By Johanna Lemola

A rich and rewarding part of Helsinki opens beyond the city shoreline: the Helsinki archipelago, consisting of about 300 islands, many of them open to the public. The islands offer a splendid gateway to the Baltic Sea nature. They also offer services both for the leisurely visitor and for the more active outdoors person.

Even the more developed islands have waterfronts in their original state, as well as paths for hiking and places for picnicking – Suomenlinna with the Unesco World Heritage fortress, Mustikkamaa with adjoining Korkeasaari and Helsinki Zoo, and Seurasaari with an open-air museum.

Pihlajasaari, a 15-minute ferryboat ride away from the city, is marked by magnificent natural formations, rough and rocky waterfronts, and a sandy beach.

Kaunissaari lies more than 22 kilometres from Helsinki – close to an hour’s ferryboat ride – almost in the open sea. The island offers swimming, boating, public saunas, cooking shelters, fishing and camping.

Nowhere is the diversity of the Baltic Sea nature more tangible than on the Harakka island just a stone’s throw off the Kaivopuisto park’s shoreline. The island is a rich bird nesting area and home to a tremendous variety of flora. Visitors to Harakka move on marked nature trails and can join guided nature tours, and they can pop into exhibits by the island’s resident artists. A sea life exhibition greets visitors at the entrance to the island, and a nature school run by the City of Helsinki Environment Centre educates children in the Baltic Sea.

Helsinki islands also offer culinary experiences. A number of the islands close to the shoreline host restaurants that originally belonged to sailing clubs. These restaurants are architectural landmarks of the maritime Helsinki. The best known of them is the Art Nouveau villa of the venerable NJK sailing club dating back to 1861. Located on Valkosaari in Helsinki’s South Harbour, the NJK restaurant is easily visible from the city centre. The most picturesque of the restaurants is the small wooden villa of the HTPS sailing club on Pyysaari in eastern Helsinki.

Find out more about the islands of Helsinki and Espoo in an archipelago guide available online here.

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