A visit to Suomenlinna sea fortress is a great idea during a sunny day sightseeing in Helsinki! You can walk around the fortress and see the different islands as well as have a picnic or grab a bite at a cafe or restaurant (but at your own risk!). In this post I’ll tell you about our sunny day in Suomenlinna.
Suomenlinna (wich stands for Finnish castle in Finnish) is a UNESCO World heritage site and is one of the very popular destinations in Helsinki.
We had a small meetup in Helsinki with some of the friends from my exchange in Seoul. There was a lot of sightseeing on the agenda and at the same time I had to find time to spend with my family and relatives. (That is how it is when you are travelling back home, right? But it was fun to meet with everyone!)
The weather was really on our side during this Saturday in May. It was sunny but not too hot to walk around. We had even more luck with us since it was a traveller’s day which meant that the ferry ticket to get to Suomenlinna sea fortress was half off!!
What to do in Suomenlinna
Walk around and enjoy the view! Bring some water and food so you can have a picnic and watch the sea from the island.
See the ruins and hop on to the different islands around to spend a day walking without realising around 20 000 steps!
Fun fact: still around 800 people live on Suomenlinna
You can also visit museums and join a walking tour around the fortress. I think it would be interesting to join a tour so you get to know more about the history of the islands defending Sweden and Russia.
There are restaurants as well but we ended up going to a cafe called Linna that offered some sausages and noodles. Honestly, this was one of the worst experiences I have had. The bread that my friend ordered aside of her sausage was frozen! And the noodles I ordered? Just like instant noodles but cost 9 euros… Of course I understand that there is a limit to what you can offer on an island and in a restaurant with only one worker, but still.
This said, I do recommend to bring your own food or maybe grab a pizza at Nikolai’s restaurant in stead!
How do you get to Suomenlinna? You get there by boat that goes from Helsinki city centre, by the market square. So it is a great idea to walk around the market and try some local foods while you are going to catch the ferry to the islands.
And yes, you can buy a ticket to visit many islands or only to visit Suomenlinna. See the official website here.
Wondering what else to do in Helsinki? Go visit the Helsinki Zoo! Or if you are visiting during winter I recommend doing these 15 things in December!
Overall a visit to Suomenlinna during a sunny day in Helsinki is a great day to spend the day.
I hope that I inspire some of you to enjoy a day like this (but with better food I hope). Enjoy!
Have you been to Suomenlinna? How was it?