Helsinki for Eurovision fans: 7 themes across the city
Finland returns to Eurovision 2026 with a live violin. And a lot of fire. Yep, Finland has always done Eurovision its own way. From Lordi’s monster rock victory to Käärijä’s neon green bolero, the country’s entries have become part of the contest’s legend. Each act on this list opens a door to a different scene of the city. Walk through as many as you can.
1) Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen – “Liekinheitin” (2026)
A live violin on the Eurovision stage should be a given – yet it took until 2026 to get the green light. Finland’s entry made it so. Finnish violinist virtuoso Linda Lampenius is wielding the bow. Pop Idol alumnus Pete Parkkonen is bringing the pop credentials. Someone else has a box of matches, evidently. Lampenius is the real silvery surprise. She is exactly the kind of musician Helsinki produces: virtuosic, versatile and classically trained.
For violin action of the less flamey variety, Helsinki delivers three rooms worth knowing. The Helsinki Music Centre is the city’s main concert hall and the natural home of the fiddle – and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic. A short walk away, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet is where Lampenius herself once held a chair in the orchestra. Between them sits Finlandia Hall, Alvar Aalto’s landmark building on the edge of Töölönlahti Bay. One of the most beautiful rooms in the city. Like it even more? Stay overnight.
Like a local: Like Lampenius, some of Finland’s best musicians have graduated from Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, one of Europe’s largest music academies.
2) Lordi – “Hard Rock Hallelujah” (2006)
Nobody saw it coming. In 2006, a group of Finns in monster masks and pyrotechnics won Eurovision. Grrrr. The country erupted – 90,000 people descended on Helsinki’s Market Square in one of the great torilla tavataan moments. Say what? Finns celebrating en masse when something great happens. Helsinki hosted the contest the following year, and the city’s ears have been ringing ever since.
The spirit of dressing up – costume optional – and belting it out runs deep here. Helsinki’s karaoke scene is genuinely special. Take Karaoke Bar Restroom and Populus, for example, the kind of places where a Eurovision anthem delivered at full volume is not just tolerated but outright expected. Hei hei, shy Finn stereotype. If you’ve ever wanted to perform “Hard Rock Hallelujah” to a room of appreciative strangers… check one-two.
Like a local: Karaoke Bar Restroom is housed in a former public restroom built for the 1952 Summer Olympics. Yes, really.
3) Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha” (2023)
Second place in 2023, but you wouldn’t have known it from Helsinki’s reaction. Viewing parties turned into dancefloors, “it’s crazy, it’s party” became a mood, and the neon green bolero became the most recognisable garment in Finnish pop history.
Don’t be green with envy. Step outside the Helsinki border to the neighbouring city Vantaa and take a detour to Tikkurila. Here a Käärijä mural on Tikkuraitti has become a pilgrimage stop for fans. Tongue-out selfie, then head on over to the Kallio and Vallila neighbourhoods.
Why? These are home to the kind of night Käärijä soundtracks: loud, unpretentious, and still going at 4 am. Kaiku is the area’s raw, industrial club, with DJ sets that lean hard and a crowd that means it. Next door in Vallila, one of the coolest hoods in the world, Ääniwalli offers live music alongside the late-night raving. Merely the tip of the clubbing iceberg. Green bolero, maybe. Good time, mandatory.
Like a local: Kaiku was once named among the best clubs in Europe by the Guardian.
Cha Cha Cha
Sing-along
4) Erika Vikman – “Ich Komme” (2025)
Finland’s 2025 entry arrived in the form of a former tango queen turned pop provocateur. Retro glam. Theatrical. Completely unapologetic.
Helsinki has always had a strong LGBTQ+ scene, and Vikman’s brand of fearless performance finds its natural home here. Hercules Gay Nightclub – known locally as Herkku – is the obvious go-to. Drag shows, dancefloor energy, leather, glitter and everyone welcome. During Eurovision week the programme is pumping – though the energy of a regular weekend matches it. Nearby, Mann’s Street has been around even longer: the city’s only gay karaoke bar.
Like a local: Hercules has a surprisingly nomadic history since opening in 2000 and has occupied three different locations over the years.
5) KAJ – “Bara Bada Bastu” (2025)
1,2,3…sauna! A Finnish group representing Sweden, singing about saunas. It shouldn’t work as a Eurovision entry – and yet KAJ won hearts on both sides of the Baltic in 2025 with exactly that. The sauna is Finland’s most honest cultural export – stripped down, if you will – and Helsinki has recently embraced a new wave of public saunas that are social, stylish and very much worth your time. And sweat.
Löyly is the standout. An otherworldly wooden edifice housing shared sauna experiences and a terrace that transforms into a summer party. Allas Pool is more central; urban steam with a view over Helsinki Cathedral and Allas Live concerts through the summer. Next door, a ferris wheel. Nothing exceptional there, you say. Try an observation wheel with a sauna gondola. One please! For something more down to earth, the wood-fired Sompasauna on Mustikkamaa island. No-frills, no charge, no worries. BYO beer. Very no worries. Four saunas, four very different Helsinkis.
Like a local: Kotiharjun Sauna is Helsinki’s only remaining traditional wood-heated neighborhood sauna, keeping the fire going since 1928.
6) Windows95man – “No Rules!” (2024)
Teemu Keisteri arrived at Eurovision 2024 inside a denim egg, armed with 90s computer aesthetics and a stage persona seemingly assembled entirely from charity shop finds. He finished 19th and nobody cared. The look left a lasting impression.
Kallio is where you find it. The neighbourhood’s second-hand scene is the best in the city: Almost New, and Hoochie Mama Jane have you sorted – ripped denim and whatever else Keisteri’s wardrobe suggests. No rules! Once you’re suitably clad, tweak your ‘tasche and you’re ready for one of the many boozy brunches the hood is known for. Try Harju8, Way Bakery or dive into a multitude of options city-wide.
Like a local: Prior to his Eurovision breakthrough, Windows95man was a regular fixture at Flow Festival. Still is.
7) Blind Channel – “Dark Side” (2021)
Although originally from up north, Blind Channel’s sixth place finish in 2021 underlined something fundamentally Helsinkian – in black ink, of course. The city’s hard rock and heavy metal scene is far from underground here. How could it be, in a country with the most metal bands per capita in the world?
Blind Channel served it with an undeniable pop sheen. But for something less polished, there’s plenty to raise the horns to. The Riff – a pub owned by Jussi69 of The 69 Eyes – is loud, serious about hard rock, and run by someone who has lived it. Tavastia is the city’s most storied live venue, the stage where notable heavy Finnish outfits have slayed on their way to global domination. On The Rocks is also a great venue for heavy sounds. How heavy? Try doubling as the official after party hangout for Tuska, the biggest heavy metal festival in Northern Europe. That heavy.
Like a local: Heavy metal is a church in Helsinki – quite literally. Temppeliaukio Church hosted Finland’s first Heavy Mass in 2006, drawing crowds so large they couldn’t all fit inside.
