Helsinki Walking Tour: Discover City Secrets with a City Planner

Uncover Helsinki’s hidden secrets on a captivating walking tour with a city planner. Discover the city’s history, culture, and traditions while exploring lesser-known locations and answering intriguing questions.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Senate Square - .
  • Helsinki Cathedral - .
  • Presidential Palace - .
  • Uspenskin Cathedral (Uspenskin Katedraali) - .
  • Old Market Hall - .
  • The Esplanadi Park - .
  • Johan Ludvig Runeberg Statue - .
  • Swedish Theater (Svenska Teatern) - .
  • Helsinki Central Railway Station - .
  • Helsinki Music Centre - .
  • Central Library Oodi - .
  • Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma - .
  • Finlandia - Talo - .
  • Parliament of Finland - .
  • Amos Rex Art Museum - .
  • Mannerheimintie - .
  • Ateneum - .
  • Finnish National Theater (Suomen Kansallisteatteri) - .
What's Included
  • Local guide
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks
  • Transportation to/from attractions
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

We’ll walk together in the city center for three hours, discovering Helsinki’s secrets, learning its history, culture and traditions. Why is there a statue of a Russian Tsar on the Senate Square? Which statue is the one that seagulls hate the most? Where did they bury thousands of bodies during the plague? Why is the largest Orthodox cathedral located in a Lutheran country? Where can you eat the best salmon soup of your life? Why Finnish people still cheer for the opponents of the Swedish national football team? Why do Helsinkians have picnic on top of graves? What was the meeting point of the bohemian people of 1880s in Helsinki? How did they build a church inside a giant granite rock? Where did Lenin hide when he was running away from the Tsarist Russia? How did a Finnish architect influence generations of American architects and skyscraper designs? We will find answers to all of these questions and more, while visiting each of these less known yet important locations in Helsinki.

  • Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Location
Aleksanterinkatu 9
Aleksanterinkatu
Meeting point address: Aleksanterinkatu 9B, 00100, Helsinki. The meeting point is the corner of Aleksanterinkatu street and Kluuvikatu street, in front of Aleksanterinkatu no 9B, Nanso Clothing Store (outside). Guide will be waiting for you at this point.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(158 Ratings)
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Jennifer_b
Aug 31, 2024
Not your Standard tourist experience- so much better than that - Thoroughly enjoyed the tour with Emak, his knowledge of the founding and development of Helsinki and Finland was obvious and he was easy to talk with and he engaged with everyone in the group. I would highly recommend this tour
Review provided by Viator
Anton
Aug 30, 2024
A curious and chill tour - The guide is very friendly and chill. I enjoyed learning about Helsinki history and facts about Finnish culture. I also like the we spent time discussing languages and the history of Finnish and Sweden in this country.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Megan_c
Aug 15, 2024
An intersting tour - We loved this wander through Helsinki learning about its history and seeing some interesting places. Kids 16 & 13 loved it too.
Review provided by Viator
Ericab402
Jul 25, 2024
Fantastic Experience! - Emek was an incredible tour guide! We thoroughly enjoyed all the history and knowledge he shared with us. We just wish we could have spent longer with him. Next time we are in Helsinki, we'll do another tour with him. HIGHLY recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
583nancyw
Jul 23, 2024
Terrific city tour - A city planner doing a tour is absolutely genius! One of the best tours I've ever been on. Emek has a wealth of information and presents it in such an interesting way with his perspective as a city planner. The tour is perfectly paced and you're able to ask as many questions as you'd like. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Escape47447540675
Jul 8, 2024
Delightful introduction to Helsinki - The tour was outstanding. The guide is extremely well learned but not pedantic. The format is perfect (for me): small groups and informal chats allow for flexible and adaptable discoveries. We walked for a good 3 hours, taking very short standing breaks to let the guide answer our questions or discuss a place or topic. The path seemed improvised, adapted based on our interactions, but it flowed coherently. It is obvious that Emek knows his town, and he loves his town. I’d walk with him for days. A delightful introduction to Helsinki, a surprising and fascinating city. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
337alliep
Jul 5, 2024
Engaging and knowledgeable tour guide - Emek was extremely knowledgeable and lead a very engaging tour. Definitely one of the best city tours I've ever done. A great price-value!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Megancy8024qk
Jul 2, 2024
Wonderful wander around Helsinki - We had a wonderful morning learning all about Helsinki and Finland. My favourite stop was the library which I never would have thought to visit otherwise. Loved every minute. Guide was fantastic.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Fortheloveoftravel7
Jul 1, 2024
Amazing!!!! - AMAZING!! A must do. Our guide was excellent, very knowledgeable, and friendly. Went to the most important sites and he knew a lot about it. Afterwards he even texted us restaurant recommendations, etc.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Daniel_g
Jun 17, 2024
Excellent tour and very pleasant afternoon. - Our tour guide was excellent. He was a former lecturer at the university, spoke excellent english, and was extremely knowledgable about every topic we expressed interest in . He could address the history, cultural mores, Finnish language structure, political situation, etc. with equal ease. He was also extremely easy to be with and had a great sense of humor. We had a great tour of the city and came away with a much greater understand of the Finland.
Review provided by Viator
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September 2024
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