Visit Helsinki: Happy Guide Cycle Tour -

In commercial collaboration with Helsinki Partners as part of the Influence Sustainably program.

Those who have been following our blog for a while now will know that as a family we love to explore. Whether we are exploring our local area, beach locations or city breaks, these children of ours love nothing more than venturing off the beaten track and finding magic at every turn. During our trip to Helsinki this Spring we all knew that exploring was at the top of our agenda but what we didn’t imagine was that we would get to combine this with something else we adore as a family – cycling! Thanks to Happy Guide Helsinki we were treated to a private cycle tour where our guide took us to the most beautiful locations, showed us all the best views, and gave us a real feel for getting around the city by bike.

Sustainability is so important in Helsinki and so Happy Guide Helsinki pride themselves on being certified as a Green Activities provider as well as being part of the national Sustainable Travel Finland program too. As part of a bid to encourage more people to travel by bike, Helsinki has created extensive bicycle lanes which means it’s a really safe form of transport and one we felt perfectly at ease with, even with three young children.

With a pre-arranged meeting point it was easy to find our guide waiting at the entrance to the park with all of our bikes as well as safety helmets. Even when one of the bikes turned out to be a little big for Eva, our guide could not have been more helpful and went out of his way to resolve the problem so that all of us felt comfortable, and most importantly safe, during the tour. He spoke excellent English and was keen to share his extensive knowledge of the city with us as well as taking us off the track to share some of his favourite lookout points as we rode.

One of our stopping points was right here looking up at Upenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe. Completed in 1868 under Russian rule, the church is one of the clearest symbols of the Russian imapact on Finnish history and still stands proudly to this day. We loved the uniqueness of the architecture here in Helsinki, a real mix of Russian, Swedish and Finnish influence, and we were fascinated by the stories of how it came to be.

Our guide was keen to show us the Hakaniemi Market Hall on our tour, serving customers since 1914 and currently under going a huge renovation which sees the market temporarily housed in an adaptable glass hall next door. So many of the buildings here in Helsinki are multi-purpose and fully mobile meaning they can be moved from place to place to the next as and when they are needed. What may be a kindergarten one month could well be a restaurant by the next and I love how Helsinki is always planning ahead make sure their city runs as functionally and as sustainably as possible.

One of our favourite parts of the tour was cycling alongside the sea which, due to the nature of the coastline, appeared at times to be a large frozen lake. At various parts our guide would stop and encourage us to take in the view, be that right there from the cycle path or by leaving our bikes and exploring a little on foot. He was also incredibly patient should we wish to stop and take photographs which, let’s face it, was quite often!

Throughout our stay it never ceased to amaze me how one minute you could be cycling down the high street surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants, and the next you could see nothing but water, still frozen for as far as you can see. The silence here in Helsinki is utterly blissful at times with not a single sound but that of the seagulls swooping down on a solitary rambler giving the swans their daily feed. I loved those moments we shared together, when we felt like the only people for miles around and a whole world away from the hustle and bustle of every day life.

We absolutely loved our Happy Guide Helsinki tour and would absolutely recommend taking a cycling tour during your stay or hiring bikes to explore in your own time. Helsinki as a whole is very flat and with lots of stop offs along the way our children were more than capable of keeping up with the route. Taking in the city as we cycled through snow showers and sunny spells will definitely be one of our long-lasting memories of our first visit to Helsinki and I literally cannot wait to return and do it all over again throughout the seasons.