Helsinki Walking Tour

Private tour
Duration: 3 h
Intense walking
Multiple languages

Overview

Three hours on foot and one tram ride are enough to understand Helsinki, a city small enough to cross on your own legs and dense enough to hold a neoclassical square, an Orthodox cathedral and a church cut into solid rock within a few blocks of each other. Your guide sets the route around what you want to see and leaves you at the Market Square when the time is up.

The tour covers:

A tram or bus ride into the centre, tickets included
The Rock Church, admission included
Esplanadi, the Central Station and Uspenski Cathedral
The Presidential Palace, the Opera and the Kiasma museum
Senate Square, the Lutheran cathedral and the Market Square

Entry to the Rock Church cannot be guaranteed during religious services.

Please note that the tour order and the time spent at each venue may vary.

What you will see

Three hours on foot with a private guide, tram tickets included
A tram ride through the city, the way locals get about
The Rock Church, blasted into granite and roofed with copper
Senate Square, the white cathedral and the Orthodox Uspenski
The Market Square, where the tour ends among the food stalls

Itinerary

Meeting by the ship

Meeting by the ship, outside the port area. The start time of the tour is given approximately and will be adjusted depending on your ship arrival time. The exact meeting time will be specified on your confirmation letter.
Tram into the city

A ride into the centre on a tram or bus, which is how the city actually travels and a good first look at it.
Rock Church

A visit to Temppeliaukio, the church quarried straight down into the granite of the square in 1969 to a design by the brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen. The walls are the bare blasted rock, the dome is a coil of copper strip twenty-two kilometres long, and daylight falls in through one hundred and eighty skylights around its rim. The acoustics are so good that it is used as a concert hall as often as a church.
Esplanadi and the city centre

A walk down Esplanadi, the promenade of 1812 that Finns treat as their front garden, past the Central Station of 1919, Eliel Saarinen's granite landmark with its four stone lantern carriers, and on to Uspenski Cathedral, the red-brick Orthodox church of 1868 that is the largest in western Europe.
Presidential Palace and the museums

The Presidential Palace on the harbour front, the National Opera and Steven Holl's Kiasma museum of contemporary art, finished in 1998 and still argued over.
Senate Square

Senate Square, the neoclassical centre Carl Ludvig Engel designed in the 1830s and 1840s, with the white Lutheran cathedral above its wide flight of steps, the university and the government palace around it, and the statue of Alexander II at its heart.
Market Square

The tour ends at the Market Square by the water, among stalls of smoked fish, berries and crafts, with the Havis Amanda fountain of 1908 on the corner. From here you can take a taxi, a tram or the shuttle back to your ship.

Price includes

Professional guide for 3 hours
Pick up at the port
1h tram tickets
Admission to the Rock Church

Not included

Lunch
The transfer cost from cruise port to city center
Drop off in the port
Tips (recommended tips for guide: 10% of the tour cost, for driver: 5% of the tour cost)

Meeting point

The meeting point is located outside the port area. Please, make sure to read disembarkation instructions sent through email with other documentation.

Prices

People	Price per person
1	€382
2	€196
3	€138
4	€106
5	€86
6	€76
7	€71
8	€63

People	Price per person
9	€57
10	€52
11	€48
12	€45
13	€42
14	€40
15	€38
16	€36

Good to know

Visas and tour tickets

US and EU citizens need no visa or tour ticket to come ashore in Helsinki.

Payment

A deposit of 50% is due when you book.
The balance is due on the day of the tour, in cash (euros) or by credit card.
Full payment is due when you book a single excursion.
You receive a confirmation as soon as your online payment goes through.

Cancellation

Tell us in writing if you or anyone in your party cancels a confirmed booking.
Deposits are refunded in full up to 72 hours before the tour.
Deposits are not refunded within 72 hours of the tour.
No refund is given for a no-show, or once the tour has been paid in full.

Availability and notes

Ask us about availability at least 48 hours before your ship reaches the port.
The schedule is adjusted to the arrival time of your ship.
Entry to the Rock Church cannot be guaranteed, as services and private events sometimes close it.

Tips and discounts