7 Epic Day Trips from Helsinki

Finland’s capital city, Helsinki, is a delight, especially in the long, long days of early summer.  The endless daylight makes you feel like you should fill every minute and be out exploring all the time.  The city is filled with Finns (and tourists) making the most of the light nights, but it’s a relaxed kind of full, not busy and frenzied.  It’s this liveableness of Helsinki that makes it perfect as a base, to explore some of the nearby locations on a day out.  So here’s our guide to taking day trips from Helsinki.

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Moving on every day when you’re traveling is positively exhausting, and it’s so much better to stay in one place for a few days, a week, or longer and use that as your base, and simply head out for the day and come “home” to the same place.  It’s much more restful and I do think you actually see more and appreciate it more this way.  And so we stayed in Helsinki (and our itinerary for Helsinki is here) and explored from there, on day trips to explore various places. 

The 7 Best Day Trips from Helsinki

Much of what is best about Finland is out of the cities, it’s in the old towns, in the National Parks, and on the waterways that are so much a part of Finland.  Using Helsinki as a base means that you’ve got a great variety of places that you can go to just for the day, or heck actually even half a day – here’s the best of them.

1. Take a Day Trip from Helsinki to Porvoo

My first pick is the number one place to go to for a day trip from Helsinki and it’s Finland’s second oldest town, Porvoo.  It’s one of Finland’s famous “wooden towns”, still sporting the riverside wooden houses that were built in the 1760s.  This is the home of one of the founders of Finnish independence (which was won in 1917), it’s the home of Finland’s National Poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg and it’s a glorious place to visit.  This is the easiest way to visit.

Now you can easily jump on a bus from Helsinki to get here.  Or you can take a day trip and make it easy on yourself (and get an English-speaking guide to help you explore and understand Porvoo and Finland – I recommend this tour).  If you’re driving you can easily get here too, just take care to park in the right place, and display the parking disc to make sure you don’t get a ticket.  There’s more about buses to take to Porvoo, parking, things to do, and what to eat in Porvoo in my guide here.

2. Take a Day trip to Tallinn, Estonia by Ferry from Helsinki

There is something very cool about visiting another country on a day trip.  And Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city is perfect for that from Helsinki.  It’s just 2 hours across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia on the ferry.  And it’s a fabulous way to maximize your travel time too – sleep, eat, or just plain relax.  You can even upgrade on the ferry and travel in one of the Comfort Class or Business Class Lounges and make it a real treat of a day trip.  Check ticket availability here.

Visiting Tallinn from Helsinki means that you’ll get to sightsee on the way there and back as well – the views of the archipelago as you go are superb.  We first visited Tallinn in 2014 and this city is absolutely glorious and well worth the second, or third visit.  Day trips on the ferry mean that you’ll get about 10 hours to explore Tallinn.  So take a walking tour, visit the Viru Hotel and learn about the KGB (yes that KGB), and eat some amazing food at the Maiasmokk Café:   It’s a fabulous place to visit.  Book your Ferry to Tallinn here.

3. Take a day trip on the water in Helsinki’s Archipelago

The archipelago surrounding Helsinki has more than 300 islands, and spending at least some of the time on the water around here is beautiful.  There are heaps of ferries here and even if you just take the ferry to Vallisaari Fortress Island then you’ll see some of it, but for the best experience of the archipelago and a slice of Finnish life, you’ll want to head out to a smaller island, find yourself a summer cottage, have a BBQ and a sauna.  

Now that is Finnish life encapsulated.  There are a variety of ways that you can do this.  Obviously, you need to know someone with a summer cottage if you want the entire experience.  However, this day trip includes it all.  

If you prefer not to go the whole hog with the summer cottage, BBQ, and sauna, then there are other options too.  Simply buy a ferry ticket to Vallisaari Island, which is located near Suomenlinna Island.  There are a variety of departures each day from the Helsinki Market Square Keisariluodonlaituri-pier next to the Korkeasaari Zoo ferry.

4. Spend a day on the fortress island of Suomenlinna

I’m staying close to Helsinki for my next option – as I truly loved our visits to Suomenlinna.   This UNESCO  World Heritage site is just a scenic 30-minute ferry ride from Helsinki and it’s a stunning day out.   This is a great Helsinki day trip for exercise, as you can wander to your heart’s content on Suomenlinna.  Just buy a ferry ticket and head out. 

Once you get to the island, Suomenlinna is home to a famous fortress, but there is a LOT of the island to discover.  There’s more detail on why this is a UNESCO World Heritage site here. – to bring the history of the island (and there are centuries of it), then taking a guided walking tour of the island is the best option.  We spent hours here – and actually came twice during our visit to Helsinki, we loved it so much.  This small group guided tour of the city then takes you over to the fortress and provides a walking tour there as well.  It’s a great value deal with which to understand and see more of both Suomenlinna AND Helsinki.

5. Visit Turku & Naantali for the Day from Helsinki

Turku is Finland’s oldest city, dating from 1229, and it is home to an archipelago of 20,000 islets and islands.  It is a fabulously laid-back city, in Finland’s southwest it is easily reachable from Helsinki for a day trip.  Extremely close by is the waterside town of Naantali.  Not only is this gorgeous town, rated as one of the best summer towns in Finland, but it is home to one of Finland’s most famous exports – Moomin World – a theme park based on the best-selling Finnish author Tove Jansson’s books, about the Moomins.  Leaving the theme park aside, Naantali has gloriously painted wooden houses on the waterfront and fabulous places to eat and drink too. 

A trip here is like coming to another world.  So, yes, definitely take a day trip to Turku and Naantali.  You can read about Naantali in my guide to the Finland Archipelago. The best way to take a trip out here from Helsinki is to rent a car and drive, it will give you the most flexibility and it means that you’ll be able to visit both Turku and Naantali easily.  I covered what you should do while in Turku in my guide here.

6. Visit Nuuksio National Park from Helsinki

Nuuksio National Park is actually located within the boundaries of Helsinki – and that means that getting out into nature this close to the city was never easier.  You can get here easily on public transport, it’s just 90 minutes traveling that way from Helsinki.  And that means you’ll be able to visit one of Finland’s top 10 natural attractions right from the city center.  Exploring the National Park with a biologist guide is the best way to see this park, as there’s the chance to see rare wildlife, such as the Siberian flying squirrel, seen only here and in Estonia within Europe’s borders.  Check availability for this small group guided tour here.

7. Go Wild Bear Watching from Helsinki

I can’t pretend that this isn’t one of the best ever things to do.  We went to this bear house and spent the night watching for bears in the long nights of June.  And it was glorious.  Now you can book Bear Watching here 

We’ve seen bears in Alaska, and California, but never here in Europe (apart from at the Dancing Bear Rescue center in Bulgaria) so this was a magical experience.  While most wild bear-watching means that you need to spend the night in a hide, you can actually spend the night in the bear-watching house that the Bear Center has built.  It is an amazing experience.  You can read about our experiences bear watching in Finland here.

Truly once in a lifetime. Although, you know writing this I am very tempted to go again. This is available between April and October and there’s a more than 80% chance of seeing bears, which is phenomenal.  Check availability and book your dates ASAP.

Travel Tips for Finland

• Get Travel Insurance: Civitatis includes medical expenses, repatriation, theft, luggage delays. No deductibles or upfront payments. Get a quote here.
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• Rent a car to explore Finland with Discover Cars
• Get your Finnish airport transfer here with Welcome Pickups.
• Book the best tours, attractions and guides on Get Your Guide and Viator
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• Book accommodation in Finland with Booking

Final Words on the 7 Most Epic Day Trips from Helsinki

Make the most of long summer days and seemingly endless daylight and take a trip outside the city – you can be in the natural world really quickly and easily from Helsinki – and these are the best day trips to take – whether you head to a National Park, find yourself on the water, even visit another country, or perhaps spend some time in bear country, they are incredible experiences to have!

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