Guide to sustainable visit in Helsinki

City life at Oodi's summer terrace

Filling water bottles at Flow Festival in Helsinki

Walking on Vallisaari

Little child in a sunflower field in Helsinki

10 ways to enjoy the local nature in Helsinki

Birdwatching locations in Helsinki

Farm and nature experiences in and around Helsinki

Helsinki’s vegan restaurants and cafés

Helsinki’s most stunning libraries

Explore nature within 15 minutes of central Helsinki

Seurasaari - diverse nature and an open-air museum

Accessible nature experiences in and around Helsinki

Vallisaari - untamed nature and history

Helsinki is surrounded by nature

Vegan lunches in Helsinki

Walking tour: Vallila wooden houses and cosy restaurants

Restaurant and food delights inside Helsinki’s market halls

Think Sustainably!

Some great Helsinki sights and places:

Covering a thousand hectares, the Central Park runs ten kilometres from south to north, starting near the city centre in Laakso and ending in Haltiala in the northern outskirts of the city. In the city centre, the park consists of mainly recreational forests, while in Haltiala there are primeval forests and agricultural landscapes. There are four nature reserves in the park: the deciduous forests in Pitkäkoski and Ruutinkoski, Haltiala primeval forest and Niskala arboretum.

The Central  park is a very popular recreational area with a diverse range of environments.

1. Central Park

Uutela is the largest and most naturally diversified recreational area in East Helsinki. It includes rugged glaciated rock formations, coastal scenes bordered by flood meadows and alder trees, forest and marshland, old summer houses, and the historically important features and grazing lands of Skata Farm. The nature trail at Uutela consists of two walking tours of differing length forming a figure 8 pattern. There are two cooking shelters and a toilet for visitors to use.

2. Uutela Nature Trail

Oodi is Helsinki's new Central Library and a living meeting place in the city centre on the Kansalaistori Square. Oodi is a venue for events, a house of reading and a diverse urban experience. It will provide its users with knowledge, new skills and stories, and will be an easy place to access for learning, story immersion, work and relaxation. Oodi is a library of a new era, a living and functional meeting place open for all.

3. Oodi, Helsinki Central Library

Kallio library is a public library part of the Helsinki City Library and located in Kallio district. The library building in late art nouveau style with classical influences was designed by Finnish architect Karl Hård af Segerstad in 1912, and is the fourth oldest of library building in Finland. There are over 100 000 volumes in the library, of which 80 000 are books.

4. Kallio library

The island of Vallisaari between Santahamina and Suomenlinna opened up to the public in May 2016. 

5. Vallisaari

Lammassaari is a recreational island close to Vanhankaupunginkoski rapids near Arabianranta, next to Kuusiluoto. Accessible duckboards (a path made of wooden planks) begin from Pornaistenniemi. Together with the nature trail Lap of Nature, the duckboards form an accessible recreational path of approx. 3,5km.

Lammassaari is part of the Viikki-Vanhankaupunginlahti nature reserve. All visitors should respect the peace of nature both inside the nature protection area as well as in the surrounding green areas. Lammassaari is a perfect place for nature hikes and bird watching while there are thousands of migrating birds in the area every spring and autumn.

Please notice that there are private cottages in the area and walking in the area should be on marked paths only.

Though the name Lammassaari, meaning "sheep island" in Finnish, sheep can't be found here but on the nearby Kuusiluoto island instead (in summertime).

6. Lammassaari

Kaunissaari (in Sipoo) is the easternmost recreational island of Helsinki. 

7. Kaunissaari

Pikkukoski beach is a popular, sandy beach in Oulunkylä.

Services on the Pikkukoski beach include cabin,shower, toilet, weightlifting area, basketball and volleyball ground and children's playground.

The City of Helsinki supervises the beach during the swimming season.

8. Pikkukoski beach

Puu-Käpylä is a wooden garden city built in the early 1920's for the working class. Architects for the area were Martti Välikangas and Akseli Toivanen. The planting plan for the area was designed by Elisabeth Koch.

9. Puu-Käpylä wooden house district

Pihlajasaari is a former villa island that is now a versatile outdoor recreation area. 

10. Pihlajasaari Island

Advanced search

Helsinki's goal is to be a pioneer in sustainable tourism, and we want to encourage our visitors to be responsible as well. With this short guide, you’ll learn how you can make more sustainable choices while visiting Helsinki....