1 destination · 10 things to do

Finland

Helsinki is the Nordic capital that rewards people who like design, the sea and a good sauna. Its centre is a compact grid of granite and stucco laid out around Senate Square, where the white Lutheran cathedral looks down a flight of steps toward the harbour, the Market Square and the red-brick Uspenski Cathedral. A fifteen-minute ferry takes you to Suomenlinna, the island sea fortress that is one of the great day trips of the Baltic, while back on the mainland you can sit inside a church carved into solid rock, see Finland’s national treasures at the Ateneum, spend an hour in Oodi, the library that feels like a living room for the whole city, and finish in the smoke sauna at Löyly with a dip in the sea. This guide tells you which tickets are worth buying, when the Helsinki Card pays for itself and which seasonal closures to plan around, and it matches you to the right hotel, from the grand dame on the Esplanade to the railway station reborn as a design hotel and a sauna-topped tower by the West Harbour.