Helsinki Guida

Helsinki Guide

Introduction

Since 1812 Helsinki is Finland's capital and nowdays an archetypal 21st century city, enjoying the comforts of an ultramodern infrastructure and the reassurance of its unspoilt nature.

Population

Helsinki's current population is about 560,000, but the Helsinki region with the neighboring suburban cities of Espoo and Vantaa has a population of over one million. Around 90% of the residents in Helsinki are native Finnish speakers. As usual in Finland, nearly everybody speaks English, and you commonly meet people in Helsinki who speak four languages or more.

Orientation

The county of Helsinki forms the core of Finland's largest urban area, known in Finnish as the "capital area". The Gulf of Finland lies to the south, while the posh suburban municipality of Espoo with the embedded tiny enclave of Kauniainen is to the west and the more industrialized municipality of Vantaa is to the north.

Within Helsinki itself, the city center is on the southern peninsula at the end of the city's main thoroughfare Mannerheimintie (or just Mansku). Both the central railway station and the main bus terminal are here. Shopping streets Aleksanterinkatu (or Aleksi for short) and Esplanadi (or Espa) connect to Senate Square (Senaatintori), the historical center of the city.