Loved this market place. Would love to find the website of vendor there where I bought a pair of…read moreearrings in a wooden box. The name of the box was Art by Du Arte. They are beautiful and wish I had purchased a few more!

The market here is open pretty much everyday (except in the winter when they are limited to fewer…read moreshops indoor) and is one of the tourist spot to stop by, either for a regular city tour or while waiting for a ferry to Suomenlinna. The shops sell things ranging from crafts and souvenir to fresh produces like berries and veggies and cafe food. It's a nice quick stroll to see Helsinki life :) (though many tourists come here more than locals I think). Pluses are that there's no entrance fee but, as a big foodie fan, I wish they have more selection for edible food to try out!

Came by for breakfast the other day and it was a tasty experience. Nordic Kitchen is located after…read moresecurity. Ordered at the counter with the staff. The venue features barista made coffee as well as many grab and go items. Opted for the full English breakfast and it was made to order. Eggs were tasty and the bacon and sausage were salty. The toast was good too. Latte was good. Nice layer of foam on top of a smooth shot of espresso. They also have bottles of water along with baked pastries available for purchase! There are tables to sit and a pager is provided when the food is ready!

Get the reindeer ragu over fresh fettuccini with Juniper berries and fresh thyme -- with a 20oz…read morepour of local Finnish lager on tap. Astonishingly delicious and uniquely Finnish. Anything salmon is equally superb. The lightly smoked version over a cucumber sauce with a side of their dense dark bread and mushroom butter is bomb! Service is quick and painfully polite. We had a 1 hour window for our connecting flight to New York -- and ate calmly and made our connection with plenty of time to spare. Eateries in Newark and JFK could learn a few things from these folks.

Prior to our Nordic countries visit I had never heard of Moomin…read more Moomin is a comic strip character created by Tove Jansson in the 1940's which then was reinvigorated by a tv show in the 90's. This store entirely consists of Moomin merch for those who are Moomin fans. While not up to the level of the Sanrio stores in Japan, most of the merch was cute but leaned a bit too heavily on the "must also be useful" side - think cups (so many cups), plates, wallets, bags, and coasters. All in all, if you're a fan you should definitely drop in, but there's also a location in the Helsinki airport that is slightly nicer in my opinion, so I don't know there's a need to visit this shop unless you're already in the area.

This is a cute Moomin Shop in the Helsinki Airport! It's quite large and has a lot of stuff from…read morekeychains to plates to pet bowls to pot holders and more. There were even some stuff for sale as well! My friend got this really cute cutting board for about 13 euros which I thought was rather decent. I ended up buying this cute Moomin charm for 4 Euros since I love enamel charms! They have a stamp rally where if you take their stamp card and visit another Moomin Shop you can get something. I actually visited the Esplanade one a few days ago which is too bad since I would have been able to get whatever their gift was!

The Mall of Tripla is a great meeting place located on top of the Pasila Railway station…read more It's easily accessible for long-distance and local trains as well as busses and streetcars. Tripla has over 2,300 customer parking places, 300 charging points for electric cars, and around 3,400 spaces for bicycles. (Bicycling is a very popular form of transportation in Finland during the warm months. If you choose to take a Taxi while visiting Tripla, there is a Taxi station right outside the main entrance. Tripla offers wide range of domestic and international restaurants, cafes, wellness services , and entertainment. At Mall of Tripla, the child care facilities are located near the bathrooms on each floor. In addition to a changing station, Mini-Tripla also has microwave oven, high chairs and a quiet breastfeeding area. This makes things easy for traveling parents. Since pets are allowed in public transportation I saw several dogs too accompanying their owners at Tripla. This place is truly worth while visiting for so many reasons.

Another vendor in the Vanha Kauppahalli and one of the stops on our food tour, Annan Villiliha has…read morethe meats. All of the meats! We started off looking over the various reindeer and beef and elk on offer, then were able to have a taste of the cold smoked reindeer meat. Thinner than bacon and just as flavorful, but all red meat here. This is some delicious stuff and a great way to enjoy the Finnish cuisine. Yum! Prices aren't cheap but this isn't supermarket stuff. This is high quality and special. Delicious, for sure. [Review 10070 overall, 1655 of 2018.]

Vanha kauppahalli or Old Market Hall, is a smaller food hall that unlike some of the others we…read morevisited in Sweden and Denmark, is shotgun style with two lanes straight up and down. There was very little seating outside of the few shops that have it built in (which can only be used by their customers) and the shops are on the smaller side and a little more touristy than you'd expect. Another friendly reminder that Reindeer jerky can't be brought into the US, so if you do purchase it here, make sure to eat it before you get on the plane to head home. All in all it's a cute little food hall with an okay selection, but we liked the ones in Stockholm and Copenhagen better since they were larger and more of a deli style.

Seriously difficult to rate one stop above others as anything in this market is going to be good…read more Solid bars good options at several stalls and cute shops to hunt for that special item. Bonus that this has restrooms and is inside - a great way to get out of the cold! Though there ARE opportunities to sit a spell, people watching here might be limited (if that's your thing) as the hallway around the market is more narrow and doesn't have much room to sit and only one or two stalls have seating areas. Service at each business is fast as it can be for a popular place and of course the value for your spend might be limited as well because there are tourists everywhere! When in doubt grab a sweet roll!

Helsinki was the first stop on my journey to see the Northern Lights in Norway. Nice small city…read more easy to get around. walking thru town, I came upon this interesting candy store that is very clean, well organized, with lots of variety that includes my favorite US candy, Tootsie Roll - LOL. The owner of the store, Johanna, was very helpful. She speaks impeccible English and proven to be very helpful, providing me with information about how she built the business. Changes r that I will not pass through Helsinki again but if i do, I will be certain to stop in again. You should as well.

Are you a fan of Cadbury's? Or fancy a Pop Tart from time to time? Or maybe some super sweet,…read moreunhealthy but delicious Fluff? Yes, there are lots of nice treats from the US and the UK. But where to get them in Helsinki? Therefore there is Behnford's at Keskuskatu. This small shop has almost everything your heart desires. And not only the sweet stuff. You also get cooking ingredients, sauces as well as teas and sodas here. Check it out. They are open daily. You can also find their selection online.

Always love a good Moomin shop and what's cool when you visit each one in Helsinki you get a stamp…read morecard and reward for doing so. The shop was medium sized, had cute decor, and wasn't packed with tons of tourists which was nice. So I could easily enjoy everything inside the store.