Finding your way and getting around in Helsinki is easy. The city is friendly to pedestrians, and the main sites and attractions in the city centre can be easily reached by foot. Public transport services are extensive and trusted. According to a European study, Helsinki enjoys the continent’s highest resident approval rating for public transport.

A dense network of trams and buses serves the city centre, and other areas are served by buses, metro-rail and commuter trains. There is a strong emphasis on rail, and two-thirds of the public transport to the central business district in on rail. More than 70 per cent of all people commuting to the Helsinki city centre during the morning peak hours use public transport.

Helsinki’s bicycle path network is fairly comprehensive allowing uninterrupted rides through the city. Taxis are easy and quick to get through a central phone service, they are reliable, and charge uniform fees.

Major traffic jams and traffic breakdowns are rare. Parking in the city centre is focused in underground parking lots. Helsinki’s Suomenlinna island suburb (Sveaborg in Swedish) is served by an all-year-round commuter ferry, and many of Helsinki’s islands can be reached by commuter boats in summer.

The Helsinki-Vantaa international airport is less than 30 minutes from the city centre. The Port of Helsinki annually serves more than eight million passengers, en route between Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm and Germany, as well as hundreds of international cruise ships.

Online resources

Several online resources and tools help Helsinki metropolitan area residents and visitors to find their way around the area, locate transport and communications services, and find information about various forms of transport.

The Regional Map Service contains maps of the Helsinki metropolitan area comprising Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, and allows visitors to search the site by address or point of interest.

The regional Journey Planner allows users to find the best transport routes in the metropolitan area. It is one of the most popular online services in Finland.

Helsinki also serves residents and visitors with diverse online tools that help them to locate services. One of these tools shows the many WLAN hotspots in the city. All City of Helsinki services can be located on a map, categorized by the service including education, social and health care services, cultural and recreational offerings, and emergency and rescue services.