Where to eat, drink and stay in Helsinki

Where to eat

Juuri restaurant may reside inside an unassuming building in the ritzy Design District, but boasts the refined, playful dishes of black salsify with milk and rye-flavoured ice cream (juuri.fi).

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Story. Set amid the thrilling bustle of the harbourside Old Market Hall, there’s almost always a scramble for a free seat — but the immensely hearty, uncommonly affordable food (particularly the creamy salmon soup) is absolutely worth the scrum (story-restaurants.fi).

Looking for something a little more under the radar? Hop on the ferry to Suomenlinna (the former fortress on one of the closest of the city’s 300-odd nearby islands) and head to the Toy Museum’s Samovarbar café for exceptional cakes served by sparky old ladies in a cosy tearoom (lelumuseo.fi).

Where to stay

An excellent newcomer is the lavish, 148-room St George hotel (stgeorgehelsinki.com), right downtown in a 19th-century former printing house. There’s a sprawling, sky-lit bar, a next-level buffet breakfast with pastries from the in-house bakery, and an Ai Weiwei dragon sculpture looming in reception. Told you this city was arty. 

Where to drink

Kallio is the spray-painted district for lively dive bars, but area newcomer Way (waybakeryandwinebar.fi) offers something a little classier: serene furnishings, natural wine and a healthy supply of attractive, tattooed Finns. If your taste leans more towards the sultry, then Liberty or Death (Erottajankatu 5, 00130), a curtained-off, Design District haunt with a nice line in flickering atmosphere and knockout Sazeracs, is just the spot.  

What to do

For surreptitious fashion tips, visit Stockholm. To worship at the minimalist altar of New Nordic cuisine, try Copenhagen. But for the artistically inclined, it’s Helsinki all the way. Finland’s capital is fast emerging as an arty hub to rival Porto and Basel; next year, it will host its inaugural biennial. If you can’t wait until then, start at Amos Rex: a subterranean art museum in modernist Lasipalatsi Square, best known for its queue-magnet exhibitions and the striking lunar mounds that sit above it (amosrex.fi). 

Next, while away a few hours at Helsinki Contemporary, which showcases the best up-and-coming artists in a new-Renaissance style building, with a beautiful view of Old Church Park (helsinkicontemporary.com). If you’re inspired to adorn your own walls with Finland’s finest, stop by ArTag, which stocks works by affordable young artists (artaggallery.com).

Also worth checking out are the Oodi Central Library (oodihelsinki.fi) — an angular, £88m architectural marvel containing 100,000 books, tranquil cafés, indoor trees, a cinema, and a show-stopping view — and the Löyly sauna complex, a sumptuous, wood-panelled monolith jutting out into the Baltic (loylyhelsinki.fi).