What Not to Miss in Helsinki

The three

Vanha Kauppahalli on the Market Square waterfront has been open since 1889: wooden counters, brick and iron, one long aisle, and every kind of counter the country sells from. Go before lunch and walk it once without buying anything, then go back. The counter-by-counter guide is separate.

The weekday set lunch, served roughly 11am to 1pm, is the meal Finland actually eats. Order lohikeitto if you want the safest thing on any menu in the city — creamy salmon soup with potato, leek and dill, and the dish most visitors go home and cook. It has its own page for a reason.

Then coffee and a bun. Finns drink more coffee per head than anyone on earth, about 12 kg of beans a person a year, and the korvapuusti — cardamom, cinnamon, cut and pressed so the layers fan out — exists to be eaten next to it. Not as dessert. As the thing itself. The bun page explains the name, which means a slapped ear.

The one people skip

Hakaniemi. One tram stop north over the Pitkäsilta bridge, opened 1914, two floors, and plainer than the Old Market Hall in every way that matters. It is a shopping hall for people who live here rather than a destination, which is exactly why it is worth an hour. Most visitors never cross the bridge, and the neighbourhood on the far side of it — Kallio — is the most interesting place to eat in Helsinki now. The neighbourhood walk goes there.

Frequently asked questions