The best bars and cafés Helsinki

Just a stone's throw from the blue waves and the Sibelius monument, a little red wooden chalet with a Finnish secret. Inside, the intoxicating scent of cinnamon, coffee and home-made pastries. Outside, you'll find a garden with Lilliputian furniture and a taste of childhood, somewhere between a dolls' dinette and grandma's terrace. From the terrace, you'll get a real taste of life in the country, on the water's edge or on the ice, depending on the season, in this popular spot for families and sports enthusiasts (skiers or rowers, depending on the season).

Founded in 2004, this Swedish chain has been a fixture in the Finnish capital for some years now, becoming a haunt for hipsters from all over the city. This adorable café, housed in the old red-brick warehouses lining the harbour, offers a selection of coffees, each better than the next, roasted in Helsinki. The atmosphere is both cosy and trendy, with a good selection of indie rock music to top it all off. The same brand can also be found at Helsinki airport, for last-minute purchases.

It's a favorite haunt of Helsinkians, and a pleasant place to stroll and breathe in the sea air on the terrace in the late afternoon. Sandwiches and salads are available. Nice view of the gulf. The café has a large terrace that seats 250 in summer. During the summer, DJs perform here almost every night, and jazz concerts are also held. Anecdotally, people come here from generation to generation, and some even find their soul mates. See for yourself!

This café has a warm atmosphere and houses a hairdressing salon under the same name, called "Dandy"... it's all a family affair. The brother is on the stove and offers homemade empanadas from his Argentinean mother's recipe or cupcakes prepared by a Finnish-American friend, his sister cuts and styles her hair and his wife is the Finnish barista of this place that preaches the love of good coffee! Wink to the French-speaking clientele, here we speak fluent French comfortably in a soft armchair. Favourite!

In the beautiful red brick industrial building that houses the trendy Kaiku club, the equally trendy Siltanen is a versatile place where you can have a coffee or an Asian-style brunch (in the Lie Mi restaurant under the same roof), drink one or ten beers, listen to rock concerts or wiggle your hips on sharp house music. The terrace is taken over by all the hipsters of Helsinki in the summer. Everything is good: from drinks to meals and from the atmosphere to the music. Lively and animated on Friday and Saturday evenings.

On the top floor of the Clarion Hotel on Helsinki's west harbour, the view of the city is absolutely breathtaking. Delicious cocktails and a fine selection of wines are waiting for us on site, at prices that are not excessive, in a designer setting to admire the sunset. If you are looking for a quiet place in the evening, for a romantic evening or to chill out with friends, this is the perfect place, the view with the lit city is breathtaking. Forbidden to minors after 8:00 p.m.

A cheap bar-restaurant with a good atmosphere, rock-bohemian but not hipster. Here you can read the press, drink a coffee or have a bite to eat at reasonable prices. A selection of soups, salads or hot side of pasta, woks, burgers... As well as some specialities such as Limassol which offers grilled halloumi with a slightly spicy tomato sauce served with rice and coriander. A delight! As well as a selection of desserts that vary from time to time. Live music some nights. Order from the bar.

Next to the Helsinki Club, the ideal place to start the evening. Good music, nice welcome and possibility to buy on site a whole series of Cds or vinyl dégotés by experts in this field. Ask Matti who will be happy to inform you.

On the double Esplanade, in the heart of the city, Teatteri is a complex with a restaurant, two bars with terraces and a club. Since its opening in 2000, it has become one of the most popular addresses in Helsinki. Many Helsinkians and tourists enjoy their beer here (on the ground floor or upstairs) under the foliage of the linden trees sifting the summer sun. The atmosphere is pleasant during the day and trendy at night under the large glass roof, at the Kellobaari or in the club.

Kaurismäki filmmakers and brothers invested in two nearby bars in Helsinki: the Mockba (Moscow) and the Corona. The first one seems straight out of one of their films. Difficult to locate from the street, a filthy limit when entered, an almost icy waitress and titles dating from the Soviet era. In short, to drink a beer like the original movie version without subtitles.

Here you find the best korvapuusti (cinnamon cakes) in Helsinki.

In the Kallio district, Bear Park is a mecca for gay and lesbian culture in Helsinki. Opposite the café, the old kiosk in Karhupuisto Park was refurbished in 2002 and serves as an annex and terrace all summer long. The Bear Park Cafe has become, by the number of reports, a must-visit place to enjoy the long summer evenings (the sun sets at midnight in July!). You can even nibble pastries and eat ice cream. The café across the street is open all year round.

With its air of a Tropezian terrace, you'd think you were on the Côte d'Azur. There's no shortage of atmosphere, especially at the champagne bar where ice cubes are piled high, but the main attraction is the view of the Baltic Sea below Kaivopuisto Park. A good stop-off after a lazy day in the park or on the beaches of the surrounding islands. Take the opportunity to take a look at the traditional carpets drying in the sun (the bar is an old pier used to clean the multicolored carpets on boats).

A colorful, bohemian ambience in this eccentric, one-of-a-kind little café, a place to daydream to the sounds of haunting world music, while trying out the still-warm pastries and an excellent selection of teas. A rare and magnificent address, decorated in a disparate way and as if devoid of any logic, but where everything seems to find its place, for the better (and for laughter). The clientele is made up of locals and tourists on the prowl, who come to share a little moment of magic and humanity that only Helsinki sometimes seems to offer!

Andante is an original café-flower bar that welcomes not only local fashionistas, but also an adorable rabbit who even has his own little plywood bed among the green plants. The cappuccino and macchiato are to die for, the service is charming and the silky rodent... to die for. And for a one-way trip to Japan, we'll go for the matcha latté, which may or may not be accompanied by a delicious brioche cinnamon roll. What more could you ask for than to take your time, savour and enjoy this cosy place?

A tea room and café by day, this bar opened in 2016 and becomes a wine bar at weekends. While the clean, designer decor lacks a bit of soul, the coffee is excellent, the pastries are good and the wine selection is very appealing. Ideal for a break after a visit to the Helsinki Municipal Museum, which adjoins the café. It's a really nice place, which has kept its soul year after year, and whose success is undeniable. Don't hesitate to come and taste for yourself the lunch served during the week - you won't regret it.

The Sirdie pub is a roots pub, Finnish-style, with a friendly old-fashioned jukebox. A real institution in Kallio, far, far removed from the new wave of trendy bars that has swept through the area. The decor is very nice, with a vintage feel, wood, old posters and picture frames. It's even said that little or nothing has changed since it opened fifty years ago! It really is the kind of little local pub, not too well known and a little intimate, with a nostalgic 1960s feel.

Opened by filmmaker brothers Aki and Maki Kaurismäki, true icons of Finnish independent cinema, this bar and pool hall has an authentic, relaxed charm. Around a huge oval counter in corrugated iron, a local clientele made up of penniless cinephiles, hipsters not hipster... Behind the bar, one pool table after the other is crowded with young people. In the basement, the screening room is the venue of choice for many of Helsinki's independent film festivals. A place that moves and moves the city.

By day, local retired workers come here to whistle a few beers, hit the slots and watch the sports on the big screens. By night, the cool kids invade this unassuming bar... to whistle a few beers and hit the slot machines, play pinball or enjoy happy hour. At weekends, a DJ takes to the decks and (sometimes) transforms the premises into a fiery dancefloor. A slightly alternative address that often has some nice surprises in store, such as the exhibitions it organizes.