FOLLOW US

World Travel Guide > Guides > Europe > Finland > Helsinki

Local time Helsinki

Currency

Shopping in Helsinki

Helsinki is wonderful for keen shoppers, offering a vast selection of items to take home.

Key areas

Helsinki’s main shopping streets are Mannerheimintie, Pohjoisesplanadi, Aleksanterinkatu and Fredrikinkatu. All the big names in Finnish design can be found at the boutiques around Esplanad Park and the Design District, including Artek (Alvar Aalto's store), Aarikka (jewellery), Design Forum Finland (cutting-edge furniture and accessory design), Littala (Arabia ceramics) and Marimekko (fashion). For smaller, one-off boutiques, Fredrikinkatu is the street for nick-nacks and fashion and Annankatu for antique furniture. Fans of Finland’s most famous cartoon characters should visit the Moomin Shops inside the city malls.

Markets

The biggest and best market in Helsinki is held at the Kauppatori, a cobbled market square specialising in seasonal Finnish foodstuffs and souvenirs located on the seafront at the northern end of Eteläsatama harbour. Although partly a souvenir market, it is also a bustling produce market. Late summer and autumn bring huge piles of strawberries, lingonberries, cloudberries and blueberries, and food stalls serve up all sorts of Finnish delicacies, including local sausages, herring and salmon and reindeer meat. Nearby is the covered Hakaniemi Market Hall, with stores selling more regional delicacies, including reindeer salami and bear pâté. At the end of one of Helsinki's most upmarket streets, the Bulevardi, is the Hietalahti Flea Market, where rich Helsinkiläiset discard their designer gear and bric-a-brac (closed Sunday). It’s great fun sorting through the piles of hand-me-downs. Nearby are antique and art shops.

Shopping centres

The main shopping centres in Helsinki are Forum, Mannerheimintie 20; Kluuvi, Aleksanterinkatu 9, and Kamppi, Urho Kekkosen katu 1. More glamorous brands are on offer at Kämp Galleria, Pohjoisesplanadi 33, adjacent to the swish hotel of the same name. Stockmann, Aleksanterinkatu 52, and Sokos, Mannerheimintie 9, are the best known department stores. Another one-stop shop for retail therapy is Itäkeskus, the largest shopping centre in Finland, accessible via a 14-minute metro-ride from central Helsinki.

Opening hours

Shops in Helsinki are generally open on weekdays from 0900 to 1800 and Saturdays from 0900 to 1300/1400. Department stores and shopping centres open on weekdays from 0900 to 2100 and on Saturdays from 0900 to 1800.

Souvenirs

There is a lot of choice when it comes to souvenirs: look out for carved wooden bowls, Lapp hunting knives, reindeer skins, Finnish woollens, jewellery, homeware, furniture and textiles.

Tax information

VAT, charged at 17% or 22% dependent on the type of goods, is included in the marked price. Non-EU residents can claim 10-16% tax back upon departure, for items over €40 purchased from stores with the 'Tax Free for Visitors' sign. Presentation of receipts and a passport will be required.

A digital image at https://illuminoto.com

Related Articles

How Helsinki sparked a restaurant revolution

Gavin Haines visits an abandoned abattoir in Helsinki, which is changing the concept of eating out for millions of diners.

Book Accommodation

Featured Hotels

SEE MORE

CheapSleep Helsinki

This hostel does what it says on the tin, offering affordable accommodation in a notoriously expensive city. The humorous tagline of its website sums it up: "Sleep cheap, stay rich". With 10 private rooms and 118 dorm beds, take your pick from this modern, comfortable and clean hostel, which benefitted from a refurb in 2012. There's free Wi-Fi throughout, a supermarket on the ground floor, kitchen, 24-hour reception and free lockers.

Crowne Plaza

The 349-room Crowne Plaza benefits from an excellent location opposite the Finnish National Opera on Mannerheimintie close to most of the attractions in Helsinki. The hotel offers wireless internet access in all areas. Creature comforts include saunas a spa and pool and a restaurant and bar.

Holiday Inn Helsinki City Centre

The thoroughly modern Holiday Inn in Helsinki benefits from an excellent location in the centre of Helsinki, next to the train station, the terminus for buses from the airport and the new music centre. There are 174 rooms and suites with modern amenities, plus a restaurant and lobby bar. There's also a gym and a kids play area.

Hilton Helsinki Strand

Just north of the centre, in the Hakaniemi district, the Hilton Helsinki Strand makes the most of the water views from its rooms, restaurant and rooftop sauna, pool and gym complex. The 192 rooms have every convenience, including wireless internet access, and the Helsinki hotel offers excellent services for families, including a babysitting service. The hotel is less than a mile from shops and entertainment areas in the city.

Hotel Kämp

Founded in 1887, the Hotel Kämp has attracted high fliers for more than a century, and its public areas swim with period charm. Restored throughout, the Helsinki hotel offers 179 spacious rooms with luxurious amenities and high-quality dining at the elegant Kämp Café Brasserie & Bar and Yume, which serves innovative Japanese/Scandinavian fusion cuisine. Other facilities include a gym, spa, sauna suite and a stylish bar and nightclub. The hotel has five meeting and conference rooms, plus the flamboyant Mirror Room, with banqueting space for 120.

Hotel Helka

Housed in a building designed by architect Wivi Lönn in 1928 and furnished with furniture designed by Alvar Alto, this inexpensive and comfortable Helsinki hotel also scores points for its convenient location, just west of the centre. Refurbished throughout in 2006, Hotel Helka has 150 rooms, sauna facilities, a restaurant and bar. Limited parking spaces are available.