One publication makes special mention of Nuuksio National Park.

Helsinki travel guides include details about the city that can even surprise locals, the national daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.

“Which feature of coastal Helsinki is best suited for some water fun? Certainly not good old Hietaniemi beach, if the Lonely Planet travel guide is anything to go by. The swimming pool built into the bedrock in Itäkeskus is recommended instead.

The Russian guide Afiša, in turn, recommends the swimming pool on Yrjönkatu as Mannerheim’s favourite place to swim.

The piquant details which have been sought out for travel guides delight even Helsinki natives with their freshness. Who knew that the Zoological Museum’s weather vane, for example, represents a sperm cell moving towards an egg?

The jetties for the washing of mats built into the shoreline are presented in several Helsinki guides as an interesting local sightseeing feature.

Helsinki appears in the guides as a mosaic of seaside, crags and forest.

The highlight in one Japanese publication is a visit to the forests of Nuuksio National Park.

The shy locals don’t like to brag about their city, ‘preferring instead to hide it from the eyes of the world,’ Lonely Planet surmises.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT 15 AUGUST. JUSSI KONTTINEN
Lehtikuva - Matti Björkman