Finland

Many people’s idea of Finland in winter is of dark, cold snowy days when there is hardly any light at all. Many others love the idea of coming to Helsinki, this eternally cheerful little city, and enjoying the delights of the Christmas festive season – including the famous Helsinki Christmas markets.

Christmas is a time to get wrapped up nice and warm and venture out into the wonderfully illuminated and extravagantly decorated streets of Helsinki to buy yourselves some unqiue Christmas gifts and enjoy some scrumptious hospitality.

Helsinki Christmas markets get underway right at the beginning of December with the Women’s Christmas Market, held in the Vanha Satama buidling in the Katajanokka area of the city. You’ll find some really unusual craft gifts here – all made by Finnish women artisans. You can also stock up on vital ingredients for the Christmas period such as tree decorations – and fur ear muffs!

The most celebrated of all the Helsinki markets at this time of the year is the one held at the well-known Esplanade Park in the centre of the city, the St Thomas Christmas Market. This takes place for about two weeks in the middle of December and well over 120 stalls line the paths of the park. Stall holders come from all over Finland, not just from Helsinki itself. In addition to the Christmas gifts, decorations and memorabilia at the market, there is also an abundance of other hand-made items; many made from fur, iron wood – and chocolate. You will even be able to buy ice skates or sledges at this fascinating market. An extra treat in Esplanade Park, as at all Helsinki Christmas markets, is the wonderful array of foodstuffs available to either buy to take home or, indeed, eat whilst you’re here. Traditional Finnish festive foods such as roasted sugar nuts, Gingerbread Figures and succulent star-shaped pastries, filled with a deliciously thick plum jam, are the favourites – as well as the ubiquitous herring, of course.

Held at the same time as the St Thomas Market is the indoor market in the Old Student Hall. This is especially known for its food delicacies; the salmon, wild boar and various pâtés are notably appealing.

The whole of Helsinki joins in with the Christmas celebrations. The main shopping street, Aleksanterinkatu, is filled with festive cheer and Christmas Street (Joulukatu) is officially opened with a visit from Santa Claus himself at the beginning of the market season. Shops will have Christmas window displays and special events and many restaurants offer seasonal menus. You’ll find some wonderful venison, tasty rosolli (beetroot and herring salad) and some spicy sausage spcialties. For Christmas drinks, the locals love the traditional Glögi, which is a spicy mulled wine, and the specially brewed Winter Beers. Hot chocolate devotees will particularly love the Finnish version – given that little extra magic with a touch of cognac.

During December, visitors to Helsinki will also be treated to a host of other special events. These include a wide range of Christmas concerts, operatic and ballet productions and top class ice hockey matches. Helsinki, a city always well-known for the quality and variety of its night life, becomes even livelier and more welcoming during the whole of December.

So, yes Finland is cold and dark during the winter. But the warmth and sparkle of the Helsinki Christmas markets and this scintillating city mean that it is a wonderful place to go for a short break. Part of the fun is the wrapping yourself up and venturing out – and you’ll get some spectacular photographs.

The Helsinki Festival, the largest of its kind in Finland, takes place in late August to early September every year. Now attended by more than a quarter of a million annual visitors, this celebration of music, dance, theatre and all the visual arts is a festival packed full of exciting events – many of them free.

The motto of the Helsinki Festival has become ‘Art belongs to everyone’ and this is reflected by the wide variety of offerings during this rich, diverse and always lively two weeks. As far back as 1951, Helsinki held an annual Sibelius Week but, by the end of the 1960s, this was beginning to attract fewer and fewer visitors. The new, expanded Helsinki Festival beagn in 1968 and, the following year, the students of the city’s Institute of Applied Arts persuaded the authorities to introduce street theatre, circus, cinema and more modern music. Since then, the festival has gone from strength to strength – attracting some of the world’s best musicians and performers to this beautiful city.

The Festival’s main venue, and one of its highlights, is the Huvila Festival Tent, a feature of the festival for many years. All kinds of world music are showcased here during the festival – with performances from leading folk, jazz, indie and classical musicians. Indie Rock is primarily highlighted during the FLOW Festival, using two outdoor and two indoor stages and giving the opportunity to both international and local talents. The Viapori Jazz Festival, on Suomenlinna Island, has a similar impact on jazz lovers.

Each year, the Festival Dance Programme and the Stage Helsinki Theatre Festival present packed programmes, featuring premiers of new works and well-established classics. As well as these, there will be sculpture exhibitions in the parks; open-air screenings of films in Lasipalatsi Square; the Poetry Moon celebrations; the Art goes Kapakka Festival in many of the city’s restaurants; music played in churches and parks; and dancers, jugglers and even orchestras performing on street corners. Last year, nineteen different venues played host to official Festival events – and many, many more were the scenes for the impromptu performances which delight festival-goers so much.

Children are well catered for at the Helsinki Festival, with a full programme of events specifically for them as well as the opportunity of being around so much artistic excellence. The Sulvilahti Big Top is the venue for some superb music, theatre and dance productions for children – and there are many workshops and exhibitions with them in mind.

One of the most eagerly awaited events of the festival each year is the Night of the Arts, introduced in 1989, when every gallery, museum and bookshop is open until midnight or later and the whole city becomes one giant performance and carnival venue.

Helsinki – the world’s second-most northerly capital – has been described as a ‘pocket-sized metropolis’ and is a friendly, fascinating and spacious city. Surrounded by spectacular scenery, in late summer it can be breathtakingly beautiful. Containing a lively student population, it has also gained a reputation as having a thriving night life. With plentiful accommodation to suit all budgets and with an excellent public transport system, although the taxis have fairly high fares, culture lovers should find plenty to their liking at the Helsinki Festival. You’ll find more details on their website.

May 1st is a day of celebration in many countries now – but it’s doubtful if many places go quite so crazy as happens at the Helsinki Vappu! The idea of a picnic in the park with some fine food and sparkling white wine might actually sound quite refined and tasteful – and so it would be if that’s all there was to it; but Vappu is so very much more than that.

Vappu is actually Finnish for Walpurgis Day and is traditionally one of Finland’s biggest party days of the year. What was formerly a mainly upper class affair has been, since the beginning of the twentieth century, usurped by Finland’s university students and turned into a very boisterous, and extremely alcoholic, succession of street parties.

It all begins on the last evening in April, when students don their traditional ‘caps’ and make their way in their thousands to Helsinki’s Market Square where they proceed, at six o’clock in the evening, to give a good clean to the naked statue, Havis Amanda, and place the traditional white cap jauntily on her head. She was 100 years old in 1908 but this art nouveau creation of Ville Vallgren has survived quite well considering the treatment she receives every Vappu. On the way to the Market Square, the students will probably have a drink or two of the traditional sima, which is a little like mead – very alcoholic, in other words. A doughnut or two to help soak it up and then they’re off to party for the rest of the night.

On May Day itself, everyone who is able to do so makes their way to either Kaivopuisto or Kaisaniemi Park (the Swedish speakers tend to congregate in the latter) for the traditional picnic. It is quite customary to see white tablecloths laid out on the grass with elaborate candelabras and cutlery and there might well be a few wandering violinists providing appropriate background music. Don’t be surprised, though, to see balloons, streamers, party poppers and general mayhem begin to break out – and the party will just continue from there.

As May 1st has a political significance as well, there will be traditional workers’ marches (no doubt with marchers complaining about ‘students who should be working’). Finland is always likely to be unconventional, though, and so it is, even in this matter. In order to be fair and balanced, all the political parties will be on the streets – even the church-goers joins in and have a march and make some speeches.

Vappu is celebrated in all of the towns and cities of Finland, but it is in Helsinki that the annual rituals can be seen at their most joyous. It is a gloriously anarchic atmosphere – and it must take some people days to recover.

If you’re brave enough to face Vappu, then you need to know that almost nowhere will be open on the day itself – and the ‘Alko’ shops stop selling quite early on the evening before. Also, although there is good late night public transport on May Day Eve, there is a very limited service on May Day itself.

By the way, if you should fancy a visit to the cinema whilst you’re in Helsinki, the authorities have come up with a wonderful idea for after the Vappu celebrations. If you collect 20 sparkling wine or champagne bottles (trust me, it won’t take you long), then you can take them to a collection point and exchange them for a free cinema ticket!

Helsinki might sound like a long way to go just for a party but, at the beginning of May, there is much to recommend it. Often described as a ‘pocket-sized metropolis’, this friendly, spacious and fascinating city – the world’s second-most northerly capital – is surrounded by wonderful scenery and yet has a fabulous reputation for its nightlife.

With plentiful accommodation to suit all budgets and with an excellent public transport system – though the taxis are costly – it gives visitors plenty to do and see at almost any time of the year. To be in Helsinki for Vappu, however, is to guarantee yourself one tremendous party – as long as you’ve got the head for mead and sparkling wine, of course!

Although many of the most popular festivals in Finland take place in and around Helsinki, there are many other often quite idiosyncratic, or even downright bizarre, summer celebrations, that perfectly capture the essence of this remarkable country. Finnish festivals of the more unlikely kind include the World Air Guitar Championships in Oulu each September; the World Mobile Phone Throwing Championships in August in Punkaharju, eastern Finland; and, last but not least, the Wife-Carrying Championships in Sonkajärvi each July – with the prize being the wife’s weight in beer!

Fortunately, Finland also has its share of far more conventional festivals to choose from. Opera lovers will love the opportunity of visiting the Savonlinna Opera Festival during July and August; it takes place in the atmospheric Olavinlinna Castle in the city.

The Midsummer Festival on the island of Seurasaari has some spectacular bonfires and rowing events and the International Folklore Festival in Rovaniemi, also held during June, attracts many artists from around the world as well as local Finnish performers. Right in the very north of the country, the Lapland city of Sodankyla regularly hosts the Midnight Sun Film Festival which also brings in some well-known names.

Aside from the capital Helsinki, Finland’s third largest city, Tampere, also hosts more than its share of interesting festivals. In addition to a Film Festival during March and July’s Tammerfest Rock Festival, there is a Midsummer Festival in June, a fabulous Floral festival during July and August and also Salsa and Flamenco Festivals. Tampere has the advantage for air travellers of being the Finnish hub for Ryanair, so is generally easily accessible.

However, there is no avoiding the fact that most visitors to the country want to spend time in the delightfully pretty and friendly city of Helsinki, which also boasts some of the finest night life in Europe. The Helsinki Festival, held annually during the final two weeks in August, attracts upwards of a quarter of a million visitors to a visual arts festival that is totally jam-packed with exciting events. Whether your interest is in rock, folk, jazz, indie or classical music – as well as art, dance, theatre, sculpture and film – you will find an abundance of quality at the Helsinki Festival.

Helsinki is host to a very different kind of extravaganza on May 1st each year, when the Vappu festivities take place. This is undoubtedly the city’s biggest party of the year and the fabulously anarchic rituals provide for an unforgettable experience.

Travelling up to the Finnish Lapland region has become easier during the past few years and many families now take the opportunity of visiting Santa Claus at his home near the town of Rovaniemi. With an international airport only a couple of miles away from Santa’s village, a Christmas trip is easy to arrange. At this time of the year as well, Helsinki is a wonderfully festive city. The famous Christmas markets start at the beginning of December and they, together with the main shopping area around Aleksanterinkatu, provide a cheery Christmas atmosphere and give visitors the opportunity of not only buying some really unusual presents but also trying out the local seasonal food and drink.

Travelling north to one of the many exciting festivals in Finland will give you the opportunity of visiting this endearing Nordic country which has actually been ranked at the top of the recent International Prosperity rating – based on its quality of life as well as economic performance.