A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Finland’s most popular tourist attractions. Suomenlinna is one of our favorite places to take friends to when they visit Finland for the first time.
The fun begins at the Market Square (a must-see place in Helsinki too) where you take the 15-minute ferry crossing to the fortress– the only way to get to and from the island. The ferry crossing is a very enjoyable part of the experience because it offers you a unique chance to see and take photos or videos of Helsinki from the sea.
The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) operates a ferry service from the Market Place to Suomenlinna all-year round. Since the ferry is part of the city transport network, all HSL tickets (including day, multi-day passes, and Helsinki Card) are accepted. If you don’t have a ticket or a pass, you need to buy your ferry ticket before boarding. Conveniently, tickets can be bought from ticket machines or at the Market Square ferry booth, which is open daily during the summer from 9:00am to 6:00pm.
The Jetty Barracks
The ferry arrives at the Jetty Barracks, a pink row of buildings originally built to house soldiers. Now, it houses a kiosk, a post office, a brewery, a restaurant, an art gallery, and a public toilet.
The Suomenlinna Church
This used to be a Russian Orthodox church but has been converted to a Lutheran church in the 1920′s. This church is really a popular venue for summer weddings. Various events and concerts are held here the whole year round as well. The church has a seating capacity of around 400.
Since the church is dominant in the horizon, its steeple doubles as a lighthouse for air and sea traffic. The signal blink of the lighthouse is the Morse code for the letter “H”, the first letter of Helsinki.
The church is around 200 meters away from the Jetty Barracks pier, and around 300 meters away from the Visitors Center pier.
Visitors Center
This is where the Suomenlinna Museum is housed. You can also buy books, postcards and gifts from here and also see the Suomenlinna Experience movie at the auditorium. The center has a coffee vending machine and toilet facilities. In addition, all guided tours start from here.
You can get the brochures which are available in Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. It also includes a map of the fortress.
The King’s Gate
The monumental King’s Gate is the symbol of Suomenlinna. It was built between 1753 and 1754 as the entrance gateway to the fortress.
During summertime, the JT Lines and Sunlines waterbuses stops at the King’s Gate after it drops off passengers at the Visitors Center.
If you ride the Helsinki City Transport ferry, the Kings’s Gate is about 1.5 kilometres away from the Jetty Barracks; but the walk towards the King’s Gate is worth it anyway.
Every afternoon, people start converging in this place or in the vicinity because the cruise ships of Silja Line and Viking Line sails the Kustaanmiekka Strait from here. The ships leave from the South Harbour between 5:00pm and 5:30 pm. International cruise ships and some of the ships to Tallinn also sail regularly through the strait. Silja Line and Viking Line also pass the strait in the morning between 9:00 and 10:00 am.
Bastion Zander
The Bastion Zander offers a good general picture of the shape of the fortress and provides a good view of the Kustaanmiekka sandbanks. Because this is also the place where the cruise ships pass the fortress, people also converge here in the afternoons or early mornings.
Suomenlinna is meant to be experienced on foot, as it is a car-free zone. There are no buses or train lines, nor bicycles for hire, so be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes! And oh, the wind in the island always changes in an instant so bring some warm jacket, just in case.
and Kodak Easyshare V1253
. For the photomotion, Panasonic Lumix GF1
with Pclix intervalometer and C500 control cable. Mounted on the ferry’s railings using Manfrotto 035RL Super Clamp
and Manfrotto 322RC2
joystick head.