An active city

Helsinki is internationally known for sports, catering for the needs of both professional and amateur sportspeople as well as those that seek to maintain an active lifestyle. The city promotes wellbeing by offering its citizens extensive opportunities for sports, both indoors and outdoors throughout the year.

Sports clubs in Helsinki organize activities in a wide array of sports. The most popular are ice hockey and football, and the list covers well over one hundred other sports.

Helsinki’s large green areas including the Central Park and the sea offer ample opportunities for physical activity: walking including popular Nordic walking, running, jogging, hiking, bicycling, roller skating, swimming, boating and fishing. The city claims 50,000 amateur fishermen, more than any other capital city in Europe.

The City organizes a number of community sports activities and maintains a variety and extensive sports facilities. These facilities include more than 200 km of tracks for walking, jogging and running, close to 200 km of ski tracks in winter, some 30 indoor sports halls, some 10 indoor ice rinks and 80 outdoor ice rinks, 14 indoor swimming halls and 2 outdoor pools in summer, close to 30 beaches, and 12,000 boat berths.

Ice Park is a downtown winter-time skating rink on Railway Square, complete with skate rental and a heated café.

Helsinki people are active bicyclists especially in summer. Helsinki’s bicycle path network exceeds 1,000 kilometres inside the Helsinki city limits. The city promotes bicycling with many services, including a Journey Planner for Cycling.

One of the exotic sports in Helsinki is ice swimming, and Helsinki even hosts ice swimming world championships. The City maintains some 15 ice swimming sites throughout the city.

Golf is increasingly popular in Helsinki. The city has two full-sized golf courses, one in Vuosaari, as well as training courses in Laajasalo and Paloheinä.

Campers find a convenient site inside the city: Rastila Camping is one of the most popular camping sites in Finland, located by the seaside and accessible by metro rail. The Nuuksio National Park offers camping in wilderness just half an hour from the city by car.

Helsinki offers a variety of other outdoor recreational opportunities. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Bicycling and Outdoor Map shows many of these opportunities. The print version of the map is available from city libraries and City of Helsinki information points including Virka Info at the City Hall.

The City of Helsinki’s sports function is managed by the Sports Department. The department provides and maintains sports facilities and organizes activities. The department also rents facilities for sports, conference rooms and saunas.