Essential Helsinki Free Tour - 2024/25
Hello stranger! We're Ana, Daniel, Ed, Paco and Valeria here to take you on a journey through Helsinki! We're passionate about Helsinki's culture, history and architecture, we love showing people around and showing off the essential sights as well as the quirks of our new hometown. We're the ones with the pink umbrellas, see you in the square!
Pickup
University of Helsinki, Senate Square Entrance Guides with a pink umbrella and name badge.
Description
**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR RECENT 5 STAR REVIEWS! TIMES ARE DIFFICULT IN THE FREE TOUR INDUSTRY, SO WE REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR POSITIVE FEEDBACK. WE WILL TRY TO KEEP GOING FOR AS LONG AS WE CAN!**
Welcome to Helsinki, the capital of the happiest country in the world for 7 years in a row!
During the tour, we will get to know the history of Helsinki and Finland in a dynamic and fun way, walking through the most emblematic parts of the city. The tour starts at the famous and historic Senate Square - where the Helsinki Cathedral, the University of Helsinki and the old Senate are located. We will learn about the country's past and how Helsinki went from being a small fishing village into a great capital.
We explore the National Bank of Finland and the House of the Estates. We will also reflect on the evolution of the local language, Finnish.
Before reaching the port and the Market Square, we will walk through the oldest quarter of the city, and see the largest Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe.
In the Market Square we will talk about Finnish food culture, and Finnish cultural heritage: the sauna. Next to the market square is the famous promenade de la Esplanade, inspired by the Champs Elysees in Paris. Past the park, we will visit the statue of the poet of Finland's national poet and the connection it has with Tolkien.
Finally, the tour will conclude at the most modern part of the city - where we will explore a modern office building, Sanamatalo, see Helsinki's most recently built architectural buildings, and we will discuss Oodi library - the perfect place to grab a coffee after the tour!
Finland is known to the world for its education system, welfare state, and generous taxes. We will be covering these topics during tour stops as well as giving clues as to why Finland is the happiest country in the world, and exploring other cultural nuances and anecdotes.
We look forward to showing you all that Helsinki has to offer!