Originally published in Passport
Until this past summer’s Trump-Putin summit, most gay Americans had probably given little thought to the Finnish capital. And the sad sight of those two bonerkillers stiffly kissing each
Public swimming in Helsinki
others’ keisters may have made it even less likely that you’d think about paying a visit.
Well, think again.
From mid-May to mid-September, Helsinki can be hella fun.
Moods are high after the gray winter months, and urban Finns take full advantage of up to 19 hours of daylight in mid-summer. They pour into tidy streets, parks and bars at all hours, ready to have a good time as long as the sun shines. Carpe noctem!
The extended hours of light are also a boon to first-time visitors, who can pack a lot into even a single day in this pedestrian-friendly town. And, working with state-owned Finnair, the national government encourages short-order exploration.
Taking a page from Iceland, which has seen an explosive growth in tourism thanks to its popular stopover programs, the Finnair Stopover Program allows international travelers flying through Helsinki to debark for up to five days at the same fare as a roundtrip between two cities the airline directly services in the U.S. and Europe or Asia. (American gateways include Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco).
Helsinki is also a common stop on so-called Scandinavian cruises (Technically, Scandinavia includes only Sweden, Norway and Denmark; whereas those nation along with Finland, Iceland and Greenland are all considered Nordic countries).
Gay travelers looking to add an off-the-beaten path stamp to their passports and sample a warm and welcoming culture (Virtually everyone speaks English) will have a fine time in Finland.
A very graphic welcome mat
Tom of Finland at the fabric store
What Keith Haring is to New York, Touko Laaksonen is to Helsinki—an artist, initially embraced within the city’s gay subculture, who went on to become a cherished international pop icon.
There’s a major difference though: Along with the overtly gay content of Haring’s cartoon penis parties and “Silence = Death” protest posters, his output included plenty of joyful, far less sexualized imagery: radiant babies, goofy grinning faces and dancing dogs, all executed in cheerful saturated colors.
Laaksonen’s work, on the other hand, largely stays in a single lane: graphic, musclebound homoeroticism. His sailors, farmboys and leather daddies boast gargantuan chests and redwood genitalia, rendered in pulpy black and white.
Of course, Laaksonen is better known as Tom of Finland. And he has a signature style that’s as recognizable as Haring’s.
But while it’s commonplace to see Haring images popping up on everything from kitchen clocks to children’s toys, Tom of Finland’s designs tend to be relegated to niche products in most of the world: streetwear, underwear, colognes and sex toys marketed to gay men.
Not in Helsinki though!
Laaksonen’s leathermen, with their python bulges and gumball glutes, are all over town: On oven mitts and china cups at the Stockmann department store; on bolts of cloth sold alongside Disney prints and quilting patterns at the Finnish equivalent of Joann Fabrics; on the packaging of a popular coffee brand; and on the totebags and backpacks of trendy young people (men and women, gay and straight) strolling along the sunny main shopping esplanade.
In recent years, several major Helsinki museums have mounted Tom of Finland exhibitions.
An award-winning 2017 film biography was also used for some of the most dramatically pro-gay cultural diplomacy in history: Tom of Finlandwas Finland’s national submission to the Academy Awards Best Foreign Film category and was shown on Finnair flights.
And in 2014, the Finnish national postal service issued three first class mail stamps featuring Tom art, one of which depicts mustachioed man staring at the viewer through the bare buttocks of another man whose bare ass is on prominent display. The stamps—a unique and inexpensive souvenir—can still be purchased at post offices nationwide. They’re self-adhesive, so you don’t get to lick them.
An excellent two hour, English-language “Tom of Finland Experience” walking tourfeaturing Tom’s old haunts, former cruising grounds and contemporary influence is offered by Happy Guide Helsinki.
Whether or not you’re an aficionado of Laaksonen’s testosterone-pumped male ideal, his inclusion in Finland’s officially promoted national heritage and visual omnipresence in its capital city functions as a powerful welcome mat for gay visitors.
This a city where you can let your guard down, show affection in public and expect a general nonchalance about sexual orientations and inclinations.
Tripping the night Finntastic
Helsinki Summer, 10pm
Seeing all that Tom may put understandably put you in the mood for some tomcatting. There’s a broad social acceptance of queer people in Helsinki, so mixed clubs and parties are commonplace, but there are still a fair share of gaycentric venues, where visitors can get a sense of the local LGBTQ community.
The largest and most popular is the 500-capacity Club Hercules, with a crowd that ranges from 18 to 60. Its busy first level dance floor is complemented by a basement bar. Operating seven days a week until 4am, its guaranteed to be open, even if you stop over in Helsinki for even a single Monday night.
DTM(Don’t Tell Mama) is another busy, urbane dance venue, with patrons who skew younger. Expect to hear plenty of sleek, multilingual Eurovision pop tunes in addition to more familiar English-language dance music.
In the Brooklyn-vibed neighborhood of Harju, Fairytale is a small, old school gay watering hole where locals stop in for drinks and friendly conversations at happy hour and into the night. If you’re planning on spending more than a day in Helsinki, this is a great choice for getting some inside info on where to find pop-up parties and other gay social events that may be going on while you’re in town.
Helsinki’s Bear Park, a popular gay gathering point
Similarly, a great resource by day is the Bear Park Café, where bulletin boards and flyers provide a great overview of what’s on around town and gregarious bearded staff members are generally happy to chat and provide tips to gay tourists. As its name suggests, the café is across the street from Bear Park, a pleasant green space to picnic with a to-go sandwich and take an obligatory photo with its hallmark ursine statue.
During Helsinki Pride each year, the park hosts a boisterous hairy-dudes-in-drag fiesta (Pride 2019 runs from June 24-30).
Hot and sweaty
There’s only a single word in the entire Finnish language that’s commonly used in English, but it’s a critical element of the Finns’ national culture: Sauna.
Regularly getting naked and perspiring in a small room heated to well over 100°F is part and parcel of life in Finland. Many Finns have small saunas in their homes—and even their offices. But that doesn’t keep them from enjoying the almost spiritual experience of sweating away the occasional hour public establishments, from grotty little hole-in-the-walls to sprawling club-like complexes with stylish cafe and bar areas.
Gay visitors must understand that Finnish saunas are not appropriate venues for cruising. They are soothing spaces for quiet reflection. Finns consider them cleansing, for both mind and body; non-secular chapels. Never try to eat the eye candy!
At home, many families sauna together, with no sense of shame about mixed-gender nudity. Business people often acknowledge the close of a deal by going to a sauna as a group. There’s a notion that sharing time in a sauna points to openness, honesty and mutual respect.
Also, don’t be surprised to see Finnish schvitzers drinking cold beers inside a sauna, or even roasting foil-wrapped sausages over the heated stones.
Just two years old, the impressive modern design at Löyly, one of Helsinki’s newest public saunas, makes a bold statement that sauna culture is not quietly slipping into Finland’s past. With an aesthetic that could be described as “futurustic” [ED – spelling with “u” in rustic is intentional],its wooden walls are sharply angled, forming a faceted, jewel-like exterior. The low-slung complex of sauna chambers, restaurants and enormous outdoor terraces along the Gulf of Finland, with views of the Baltic Sea.
Two hour sauna appointments (about $20) and restaurant reservations (healthy sandwiches, salmon soup, falafel, etc.) can be booked well into the evening—sessions end at 10pm—lending Löyly a lively vibe that floats happily between day spa and night club.
Outside the men’s sauna on Lonna Island
Helsinki’s other must-see sauna is Lonna, new as of 2017, a seasonal operation open in the afternoons and early evenings between May and September. Located on a tiny rock island twenty minutes from the downtown Helsinki harbor on a public ferry, separate 24-capacity mens and women’s areas are enclosed in a charming cabin-like building. Just yards from the shore, one can plunge into bracing seawater between sessions in the heat as hundreds of ducks and other seabirds waddle by.
If you work up an appetite sweating and swimming, head to Lonna’s onsite restaurant, featuring fresh waffles in sweet and savory varieties.
“Kippis!” and kippers
Finns love to eat fish. They also drink like them—Say “Kippis!” for “Cheers!”.
Remember to pace yourself when out and about in Helsinki. If its spring or summer, the night is going to last two to three times as long as you’re accustomed to, so slow your roll. And grab a herring roll to soak up some of that alcohol.
While the international craft cocktail scene has certainly made its way to Helsinki, the mixed drink of choice here remains the gin and tonic. Herbaceous, botanical gins seem to distill the essence of the evergreen Finnish countryside. There’s a carefully curated selection of G&Ts at the quirky old town gathering spot called Why Join The Navy When You Can Be a Pirate. Its name is a quote from Steve Jobs, a hero to Helsinki’s young tech creatives (This is the land of Nokia and the birthplace of Angry Birds).
Open the public, Navy/Pirate also serves as a boozy break room for employees of SEK, the hip ad agency that has offices are on the building’s upper floors and actually owns the bar. Along with cocktails, they serve juices, smoothies and ramen bowls.
G&T with Cranberries and Rosemary
Finland’s strong beer culture is well represented at brew pubs including Brygerri, which features three course meals with beer pairings, and Il Birrificio, which not only brews the dozen beers on tap, but also makes the sausages served alongside them.
For a three a.m. nightcap, skulk your way toward the Trillby & Chadwick Detective Agency. Down a narrow alley near the landmark Old Market Hall, you’ll have to open an unmarked door, pick up the telephone and announce yourself. If there’s any room at the bar, you’ll be invited to pass through a second doorway and bring your nightcrawling to a secretive, satisfying conclusion.
Fresh, smoked, pickled and salted fish is available everywhere in Helsinki. To get the best sense of what’s on offer and immerse yourself in Finnish culinary culture, visit one of the many food halls and marketplaces throughout the city.
The gingerbread architectureofthe Old Market Hall dates back to 1889 and the 25 vendors here pay tribute to tradition. In addition to ice cold shrimp, more varieties of smoked salmon than you can imagine, and the dense, dark chewy rye bread beloved by locals, you’ll find reindeer cold cuts, moose meatballs and other delicacies unknown to most American palates. Its easy to nibble away an afternoon here.
Blini piled high with garnishes
Russia really is in Finland’s backyard (the countries share a border of over 800 miles) and its culinary influence is significant in Helsinki. In the U.S. blini are best known as cocktail party food—fingertip sized pancakes topped with a dot of crème fraiche and caviar, but in Helsinki, at dozens of restaurants—including the local outpost of chain operation BLINit—the Russian buckwheat flapjacks assume gargantuan, plate-sized proportions and are slathered with all manner of accompaniments, from salmon and sour cream to tart bilberries and sweet condensed milk. During winter “Blini Weeks” Helsinki restaurants compete to show off their blini genius, but you’ll find the winning creations available all year round.
A traditional Finnish restaurant particularly worth noting for gay visitors is Sea Horse. The cozy dining room, open since 1934, is featured in the Tom of Finlandmovie. The pubby venue prides itself on a genial, eclectic clientele, from university students to diplomats. International luminaries from Pablo Neruda to Dizzy Gillespie have dined here on homey, huge-portioned specialties, including pyttipanna—a hearty hash of game meat, potatoes and spices; crispy fried herring; and cabbage rolls.
A perfect promenade
Whether you’re into window shopping or people watching, a stroll through the Esplanade Park—or Espa, as the locals call it—in the midst of Helsinki’s main retail boulevards and design district will more than satisfy.
In addition to an endless parade of tall, clean-scrubbed Baltic gentlemen and Finnish women in crisp-cut fashions in colors vibrant enough to stand-up even the dreariest Nordic winter, you’ll find flagship boutiques for Finland’s most famous design brands.
At Iitala, find glassware that anyone would be proud to have on their home bar. Clean, architectural lines and restrained, refreshing tints of blue and green turn everything from rocks glasses to flower vases into timeless works of art.
Among Iitala’s most famous collections are the icy, textured Ultima Thule drinking glasses that you’ll already have encountered if you flew first class on Finnair to Helsinki. Originally designed exclusively for the airline by renowned Finnish sculptor Tappio Wirkkala, these heavy vessels with their bark-like surfaces feel remarkably pleasurable in the hand. Fair warning: Pick up one and you’re likely to take home a set of four.
And don’t miss the flock of designer Oiva Tikka’s decorative glass birds. Issued in limited annual editions since 1972, these pieces have an elegant whimsy that keeps collectors as obsessed as Audubon club members in the wild.
The classic home furnishings of Alvar and Aino Aalto are showcased at Artek, founded in 1935. The stools, benches and other pieces of furniture here strike a delicate balance between handicraft and mass production, at once instantly recognizable and somehow non-descript. The Aalto designs feel as familiar as air and water, reminding visitors of Finnish design’s global influence.
Also known worldwide, though often mistakenly thought to be Japanese rather than Finnish, is the textile design giant Marimekko. The Helsinki-based company, started in 1949, has a stable of bold pattern artists who follow the company’s credo of “spreading happiness through design.”
Colorful floral supergraphics, giant stripe patterns, and blocky black and white abstractions are company hallmarks, available at their flagship store on everything from bed linens, to coffee mugs, to totebags.
In addition to these and other already famous Finnish designers, you can get ahead of the trends at Tre, an award-winning concept shop that spotlights up-and-coming native design talents in everything from desk lamps and flower pots to jewelery and running shoes.
Cultural quick hits
While stopover tourists will generally want to catch the breadth of Helsinki by ambling around town and taking in the atmosphere, there are a few historical and cultural institutions well-worth dropping into for a look-see.
Helsinki Central Station, hub of the national railway, is an extraordinary specimen of art nouveau architecture. Over 200,000 people a day pass through the granite grandeur of its central hall, guarded over by two muscular sentries on the façade, each hefting an enormous spherical glass lamp. The building was designed by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen who later immigrated to the United States, where he became one of the century’s most important professors of architecture and design influencing students including the Eames Brothers and his own famous son, Eero.
Skylight at Kaisa House
While its street front exterior is pleasant enough, you’ll be astonished upon entering the Kaisa House library at the University of Helsinki, which features a tiered, elliptical atrium that makes one feel as if in the center of a giant, zooming camera lens. Stark white and skylit, the structure reveals endless nesting ovoids as one climbs from the ground floor to the upper levels. Crossing the threshold into this remarkable building by Anttinen Oiva Architects is like stepping from the mundane into the sci-fi fantastic.
Another remarkable library building, the new city central library, is scheduled to open in December 2018. Plans and mock-ups suggest a massive wooden bridge capped by a cloudscape.
Temppeliaukio Church rises like a giant eyeball from rugged natural bedrock. Inside, rough, natural rock walls that look like they could tumble down in an avalanche at any moment support a ring of alternating windows and concrete struts, topped by a spectacular, saucer-shaped copper dome. The building’s interplay of the manmade and the natural is breathtaking, as are the room’s sublime acoustics (Catch a concert here if you can). While you may never have heard of it, in the realm of modern church architecture, this is up there with Gaudi’s Familia Segrada basilica in Barcelona and Edgar Fonseca’s sci-fi beehive of a cathedral in Rio de Janeiro.
For more architecture along with cleverly curated modern art, don’t miss the eminently user-friendly Kiasma, the contemporary arm of the Finnish National Gallery. Curvy and colorful, the museum’s interior ramps and walkways create an effortless self-guided tour for visitors, and the entire building feels like its been carefully engineered to ward off museum fatigue.
Add a stop to your travels
Compact, convivial and easy to navigate on foot, Helsinki can provide an ideal intermezzo between long flights. But without question, it’s a city worth intentionally gaming your itinerary to visit. At once cosmopolitan and comforting, Finland’s capital is a place where a stop over will never leave you feeling overwhelmed—or understimulated.
Helsinki Resources
Hotels
Hotel Indigo. Bulevardi 26.Tel: 1-877-859-5095. Pleasant contemporary design. Excellent Finnish breakfast on offer. From $200. www.ihg.com
Hotel Lilla Roberts. Pienie Roobertinkatu 1. Tel: 358-09-689-9980. Classic art deco old school luxury. In the midst of high end shopping district. From $225. www.lillaroberts.com
Klaus K. Bulevardi 2-4.Tel: 358-20-770-4700. Super stylish boutique hotel with loft-style lodgings. Serves as the starting point for Tom of Finland Experience walking tours. From $250. www.klauskhotel.com
Dining
BLINIt. Sturenkatu 9. Tel: 358-40-090-0603. Russian in a rush: blinis meet fast food…A tasty good deal. www.blinit.fi
Bryggeri. Sofiankatu 2. Tel: 358-10-235-2500. Brewpub with 12 taps and hearty beer-friendly food. www.bryggeri.fi
Lonna Restaurant Lonna Island.Tel: 358-44-719-9410. Lodge like small dining room with locavore menu including vegetarian options. May-Sept. only. Lower level is a more casual waffle joint. www.lonna.fi/en/services/restaurant/
Old Market Hall. Eteläranta. Tel: 358-93-102-3550. From smoked fish to fresh farmers cheese to summer berries to reindeer meatballs. Vendor stalls and casual dining areas. http://vanhakauppahalli.fi
Sea Horse. Kapteeninkatu 11. Tel: 358-09-628-169. Stick-to-your-ribs traditional Finn din-din. Tom of Finland ate here! www.seahorse.fi
Nightlife
DTM. Mannerheimintie 6B. Tel: 358-05-3270176. Twinktastic drinking and dancing to a Europop-heavy soundtrack.www.dtm.fi
Fairytale. 358-09-870-3226. Friendly and untrendy. Gay watering hole in hipster Harju neighborhood. www.fairytale.fi
Hercules. Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 21. Tel: 358-09-612-1776. Largest gay dance club in Finland. Open to 4 am every day. www.hercules.fi
Trillby & Chadwick Detective Agency. Katariinankatu. Tel: 358-40-180-3199. Speakeasy style cocktail bar. www.trillbychadwick.fi
Why Join the Navy When You Can Be a Pirate Eerikinkatu 5. Tel: 358-40-654-3111. Bar/lounge that attracts mixed young creative crowd. Wide gin selection. Good place to meet locals. www.whyjoin.fi
Sightseeing
Helsinki Central Station. Kaivokatu 1.Art deco masterpiece and transit hub.
Kaisa House. Fabianinkatu 30. Tel: 358-29-412-3920. University library with breathtaking modern architecture. https://archello.com/project/the-kaisa-house-library
Kiasma. Mannerheiminaukio 2. Tel: 358-29-450-0501. Contemporary art museum designed and curated to be user-friendly and accessible.www.kiasma.fi.
Temppeliaukio Church. Lutherinkatu 3. Tel: 358-92-340-5940. Saucer shaped subterranean church with glass and copper dome.
https://www.myhelsinki.fi/en/see-and-do/sights/temppeliaukio-rock-church
Tom of Finland Experience. Tel:358-44-502-0066. A highly informative must-do tour for gay visitors to Helsinki. www.happyguidehelsinki.com
Saunas
Lonna. Tel: 358-44-719-9409. An island escape 20 minutes from downtown. Reservations required. www.lonna.fi/en/services/sauna/
Löyly. Hernesaarenranta 4. Tel: 359-96-128-6550. Modern sauna with huge outdoor sundecks and café. www.loylyhelsinki.fi
Helsinki Sauna Guide. https://www.myhelsinki.fi/en/see-and-do/activities/8-public-saunas-in-helsinki
Shopping
Artek. Keskuskatu 1 B. Tel: 358-10-617-3480. Furniture and housewares by Alvar Aalto and colleagues. www.artek.fi/artekhelsinki
Iitala. Pohjoisesplanadi 23. Tel: 358-2o0-439-3501. Functional and decorative glassware by acclaimed designers. www.iitala.com
Marimekko Pohjoisesplanadi 33.Tel: 358-09-686-0240. One of Finland’s most famous textile design companies, showing a full line of fabric, clothing, and housewares. www.marimekko.com
Tre. Mikonkatu 6. Tel: 358-29-170-0430. Concept store offering a launching pad to up-and-coming Finnish fashion and houseware designers. www.worldoftre.com
Additional information
Finnair “Stopover Finland” program. www.finnair.com/us/gb/stopover
Helsinki Pride. Information on annual queer festivities. www.helsinkipride.fi/en
My Helsinki. City-sponsored tourist information with excellent detail, including LGBTQ content. www.myhelsinki.com/fi
