Helsinki City Museum

Three stars guaranteed for free entry. Very enjoyable museum. Wish there was more too it. The Helsinki Bites was a nice glimpse in Helsinki's history. The Helsinki Echo news brochure is a nice touch and interesting way to give visitors interesting tidbits as they view the exhibits. The children's area was nice and great for children to learn history.

This free city museum gives a brief snap shot of Helsinki in a nut shell. Nice section dedicated to skateboarders with great action shots. A section on sauna uses cloth life size figures with anatomical detail. Children’s section is nice. Areas with sitting areas indoors and outdoors in covered area. The gift shop is full of educational fun toys and tasteful postcards

A small but charming museum. The number of exhibits is minimal, but you will definitely learn a lot of interesting facts about the history of the city. It's great that there is plenty of space for children and their parents.

Nice little museum in the city centre. They have a children's section, cafe, locker room and upstairs are the exhibits. Very interesting history of the museum plus a skateboarding review. It's free and definitely fast to see.

a free museum, quite small but interactive and very nice. there's also a public place to heat up ur food or just chill, also a coffee.. and apparently a sauna too! (of course cause it's finland)

A very interesting and slightly unconventional city museum. We started from the top floor with a temporary exhibition clearly aimed more at locals than tourists — a great gesture showing the museum's commitment to engaging with its community. That’s exactly what a true city museum should do. The permanent historical exhibition was broad but engaging, with many interactive elements — not always tech-based, which made it feel refreshingly hands-on. You can try on local costumes or peek into recreated spaces. There was also a fun little exhibition about saunas. The museum shop offers lovely, well-designed souvenirs. Entry is free, which is a wonderful bonus. A great place to visit in Helsinki if you want to feel the city’s atmosphere and understand its story. Highly recommended!

Really good place to visit to get an overview of the history of Helsinki. The exhibits have English translation so that's nice. The gift shop is also worth the checking out, the sauna bad sign gave us a good chuckle. Staff was super friendly and helpful. During our visit they had a temporary exhibit about recycling with a cool art piece.

Free entry and was surprised how fun it was. Some nice historic photos, recreations and fun recycling education areas. You could easily spend an hour here and is good mixed with a visit to nearby cafes.

Super cool museum smack downtown (I think). It's in the square by the cathedral and was a great spot to both wind down and get some energy out on a long sunny day, and an even better place to hunker down when it was a rainy day later in the week. Our primary purpose was the kids area as we had three kiddos that desperately needed some play and imagination time after walking the city for some time. They've got a whole section for the kiddos with lots of stuff to jump around and climb on, an old kitchen where play food lives and a small stage where they can put on puppet shows. There's another area where they house classic toys - sort of a tease to have them displayed but not let the kids play with them, but they're fun to look at! Entry was free and there appeared to be plenty of other stuff to check out throughout the place. Stroller parking is outside but easily seen from the kids area and there's a coffee shop right off the main entryway. There's really no reason to not be checking this place out, especially if the kiddos are in tow!

Wonderful little museum! I really enjoyed learning about the history of Helsinki in this beautiful little museum. The exhibitions are all really well done, with some interactive pieces, and a fresh take on museums. I especially loved the time machine! Absolutely worth the visit, great for adults and children.

If you're looking for the city museum, this is it. The entrance is always free and it features rotating exhibitions having to do with Helsinki. On my visit, I saw "Mad About Helsinki," which was about places in the city that people have always had a connection with, and explanations about what makes them special or relevant even today. It was interesting to find out about places that no longer exist (such as the mermaid tanks) as well as spots that remain favorites to this day (like Cafe Regatta). In addition to two floors of this exhibition, there was also a room featuring photography from the city during the early 20th century. All in all, it took less than an hour to see everything, and it was nice to have some added context. if you're going to be in town for more than a few days, it's worth checking the museum out.

Interesting collection of film lore from Finland. It is a part of a series of city museums in Helsinki. It probably will take only an hour to go through its collection unless you decide to sit and watch all the film clips which might be a way to brush up on your Finnish.

Sure, it's free but there really isn't much to see. It's not obvious to find - down a cobbled street, sort of opposite Helsinki Cathedral, off Senate Square. There are two floors and it's a modern museum with video and all that but there just isn't actually very much inside.