parks woven into the city and an understated design aesthetic that seemed to permeate almost everything.
And then there were the saunas.
Helsinki wasn’t a city where I felt like I needed to race from landmark to landmark.
It was somewhere I wanted to live outside for a few days.
So that’s basically what we did.
Arriving by Sea
There are certain cities that are better approached from the water.
Helsinki is one of them.
After leaving Stockholm aboard an overnight ferry, we sailed through the Baltic and arrived in Finland the following morning.
That alone made the transition between the two cities memorable.
Instead of airports, security lines and baggage claims, we’d gone to sleep in Sweden and woke up approaching Finland.
And almost immediately, Helsinki felt different.
Stockholm is spread across an archipelago and often feels grander and more monumental.
Helsinki felt more intimate.
The Baltic Sea was still everywhere, but the relationship between the city and the waterfront seemed particularly casual.
People weren’t simply looking at the water.
They were eating beside it.
Cycling beside it.
Walking beside it.
Swimming in it.
And, because this is Finland, heating themselves to uncomfortable temperatures in a sauna before jumping into it.
Rent a Bike
If I could give someone one piece of advice for Helsinki during the summer, it would be simple:
Rent a bike.
Helsinki is exceptionally well suited to exploring on two wheels.
The city is relatively flat, bike infrastructure is excellent and many of the places you’ll want to visit are connected by paths running through parks or alongside the Baltic.
More importantly, biking changes the pace of the city.
We weren’t underground on a metro moving from attraction to attraction.
We were actually experiencing Helsinki between the attractions.
We’d ride along the waterfront.
Stop when something looked interesting.
Find a café.
Get back on the bikes.
Ride through another neighborhood.
Stop again.
There wasn’t much of an agenda.
And Helsinki rewarded that.
Helsinki’s Waterfront
The water is never very far away here.
Helsinki sits on a peninsula surrounded by hundreds of islands, bays and inlets, and the coastline continually folds back into the city.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was simply riding along that waterfront.
Small boats in the harbor.
People sitting outside cafés.
Ferries moving between islands.
Parks meeting the sea.
Locals seemingly treating a random patch of shoreline as a perfectly acceptable place to spend an afternoon.
It was summer, and Helsinki seemed determined to take advantage of every hour of daylight.
We did the same.
Stop at the Cafés
This is another area where Helsinki reminded me of Copenhagen.
There is a café culture here that feels integrated into everyday life rather than designed exclusively for tourists.
And some of the best places to stop are along the water.
We’d park the bikes, find a table and sit outside.
Coffee.
Something to eat.
A beer.
Whatever seemed appropriate at the time.
Then eventually we’d get back on the bikes and continue.
It’s not a particularly complicated travel strategy.
It might be the best way to experience Helsinki.
There are cities where I want a detailed itinerary.
Helsinki wasn’t one of them.
Bike. Eat. Explore. Sauna. Repeat.
That worked pretty well.
The Finnish Sauna
You can’t really understand Finland without understanding the sauna.
Sauna isn’t simply a spa treatment here.
It’s part of Finnish culture.
People sauna with family.
With friends.
After work.
At summer cottages.
In apartment buildings.
At public bathhouses.
There are millions of saunas in a country with only a few million people.
And once you experience Helsinki’s sauna culture, that statistic begins to make considerably more sense.
For us, the place that brought everything together was Löyly.
Löyly Helsinki
If you’re going to experience a Finnish sauna for the first time, it’s difficult to imagine a better introduction than Löyly.
The building itself is worth seeing.
Located directly on the Baltic waterfront, Löyly is a striking modern wooden structure that seems to rise out of the shoreline.
It’s part sauna.
Part restaurant.
Part bar.
Part architectural landmark.
And completely Finnish.
Inside are traditional saunas, including a smoke sauna.
Outside is the Baltic Sea.
You can probably see where this is going.
Heat yourself in the sauna.
Walk outside.
Jump into the Baltic.
Question every decision you’ve made that led to this moment.
Get back into the sauna.
Repeat.
Sauna. Baltic. Sauna.
The contrast is the entire experience.
You sit in intense heat until eventually the cold sea starts to sound like a reasonable idea.
Then you step outside.
The air hits you.
You walk toward the water.
And jump.
The Baltic immediately reminds you that you are in Northern Europe.
Then, remarkably quickly, you’re ready to get back into the sauna.
It becomes a cycle.
Heat.
Cold.
Heat.
Cold.
Sit outside.
Have a drink.
Look across the water.
Do it again.
This wasn’t simply something we checked off a Helsinki sightseeing list.
It was one of my favorite experiences in the city.
A City Built Around Quality of Life
The longer we explored Helsinki, the more I appreciated how comfortable the city felt.
That’s probably the best word for it.
Comfortable.
Not boring.
Not sleepy.
Comfortable.
The streets felt manageable.
Public spaces were actually used.
The waterfront was accessible.
Cycling felt normal rather than adventurous.
Parks were everywhere.
People sat outside.
Architecture was interesting without the city feeling like an outdoor museum.
Helsinki seemed designed around the idea that people should actually enjoy living there.
As a visitor, you benefit from that too.
Design Without Trying Too Hard
Finland’s reputation for design isn’t exactly a secret.
This is the home of Marimekko, Iittala, Alvar Aalto and an entire design tradition built around clean lines, functionality and simplicity.
You see that philosophy throughout Helsinki.
Buildings.
Furniture.
Restaurants.
Public spaces.
Even ordinary cafés.
There is a restraint to Finnish design that I really liked.
Nothing seemed overly decorative simply for the sake of decoration.
Things looked good because they were designed well.
Again, it reminded me of Copenhagen.
Helsinki vs. Stockholm
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting Stockholm.
It’s one of Europe’s great capitals.
Gamla Stan is beautiful.
The Vasa Museum is extraordinary.
The city’s setting across the islands is spectacular.
But if you asked me which city I personally enjoyed more?
Helsinki.
Stockholm impressed me.
Helsinki made me want to stay longer.
That’s an important distinction.
Helsinki felt less like somewhere I needed to sightsee and more like somewhere I could settle into.
Rent a bike.
Find a neighborhood.
Sit beside the water.
Go to a sauna.
Have dinner.
Ride home.
Do it again tomorrow.
That’s my kind of city.
And Then There Was Copenhagen
The city Helsinki most reminded me of wasn’t Stockholm.
It was Copenhagen.
Not because they’re identical.
They’re not.
But they share a certain philosophy.
Bikes aren’t recreational equipment. They’re transportation.
The waterfront isn’t something separated from daily life.
Good design doesn’t need to announce itself.
Outdoor cafés matter.
Public spaces matter.
And the city seems built at a human scale.
Both cities made me think:
I could live here.
That’s one of the highest compliments I can give somewhere when traveling.
What I’d Do With Two Days in Helsinki
If I were returning for a summer weekend, I wouldn’t overplan it.
I’d rent bikes immediately.
Spend the first day riding through central Helsinki and along the waterfront, stopping at cafés whenever something looked interesting.
I’d explore the harbor and market areas, ride through the parks and leave enough time to wander without constantly checking a map.
Then I’d devote part of the afternoon or evening to Löyly.
Sauna.
Baltic.
Drink.
Dinner.
Sunset.
Repeat the next day
