Finding your way in Helsinki

Finding your way in Helsinki is easy. The city is friendly to pedestrians, and the main sites and attractions in the city centre can be easily reached by foot. Public transport services are extensive and trusted. According to a European public transport customer satisfaction survey, Helsinki enjoys the continent’s highest resident approval rating for public transport.

A dense network of trams and buses serves the city centre, and other areas are served by buses, metro rail and commuter trains. There is a strong emphasis on rail, and two-thirds of the public transport to the central business district in by rail. About 72 per cent of all people commuting to the Helsinki city centre during the morning peak hours use public transport. The network of trams and the existing metro rail system are being expanded.

Helsinki’s bicycle path network is fairly comprehensive allowing uninterrupted rides through the city. The network exceeds 1,000 kilometres inside the Helsinki city limits, half of it in green areas, and the Helsinki region offers vastly more paths.

Taxis are easy to book through a central phone service. They are reliable, charge uniform metered fees and accept cards.

Parking in the city centre is largely focused in underground parking garages. Street parking in the centre is subject to a charge during workdays and on Saturdays.

Helsinki’s Suomenlinna islands are served by a year-round commuter ferry, and many of Helsinki’s islands can be reached by waterbuses in summer.

The Helsinki International Airport is less than 30 minutes away from the city centre. The Port of Helsinki annually serves more than 10 million passengers, en route between Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Germany and Poland, as well as hundreds of international cruise ships that bring close to half a million cruise passengers to Helsinki.

Online resources

Several online resources and tools help Helsinki metropolitan area residents and visitors to find their way around the area, find information about various forms of transport and locate services.

Maps of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa can be found online, and the service allows users to search the site by address or point of interest.

The regional Journey Planner finds the public transport routes and alternatives in the metropolitan area. It is one of the most popular online services in Finland.

One of the tools that help residents and visitors to find services shows the locations of wireless internet service, WLAN hotspots. The Service Map locates public services on a map including education, social and health care services, cultural and recreational offerings, and emergency and rescue services.