Finland
Helsinki
Away-day guide
unverified draftHelsinki is small, calm and very easy to get around, with the sea at the end of most streets and daylight until midnight in high summer. It is not a cheap weekend — beer is the priciest in this guide — but the ground is a ten-minute tram ride from the centre and Tallinn is two hours away by boat if you want to make more of the trip.
🚺 To Töölö Football Stadium
The Bolt Arena sits on Urheilukatu in Töölö, immediately beside the Olympic Stadium. Take a tram up Mannerheimintie and get off at Auroran sairaala or the Olympic Stadium stop, then walk five minutes; from the Central Station it is a 25-minute walk through Töölönlahti park.
- Nearest stop
- Auroran sairaala / Olympiastadion tram stops on Mannerheimintie
- Lines
- Trams 2, 4 and 10 along Mannerheimintie; several bus routes to Töölön halli
- Walk from centre
- 25 min
- Parking
- Very limited parking around Töölö and it is residential and controlled — take a tram or walk.
Public transport
HSL runs the metro, trams, buses, commuter trains and the Suomenlinna ferry on one integrated ticket. Buy in the HSL app, which is the cheapest and simplest route, or tap a contactless card at the reader; an AB-zone single covers the city for 80 minutes and a day ticket is about €9, worth it from three journeys. The airport needs an ABC ticket. Trams are the way to see the place and cover everywhere a visitor goes; the centre itself is walkable end to end in 25 minutes. City bikes appear from spring to autumn and are cheap for short hops.
Typical prices
- Beer (0.5L)
- EUR 8
- Coffee
- EUR 4.5
- Meal, mid-range
- EUR 25
- Taxi from airport
- EUR 50
- Single transit ticket
- EUR 3.1
✈ Airports & cheaper alternatives
- Helsinki-Vantaa Airport HEL primary 18 km Ring-rail trains I and P run from beneath the terminal to Central Station in about 30 minutes; you need an ABC ticket (roughly €4.60). Bus 615 is slower and the same idea. A taxi is €45–55. Finnair's hub with plenty of UK routes, plus Norwegian and Ryanair. The train makes the transfer painless at any hour.
- Tallinn Airport TLL alternative 100 km Tram or bus into Tallinn, then a Tallink, Viking or Eckerö ferry across the Gulf of Finland — two hours to the terminals in central Helsinki, €20–40 depending on sailing. The budget fan's route: Ryanair and Wizz fares to Tallinn are often a fraction of the Helsinki price, and Tallinn is a good night out in its own right. Allow a full half-day each way and book the ferry in advance for a match evening.
🍺 Supporters' pubs
HJK Helsinki
Home fans: HJK's support gathers in Töölö near the ground and around the bars of Kamppi and the centre beforehand; the club's own bar area at the stadium opens well before kick-off and is the closest thing to a supporters' pub.
Away fans: Anywhere in the centre works — Bryggeri and Teerenpeli in the middle, Kallio's cheaper bars a tram ride north. Finnish football has no hostility to away fans; you can wear colours anywhere in this city without a second look.
Finland's biggest club and regular European qualifier, playing at the compact Bolt Arena in Töölö rather than the neighbouring Olympic Stadium.
Sourced from supporters' forums — always follow your club's and police advice for the fixture.
Nightlife
Kallio, just north of the centre, is the cheap and unpretentious district — Roskapankki is the famously no-frills bar, and the whole of Helsinginkatu and Vaasankatu is lined with places charging a euro or two less than the centre. Punavuori and the Design District are smarter, with cocktail bars and craft beer. Bryggeri Helsinki brews on site in the centre; Teerenpeli is the reliable Finnish chain for a decent pint. Karaoke is a national obsession and not remotely ironic — Kallio has plenty of it. Bars shut at 02:00, later at weekends, and Finns start early.
Food & drink
Salmon soup (lohikeitto) with rye bread is the thing to order, along with fried herring, reindeer if you fancy it, and Karelian pies (karjalanpiirakka) with egg butter for breakfast. The Old Market Hall on the harbour and the Hakaniemi Market Hall both do good, quick sit-down food. In summer the market square sells new potatoes, peas and berries by the litre. Drink Finnish lagers (Karhu, Lapin Kulta, Olvi), an increasingly good craft scene, and try salmiakki liquorice vodka once — for research.
Cheap eats & beer
Weekday lunch is the value meal here: buffets and lounas deals across the city run €11–14 including salad, bread and coffee, against €25-plus for the same food at night. Otherwise it is kebab-pizza joints (about €10 and a Finnish institution in their own right), Fafa's for falafel, and the market halls. A pint in a bar is €7.50–9; Kallio shaves a euro or two off, and happy hours run early evening. Supermarkets sell beer and cider up to 8% until 21:00, which is far cheaper than a bar — anything stronger comes from Alko, which closes at 18:00 on Saturday and does not open on Sunday.
Staying safe
Helsinki is among the safest cities in Europe and there is essentially no risk of trouble around football. What you will meet is drunkenness: late on a Friday and Saturday the centre and Kallio are loud, and the ferries from Tallinn bring booze cruisers back in the evening. Pickpocketing is rare but not unknown around the station. Taxis are expensive and were deregulated, so agree the fare or use an app (Bolt, Yango and 02 Taksi all operate). In July none of this matters much — it is light nearly all night and the city feels entirely benign.
On matchday
HJK play at the Bolt Arena in Töölö, the small ground next door to the 1952 Olympic Stadium, ten minutes by tram from the centre. It holds around 10,000 and European nights sell out, so buy ahead rather than turning up. Away fans get a corner section with their own gate; the atmosphere is friendly and low-key by continental standards, and Finnish stewarding is relaxed as long as nobody lights anything. Beer is sold inside but only in the licensed areas, and you cannot take it to your seat. The trams back into town after the final whistle fill instantly — the walk to the centre takes 25 minutes and is quicker.
This city guide is still being fact-checked — some details may be inaccurate.