During our visit to Helsinki in 2023, like many tourists, we arranged to do a boat trip over to Suomenlinna (named Viapori in Finnish up until 1918, or Sveaborg in Swedish), the sea fortress off the coast of Helsinki.
It was originally constructed by the Swedish crown, as protection against Russian expansionism, which it eventually failed to do. There’s a long history you can read about on Wikipedia, rather than me regurgitating it. There’s also an official website with more details.
HSL, the Helsinki transport authority, run ferries to Suomenlinna, from 1 to 4 an hour. What’s great is that you can use a standard HSL public transport ticket to get there, so it’s a cheap day out.
We headed there on the second day of our trip, taking the HSL ferry with our friends, having a pleasant wandering the islands, despite the heavy rain that arrived. There’s a video above and some photos of the day.
Dom Cycling 