Helsinki: My Nordic Design & Sauna Heaven

Helsinki has become my quiet Nordic obsession — Finland's capital and largest city, home to 1.4 million souls who seem to have mastered the art of graceful living. This is the underrated gem that keeps climbing the rankings, hitting 4.8 average lately because it's clean, friendly, and packed with design that feels both timeless and utterly modern. I always begin at Market Square (Kauppatori), the beating heart where ferries depart and vendors sell cloudberry jam and warm salmon soup in bread bowls. From here, the entire city unfolds like a well-plotted story — and what a story it is.

A short tram ride delivers me to Senate Square, Finland's most photographed landmark — and rightly so. This is Carl Ludvig Engel's masterpiece of neo-classical architecture, a perfect stage set of four monumental buildings: the Government Palace, the Cathedral, the University, and the National Library. But it's Helsinki Cathedral itself that stops time. Built between 1830 and 1852, this blindingly white structure soars 80+ meters above the city, its five green cupolas gleaming in that special Nordic light that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Rows of white Corinthian columns flank the entrance, and atop the green roof stand statues of the twelve apostles, silent sentinels watching over the city. The cathedral's domes were inspired by Russian architecture — a reminder of Finland's complex past — yet it feels entirely, unmistakably Finnish. I've climbed those steps a dozen times, and it's free to enter; the vaulted interior is as serene and bright as the exterior promises. Standing in the square looking up, I understand why this became the symbol of Finland.

From Market Square, the ferry to Suomenlinna departs every 20 minutes — a 20-minute journey that feels like a pilgrimage across time. This UNESCO World Heritage Site (designated 1991) is an 18th-century sea fortress spread across six islands, its construction begun in 1748 under the Swedish Crown. Admiral Augustin Ehrensvärd designed it as "Sveaborg" — Sweden's fortress — the bulwark against Russian Kronstadt. It's been nearly three centuries, and the fortress remains remarkably intact because it never stopped being militarily useful. Today, 850 residents call these islands home year-round, and the stone bastions shelter six museums, an open-air theatre, and quality handicraft shops. I walk the ramparts, peer through the King's Gate, and lose myself in the thought that these stones have watched empires rise and fall while remaining exactly where they were laid. The wind off the Baltic carries salt and history in equal measure.

Back on the mainland, I make time for Temppeliaukio — the Rock Church carved directly into solid bedrock, its copper dome and rough stone walls creating acoustics that turn even whispered prayers into something holy. The Oodi Library (the coolest modern library ever designed) and the Sibelius Monument round it out, each a testament to Finnish design culture: clean lines, natural materials, spaces that breathe.