09.00: Café Engel, Aleksanterinkatu 26. Start your day in the very heart of Helsinki with a fabulous breakfast and some of the best coffee in town. The building itself dates from 1765, with the façade designed by the ubiquitous German architect Carl Ludvig Engel.
10.00: Right outside the café lies Senate Square, still the location of several key government ministries. The square dates back to 1817, when Finland had just been passed from Swedish to Russian hands, and Czar Alexander moved the capital of what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland from Turku to Helsinki. The square is overlooked by the massive Lutheran cathedral or Tuomiokirkko, completed in 1852. It is surprisingly spartan inside, but its glorious white exterior is the most photographed image in Finland. Among the neo-classical buildings designed by Engel are the University Library and the Palace of the Council of State. Wander a little way up Snellmaninkatu to the impressive House of the Estates, which now houses some functions of the Office of the Prime Minister.
11.00: From there, it is only a five-minute walk to Kauppatori, the seafront market square. Stalls sell everything from the eponymous grilled sausages to flowers and woollen socks. It is also home to some of Finland’s most agile and rapacious seagulls. From the square you will be able to see the golden spires of the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral glistening in the sun from the Katajanokka district – the gold ornamentation and incense is a fascinating contrast to the starkness of Tuomiokirkko.
12.00: You will probably be due a spot of lunch by this point, so wander up the main street of Esplanadi with its designer stores and cafés, and settle into Café Esplanad (Pohjoisesplanadi 37), a Helsinki institution famous for its enormous korvapuusti, or cinnamon buns.
13.00: From Market Square, take the ferry over to Suomenlinna island. A thousand people now live around the Sveaborg fortress (built in 1748), but most visitors come to see the traditional shipyard, the 1930s submarine Vesikko, and the Manege Military Museum, where a 1920s plane, with slightly alarming blue-on-white swastikas on each wing – the former symbol of Finland’s air force – is sometimes displayed. A favourite picnic site, the island also offers guided walks, a brew pub and restaurant.
16.00: Back on dry land, brace yourself for that most unique Finnish experience, the sauna. The 1928 Yrjönkatu swimming hall (Yrjönkatu 21) offers a beautiful setting for what is always an enjoyable experience. The fact that costumes are not required in the pool also says something of the degree to which Finns are comfortable with nudity! Private saunas are available, and the pool offers different times for men and women.
18.00: Only metres away at Yrjönkatu 26, ascend the stairs to the Ateljee bar in Hotel Torni. Designed in 1928, the hotel’s claim to fame is having hosted the Allied Control Commission after the war, which monitored Finnish compliance with the obligations of the punitive post-war settlement with the Soviets. Luminaries such as Herbert Hoover, Charles Lindbergh and… um… Lee Harvey Oswald have drunk in its rooftop bar.
19.30: For traditional Finnish food, it is hard to beat Sundmans (Eteläranta 16). This classic Engel-designed establishment serves highlights such as ice cellar terrine of salmon and ptarmigan baked in courgettes all served up in a 190-year-old house overlooking the water next to the Market Square.
22.00: Just up from Market Square is Kappeli (Eteläesplanadi 1), the perfect place for a late night drink. It has been serving drinks to artists, rebels and left-wing intellectuals since before the Finnish civil war, though now most of the rebels wear suits.
24.00: Night owls will feel totally at home in the ultra-urban bar/club of Ahjo (Bulevardi 2/4). Apart from having what have to be the most avant-garde bathrooms in Finland, it also does a stinging gin and tonic, and the staff know their way around a bottle of champagne.
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