This tour heads to Sveaborg-Suomenlinna fortress just in front of the harbor of Helsinki.Suomenlinna fortress is one of the Unesco World Heritage sites in Finland.
We will start at your hotel and have a short walk to the Helsinki Market Square. From there we will take the commuter ferry to the islands of Suomenlinna.Suomenlinna has a remarkable history from year 1748 until today: it has been built and owned by Swedish-Finnish soldiers, bombarded by the Englishmen and invaded by Russian army.
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
At your hotel
Meeting at your hotel and walk to the Market Square and ferry to Suomenlinna.
Ferry arrives to the Shore Barracks harbor at the Great Black Island (Iso Mustasaari). Short walk to local groceries shop, to fetch some picnic supplies.
Our walking tour in the fortress starts.
Depending on the open hours of the church; we enter into the evangel-lutheran church of the fortress and hear the story how it has been renovated from Orthodox to Lutheran church.
We gather around the most long wall building, the Crown Fortress and hear the story on change from the Swedish army to Russian army and what the Russian governor wanted us to do...
In the Museum and shop we will get to see approximately 20 minutes long movie about the fortress history.
We will pass the bridge and admire the view to old fortress walls and have a short glimpse to the submarine "Vesikko" (name means "European Mink" - it was part of German design submarines in Finland). We will get to see it more detail later during the day. Continue to the inner garden of the fortress.
Visit to the Castle Yard and tomb of the founder, mr. Augustin Ehrensvärd. Walking forward to see the oldest still operating dry dock for wooden ships.
Visit to the Toll Museum and hear the story of murderman Johan Adamsson.
Visit to local handicrafts shops.
Walk to the cafe Piper, enjoying cup of coffee.
Picnic time and climb to the artillery base on the southern shore line. Hear the story of the English naval fleet bombarding the fortress and Russian army forces during Crimean War 1855. Admiring the old Russian cannons, and hear the functionality of them during the war.
Waling forward to the inner fortress and visit to small tunnels. Climb up to the highest part of the fortress, called Zander. Hear the story of Finland getting it's independence of the Russians 1917.
King's Gate and return back to the inner fortress, to visit the submarine.
Visit inside the old WW2 submarine "Vesikko". Walk back to the ferry harbor.
Return back to the Helsinki Market Square with local commuter ferry
Tour ends at the Market Square, Guide can escort you back to your hotel.
At your hotel
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Guide fee for the whole day 09:00 to 17:00, Ferry tickets, Museum entry and movie at Suomenlinna guide center.
Picnic food, coffee, buns
Weather in Helsinki may be warm, but as Suomenlinna is an island beside the Gulf of Finland, it will always be colder and more windy in the fortress than in the city. Take good and warm clothing and select good shoes that you can walk with on the cobble-stone alleys of the fortress.
Suomenlinna is open for tours all year round, however the museums may be closed regarding Covid 19.
All days available.
Hi, my name is Timo, your local private guide in Helsinki.
I am an easy-going and open-minded person. I like to interact with people from across the world and to know about their culture, language, travel interests. I am passionate about nature. In my free time I enjoy outdoor activities of all kinds. In the summer amongst other things, I love to hike, mountain bike and go kayaking. In the winter, I love to snowshoe and watch the northern lights.
My professionality is also based on a long career in information technology, serving in an international company as a technical specialist. This has given me the opportunity to travel around Europe, the USA and Asia.
As well as being an experienced Nature and Wilderness Guide, I am also a Golden Badge Guide (the ultimate qualification in guiding in Finland). I am also a Licenced City of Helsinki and a Licenced Suomenlinna Unesco World Heritage Guide, the City of Hyvinkää and Tuusula Guide, so wherever we go you'll be in good hands. My aim is to provide you with enthusiastic informative private tours which ensure that your Helsinki and Finland experience will be the best.
My bespoke tours include walking tours or biking tours, tours by a private car, a van or a minibus. Within Helsinki we can cover the major sites or explore less well-known districts in the countryside like Nuuksio or Sipoonkorpi Wilderness areas, the picturesque small town of Porvoo, nearby towns like Tuusula and Hyvinkää are a few of the many wonderful places that can be easily reached in a day trip.
My tours are very flexible in content and timing and I can adapt easily to your preferences and suggestions.
For me, the best reward for guiding guests is the fun I have sharing the beauty of the place.
Let me be your local guide and I will share with you not only my knowledge and expertise but my enthusiasm as well.
Suellen A.
Bicycle Excursion to Nuuksio National Park with FatBikes
“Wonderful custom tour”
Timo is knowledgeable, flexible and clearly enjoys being a guide. I told him the things we wanted to do and he customized the day, adding in highlights about Finland I didn’t know about. He is a native Fin and knows a lot about nature as well as the history of Finland. You can’t go wrong with Timo!
Timo R.
(2 reviews)Thank you for being my customer, I really enjoyed being your guide!
“A memorable experience with our personal guide”
We went with Mr Timo for our tour of Suomenlinna Fortress on the 25th of December. We had our seven-year-old boy with us on tour. Our meeting made it very apparent that Mr Timo belongs to Helsinki and knows the city properly. He knew a great deal of history and geopolitics. He kept the tour lively, with just enough history and a good deal of Finnish culture. Conversation with him was relevant and we never got bored. I strongly recommend him as anyone's tour guide.