Helsinki boasts some of the world’s best buildings: Eliel Saarinen’s 1919 Central Station, Alvar Aalto’s 1971 Finlandia Hall, Steven Holl’s 1998 Kiasma art museum. Into that mix comes Oodi, a stunning library-plus by ALA Architects, where you can gaze out from spectacular terraces, watch movies or live performances, try 3-D printers, and dine in the two cafés. The project debuted this winter right on the heels of Amos Rex, a new underground art museum that incorporates a splendidly renovated (aboveground) Art Deco movie theater and restaurant.
In Helsinki, great design is everywhere—from Aalto’s iconic Savoy restaurant to communal saunas like the angular Löyly and Lonna. And at newcomer Uusi Sauna, co-owner Kimmo Helistö enforces the rule (“The only rule of Finnish saunas is to be comfortable”) while towel-clad visitors alternate between hot sweats and frosty beers. As the black-and-white photos of 19th-century saunas make clear, Finns are honoring the past while embracing everything new under the Nordic sun.
Where to Eat
Helsinki chefs are making astonishing use of local ingredients. At Ultima, herbs are grown hydroponically while mushrooms double as centerpieces. The futuristic restaurant is a collaboration between sibling architects Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa and chefs Henri Alén and Tommi Tuominen, known for dishes like Jerusalem artichoke with sun-flower praline (restaurant-ultima.fi). Opposite in ambience, though equal in excellence, is homey, Michelin-starred Ora, where chef Sasu Laukkonen explains every dish to every diner. “It tastes like Finland,” he says of grilled beetroot with reindeer salami—and it does (orarestaurant.fi).
Where to Stay
Set in a historic building, the year-old Hotel St. George groups 153 sleek but soft-edged rooms around a glass-roofed courtyard. An Ai Weiwei sculpture in the entry signals the hotel’s ambitions; so do the superb bakery, Finnish-Turkish restaurant, and pool and sauna (stgeorgehelsinki.com).
