Exploring Helsinki, Finland: What to see, where to eat, what to do

For seven consecutive years, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world, and summer is the brightest, cheeriest season to visit its capital. At its peak, Helsinki basks in nearly 19 hours of daylight, which is more than enough time to explore the stunning architecture of the new central library, browse treasure-filled shops in the Design District, sweat in a wood-burning sauna, sip cocktails on a schooner and trek across islands in the surrounding archipelago. Meanwhile, ongoing construction along the waterfront continues to transform industrial zones into livable, residential neighborhoods in this progressive, design-focused city.

Continue the tour at Amos Rex, a new museum (known as the Amos Anderson Art Museum before it moved to its present location) that opened in a functionalist building from the 1930s on Lasipalatsi Square. Today the square is dominated by futuristic, undulating domes — each with a spherical skylight for the museum’s subterranean galleries below — and a free temporary exhibition of giant, moss-green elfin figures by the Finnish sculptor Kim Simonsson (through Oct 20). Inside the museum (admission 20 euros, or about US$22), current exhibitions include post-Impressionist paintings by the Finnish artist Magnus Enckell and an experiential installation with beds and silicone “wombs” by the European artist collective Keiken. Visitors this fall should also stop at the nearby HAM Helsinki Art Museum to see “Paradise,” an unprecedented exhibition of Tove Jansson’s large-scale public paintings, which is part of the 80th anniversary celebration of the Moomins, the whimsical, hippo-like trolls that Jansson created (Oct 25 through April 6, 2025; 18 euros). The museum also holds a small permanent collection of her murals.