In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Beyond the fortress of Suomenlinna, three islands are worth a boat ride. Vallisaari has forest trails through 19th-century artillery batteries (JT-Line ferry from Market Square). Lonna has a wood-heated public sauna (€23 for two hours, lonna.fi) and a restaurant (FRS Finland waterbus). Pihlajasaari has sandy beaches, seaside saunas and free cooking shelters (JT-Line from Merisatama). Boats run from May to September. Or book a tour: a sightseeing boat tourad from €28 or a 1.5-hour city highlights cruisead from €28 shows the shoreline from the water, and a return ferry ticket to Suomenlinnaad is €10.
⚠️ HSL tickets cover Suomenlinna only. Waterbuses to Vallisaari, Lonna and Pihlajasaari need the operator’s own ticket, bought online or at the pier booths on Market Square.
Island overview and transport comparison
| Island | Departure Pier | Crossing Time | Operator | Return Fare | Key Attraction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vallisaari | Market Square (Lyypekinlaituri) | 20 minutes | JT-Line | Fare from JT-Line | Forest hiking trails, 1850s fortress batteries, Helsinki Biennial art. |
| Lonna | Market Square (Keisarinluodonlaituri) | 10 minutes | FRS Finland | Fare from FRS Finland | Wood-heated sea sauna, organic waterfront dining, naval demining heritage. |
| Pihlajasaari | Merisatama & Ruoholahti | 10–15 minutes | JT-Line | Fare from JT-Line | Sandy beaches, public wood-burning cookshacks, seaside saunas. |
| Suomenlinna | Market Square (Kauppatori) | 15 minutes | HSL | HSL Zone AB ticket | UNESCO World Heritage fortress, museums, residential island life. |
| Harakka | Ullanlinnanlaituri (Kaivopuisto) | 5 minutes | Harakan Liikenne | Fare from Harakan Liikenne | Nature activity centre, bird-watching hides, rocky coastal walks. |
Cruises and ferry tickets
Archipelago sightseeing boat tour
From €28 · 4.4 stars from 688 reviews · guided
Helsinki Archipelago: Sightseeing Boat Tourad is a guided cruise past many of the capital’s main attractions from the water.
City highlights cruise
From €28 · 4.6 stars from 463 reviews · 1½ hours
Helsinki: City Highlights 1.5-Hour Archipelago Cruisead runs along the urban shoreline past residential areas, summer terraces, beach cafés and parks.
Evening archipelago cruise
From €26 · 4.2 stars from 772 reviews · 2½ hours
Helsinki: Evening Archipelago Cruisead is a scenic evening cruise past historical islands, with tables you can book on board for local food.
Suomenlinna return ferry
From €10 · 4.7 stars from 528 reviews · 30 minutes each way
From Helsinki: Return Ferry Ticket to Suomenlinnaad lets you arrive closest to the main attractions and return from the pier that suits you best.
Vallisaari and Kuninkaansaari: nature and military fortress
Vallisaari (“Embankment Island”) and neighbouring Kuninkaansaari (“King’s Island”) lie just east of Suomenlinna. They were closed military territory for centuries, under Swedish and Russian rule and then the Finnish Defence Forces. Metsähallitus (Parks & Wildlife Finland) opened them to the public in May 2016, and the long ban on visitors left them a nature reserve.
Gravel hiking paths wind along the granite coastline and historic military earthworks of Vallisaari. Photo: Ninaras, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Hiking the marked trails
The gravel paths suit walkers and sturdy prams:
- The Alexander Tour (Aleksanterin kierros, 3 km): Circles the northern and central parts of Vallisaari and climbs to the Alexander Battery (Aleksanterinpatteri), a granite and brick redoubt from the 1850s. The platform on top looks over the Gulf of Finland and the Helsinki skyline.
- The King’s Island Tour (Kuninkaansaaren kierros, 2.5 km): From Torpedo Bay, a granite causeway leads to Kuninkaansaari. The trail passes overgrown gunpowder magazines and coastal artillery emplacements and ends at a sea bluff.
Wildlife and visitor rules
Vallisaari has over 400 species of vascular plants, over 1,000 butterfly and moth species and five species of bats that roost in old brick ammunition vaults. The rules:
- Stay on the marked gravel trails.
- Open campfires and barbecues are banned across the island.
- The southern tip is still a military exclusion zone; do not climb the barrier fences.
- There are drinking-water taps, dry toilets and cafes around Torpedo Bay (Torpedolahti), where guest yachts also moor.
Lonna: designer public sauna and seasonal dining
Lonna is an island just 150 metres long between Market Square and Suomenlinna. In the 19th century the imperial authorities stored naval mines there. Finnish engineers later used it as a demagnetisation station, neutralising ships’ magnetic hulls so that they would not set off German mines in the Gulf of Finland.
The restored brick and timber naval storehouses of Lonna now host a waterfront restaurant and public sauna. Photo: Eteil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
It now has a sauna and a restaurant.
The wood-fired public sauna
The Finnish studio OOPEAA (Office for Peripheral Architecture) designed Lonna’s public sauna, which opened in 2017:
- Two wood-heated loft saunas: Untreated timber, wood-burning stoves and large windows facing the sea.
- Sea access: A deck and a private ladder lead into the Baltic between sauna rounds.
- Admission and booking: A two-hour sauna pass costs €23 (lonna.fi). Capacity is 12 bathers per hourly slot, so book on Lonna’s website. The saunas open Tuesday to Saturday from May to late September.
Restaurant Lonna
Restaurant Lonna sits in a restored 19th-century naval storehouse and serves modern Finnish food built on organic ingredients, coastal fish and vegetables. The terrace bar on the quay serves Finnish craft cider and beer, with cruise ships passing.
Pihlajasaari: the summer beach island
Pihlajasaari, off the southern shore of Hernesaari, is two granite islands (Läntinen and Itäinen Pihlajasaari) joined by a footbridge. Wealthy Helsinki families built wooden summer villas there in the late 19th century, and the city bought the island in 1929 as a public park.
- Beaches: Sandy bathing beaches with smooth granite shelves for sunbathing.
- Cookshacks (keittokatos): Three free covered cooking shelters with wood-fired stoves, drinking water and firewood. Bring your own food to grill.
- Food and sauna: Ravintola Pihlajasaari, in a 19th-century villa, serves hot meals and salmon soup. Two seaside saunas (one wood-fired, one electric) can be rented by the hour through the City of Helsinki’s Varaamo booking portal.
- Camping: Pitching a tent is permitted on designated campsites on Eastern Pihlajasaari on Friday and Saturday nights during summer (€18.00 per tent per night).
Harakka: bird sanctuary and nature centre
Harakka (“The Magpie”) lies 100 metres off Kaivopuisto park.
- Boat: A small launch leaves Ullanlinnanlaituri pier at Kaivopuisto every 30 minutes and takes five minutes.
- Harakka Nature Centre: In a 1908 Russian military barracks, with marine touch tanks, bird-watching scopes and an exhibition on Baltic Sea biology.
- Nature path: A marked 1-kilometre loop along granite shores, past nesting Arctic terns, common gulls and eider ducks.
Rocky granite shorelines and coastal trails on the islands facing the open Baltic Sea. Photo: Paasikivi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Practical advice for island trips
- Windproof layer: The sea breeze is cool on island bluffs even on a 22°C day. Bring a windbreaker or fleece.
- Grippy shoes: Granite shores are slippery when wet.
- Island-hopper tickets: JT-Line sells a combined ticket from Market Square to Vallisaari, on to Suomenlinna and back to the city.
- Water: Vallisaari and Pihlajasaari have drinking-water points; Lonna and the smaller islets have few shops. Carry a bottle.
- Ticks: Ticks (punkit) are present in tall grass and woods on Vallisaari and Pihlajasaari from May to September. Stay on the wide paths and check your legs afterwards.
What to explore next
- Suomenlinna: the Suomenlinna sea fortress ferry guide.
- Saunas in town: Löyly and Allas Sea Pool, in the Helsinki public saunas guide.
- Further afield: Day trips from Helsinki covers Porvoo and Tallinn.
Common questions
Can you use standard HSL public transport tickets for the archipelago boats?
Only for the municipal ferry to Suomenlinna. Vallisaari, Lonna and Pihlajasaari are served by private operators (JT-Line and FRS Finland), which sell their own waterbus tickets online or at the quay.
Which Helsinki archipelago island is best for hiking and nature?
Vallisaari. The Finnish Defence Forces left it and it opened to the public in 2016. Two marked circular trails (the Alexander Tour and the King's Island Tour) pass through woodland, old artillery batteries and meadows with over 400 plant species.
Where do archipelago waterbuses depart from in Helsinki?
Boats to Vallisaari, Lonna, and Suomenlinna depart from piers along Market Square (Kauppatori). Waterbuses to Pihlajasaari depart from the southern mainland harbours at Merisatama (near Kaivopuisto) and Ruoholahti. The Harakka boat departs from Ullanlinnanlaituri.
Are campfires permitted on the Helsinki archipelago islands?
Not on Vallisaari and Kuninkaansaari, where open fires are banned. On Pihlajasaari the city provides three covered cooking shelters (keittokatos) with free firewood and drinking water.
Are the archipelago islands open to visitors during the winter?
Only Suomenlinna, which has residents and a year-round municipal ferry. Waterbuses to Vallisaari, Lonna and Pihlajasaari run from May to September, and island restaurants close in winter.
