Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is also known as "the White City of the Baltic Sea". This is easy to understand when you walk the streets of its well preserved 19th century centre and marvel at all the lightly coloured old "empire" style buildings.

Helsinki has some 1/2 million inhabitants (1 million in the metropolitan area, out of some 5 million Finns in all) and has a lively cultural scene as well as being the economic and administrative centre of Finland.

Most sights in Helsinki are within an easy walking distance, so there is no need to take a sightseeing bus or taxi. If you have two or more days in Helsinki, it is very nice to spend half a day on a cruise boat soaking in the sun and viewing the numerous small islands of the Helsinki archipelago.

Helsinki is situated quite far in the north, almost at the same latitude as Anchorage in Alaska. So it is no surprise the city really comes to life during the summer months. However, if the weather is good (sufficiently cold) and there is ice and snow, January to April can be stunningly beautiful as I've tried to show in this photo series. Most of the photos are taken from the small islands in front of Helsinki which are easily accessible by bridges and even ice on most winters.

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photo series and travel stories from Finland