Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Focus on Helsinki

There is something bracingly restless about Finland’s capital. Baltic breezes freshen the Helsinki air and in summer the natural northern light only fades reluctantly as midnight approaches. Tim Bird discovers a dream-like destination

Helsinki’s ever-changing skyline, with its bold new architecture and thoughtful urban planning, make it feel like a city that doesn’t know when or how to stop evolving, yet its compact character means many central attractions are always an easy walk or quick tram ride away.

The million or so residents of the Greater Helsinki area inhabit a cluster of islands and promontories on the coast of the Gulf of Finland on the country’s southern tip. The heart of the city is pierced by reedy bays and inlets, while suburbs are penetrated by the same dense forests that extend across the eastern border with Russia to the Siberian tundra. Nature and the elements, ranging from the midnight sun of summer to the bitter frosts and swirling snows of winter, underscore the lifestyle of this defiantly modern city.

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia retains its head office in Espoo, just to the west of Helsinki, and the capital area is a showcase of high-technology innovations. Its abundance of swanky design shops, cheerful restaurants and dynamic nightlife also mean that cool modernity dominates.

The Senate Square, Esplanade and Market Square

The most obvious historical traces are in and around the neo-classical Senate Square, an echo of Tsarist St.

Petersburg with its columns and wide arches. Conceived by German architect Carl Ludvig Engel in the mid-19th century as the core of the new Russian-ruled capital, the area centres on the ice-white Lutheran cathedral. The Café Engel (Aleksanterinkatu 26, tel. , www.cafeengel.fi ) overlooks the square and provides elegant relief for wilting sightseers.

It’s a short walk from here to the harbour-side Market Square, where the arrival and departure of the vast Stockholm ferries and Baltic cruise liners is a daily summer spectacle. Piano music and squawking gulls provide a salty soundtrack for the dazzling array of berries, mushrooms, fruit and vegetables, while the Presidential Palace and the golden cupolas of the Uspensky Orthodox cathedral in nearby Katajanokka are sparkling landmarks. A cluster of fine restaurants surrounds the Market Square: try the FishMarket at Pohjoisesplanadi 17 (tel. ) for contemporary Finnish fish and seafood dishes, or Finnish gourmet beneath the chandeliers at the 19th-century naval captain’s residence, GW Sundmans (Eteläranta 16, tel. ).

Helsinki’s nightlife makes the most of both long summer evenings and frosty winter nights: for wild weekend partying, you could do worse than head for Kaarle XII, just off the Esplanade at Kasarmikatu 40 (www.kaarle.com), especially legendary for its Thursday-night crowds. Try also Teatteri in the Swedish theatre building at the western end of Esplanade for its stylish (if pricey) bar and club.

The Esplanade park, a vibrant band of trees and benches peopled with buskers and lounging teenagers, leads away from the Market Square to the Stockmann department store. As much an institution in Helsinki as Harrods is to London or Macy’s to New York, Stockmann (Aleksanterinkatu 52B, tel. , www.stockmann.fi) is a good one-stop store for Finnish design goods and the best Finnish foods, such as salted fish and rye bread. Its bookstore, the Academic Bookshop (Keskuskatu 1, ), is as renowned for its airy Alvar Aalto architecture as for its excellent range of books and papers.

Like a Nordic version of Barcelona’s Ramblas, and focused on the statue of national poet JL Runeberg at its centre, the Esplanade provides the pulse of the city, tempting hungry shoppers into its many cafés and restaurants. In ‘Grand Café’ style, the affordable Kämp Café & Bar is at Helsinki’s most opulent hotel, bearing the same name (Pohjoisesplanadi 29, tel. ; www.hotelkamp.fi ), also home to the upmarket night-owl favourite, the Kämp Club.

Take a room at the Klaus K ‘lifestyle’ hotel in nearby leafy Bulevardi (Bulevardi 2, tel. ; www.klauskhotel.com ) and you’ll have all this bustle on your doorstep. You’ll also be able to fall into bed after dancing into the early hours at the hotel’s own Ahjo night club.

Suomenlinna: a romantic

Buy your picnic ingredients at the Market Square and jump on one of the regular ferries to Suomenlinna, a bastion of ramparts, cannons and cobblestones. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Suomenlinna is the cultural and historical jewel in Helsinki’s youthful crown, with an engaging visitor centre (tel. , www.suomenlinna.fi).

In addition to a naval academy, a functioning dry dock and traditional shipyard, as well as a series of south-facing rocky shelves that are perfect for picnics, Suomenlinna also has a number of superb bars and eateries. The quayside Panimo Restaurant (tel. , www.panimo.com ) is especially handy for the ferry back to the city and makes its own beer as well as fish-soup lunches.

Töölö: a town within a city

Back on the mainland, the districts of Eira, Katajanokka and Kruunuhaka form their own mini-villages of early-20th-century quirky Jugenstil architecture. Learn more about their history at the National Museum (Mannerheimintie 34, tel. , www.nba.fi/en/nmf) on the edge of Töölö, just to the north of the city centre.

Set apart from the modern, space-age Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Alvar Aalto’s gleaming showpiece, Finlandia Hall, and the new Kamppi Centre with its shops, subterranean bus centre and trendy Lux night club, Töölö has a cosmopolitan ambiance. Book a table at the classic Helsinki restaurants of Elite, Kuu or Lehtovaara, where Nordic elegance meets Parisian chic. Elite (www.royalravintolat.com/elite ) is a favourite with local hacks and artists and sports a slightly bohemian edge, as well as a menu comprised of the freshest, most typical Finnish fish, meat and vegetable ingredients.

Vanhakaupunki: birthplace of Helsinki

A 15-minute Number 6 tram ride to the east of the centre takes you to the spanking new seaside Arabianranta residential area, one of Helsinki’s most recent suburbs. This is close to where Helsinki’s first incarnation was founded in 1550. Vanhakaupunki – ‘Old Town’ – occupies the point where the rapids of the River Vantaa tumble into the sea, a spectacle at its most heartening in full spring flood. Cycling paths lead off to a nature reserve, a magnet for bird spotters. A functioning water mill and a technical museum built next to the rapids are branches of the Helsinki City Museum, and refreshments are at hand in the form of simple but delicious fish and fowl dishes at the wooden villa housing the Helsinge restaurant (Ravintola Helsinge, Viikintie 1E, tel. , www.ravintolahelsinge.fi). The restaurant also has a popular outdoor drinks terrace, which you’ll be very glad of in the summer months.

Where to stay

Helsinki hotels

Kämp Hotel Pohjoisesplanadi 29, tel. ; www.hotelkamp.fi The luxury 19th-century-style hotel of choice for visiting big-wigs and rock stars, but equally welcoming to lesser mortals. Located right in the heart of Helsinki’s action.

Glo Hotel Kluuvikatu 4, tel.  Lifestyle concept hotel near the Senate Square with smart and stylish rooms, from which you can summon all sorts of services adapted to your individual tastes.

Hilton Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Lentajankuja 1, tel. ; www.hilton.com Newly opened with Alvar Aalto design classics throughout putting Finland’s first actual airport hotel in a league of its own.

Klaus K Close to the Esplanade at Bulevardi 2, tel.  . www.klauskhotel.com At Klaus K it’s all about sensuous, cool design and ultra-modern facilities.

Suomenlinna Hostel Suomenlinna C 9, tel. The only place to stay at the island fortress, so nicely peaceful when the last ferry has scuttled back to the mainland.

FR Gros plan sur Helsinki

L’ensemble urbanistique d’Helsinki est sans cesse changeant, avec ses nouvelles constructions audacieuses et sa planification urbaine rigoureuse. On dirait que la ville ne sait ni quand ou comment s’arrêtera son évolution, toutefois elle garde ce charme compact de petite ville, où les centres d’intérêts sont toujours à proximité.

Elle a préservé de nombreuses traces de son histoire, notamment sur la Place néo-classique du Sénat et ses alentours, un écho de la tsariste Saint-Pétersbourg avec ses colonnes et ses vastes arches. A quelques pas de là, du côté du port, se trouve la Place du Marché d’où proviennent des sonorités d’accordéon piano mélangées à des cris rauques de mouettes. Le Parc de l’Esplanade, un ensemble fabuleux d’arbres et de bancs, peuplé de musiciens de rue et de jeunes flâneurs, part de la Place du Marché. L’Esplanade constitue le pouls de la cité, attirant les clients affamés dans ses nombreux cafés et restaurants.

Achetez les ingrédients de votre pique-nique Place du Marché et sautez dans un ferry jusqu’à Suomenlinna, un site classé Patrimoine Mondial par l’UNESCO. C’est le joyau culturel et historique d’Helsinki, un mini-archipel balayé par les courants, relié par des ponts avec des musées d’histoire maritime et militaire.

De retour sur le continent, les quartiers d’Eira, de Katajanokka et de Kruunuhaka forment de petits villages à part entière. Ils sont construits sur les principes d’une architecture particulière du début du 20e siècle, Töölö, du nom d’une ville dans la ville connue pour son ambiance à la fois réservée et cosmopolite.

Un tour de 15 minutes en tram numéro 6 vers l’Est, vous conduit vers le nouveau quartier résidentiel du bord de mer, Arabianranta. Vanhakaupunki – ‘Vieille Ville’ – occupe la partie où les rapides du fleuve tournoient dans la mer, un spectacle époustouflant surtout à l’époque des crues de printemps.

NL Focus op Helsinki

Helsinki lijkt altijd in beweging. Dat merk je aan de eeuwig veranderende skyline, de opvallende architectuur en de uitgekiende stadsplanning. Omdat de stad vrij compact is, liggen de meeste bezienswaardigheden vlakbij.

Voor wat geschiedenis ga je naar het neoklassieke Senaatsplein. Met zijn statige zuilen en brede gaanderijen doet het denken aan tsaristisch Sint-Petersburg. Op wandelafstand ligt het marktplein, aan de haven, dat je vergast op accordeonmuziek en krijsende meeuwen. Het Esplanadepark, met zijn vele bomen en door straatmuzikanten en tieners bezette bankjes, leidt je weg van het marktplein. De Esplanade is het kloppende hart van de stad, waar de vele cafés en restaurants lonken naar hongerige shoppers.

Vul je picknickmand op het marktplein en neem de ferry naar Suomenlinna, dat op de werelderfgoedlijst van de UNESCO staat. Het vormt het culturele en historische centrum van Helsinki. De eilanden van deze miniarchipel staan met elkaar in verbinding via bruggen met maritieme en militaire musea.

Terug op het vasteland vind je in de districten Eira, Katajanokka en Kruunuhaka de Töölö, met hun unieke architectuur uit het begin van de 20ste eeuw. Deze minidorpen binnen de stad staan bekend om hun rustige, kosmopolitische sfeer.

Tram 6 brengt je in minder dan 15 minuten naar de nieuwe residentiële badplaats Arabianranta, in het oosten. Vanhakaupunki (oude stad) ligt op de plaats waar de rivier zich met veel geweld in zee stort. Dat bruisende spektakel bereikt een hoogtepunt in de lente.

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