Finland · Uusimaa · Helsinki
Suomenlinna, Helsinki — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Suomenlinna, or Sveaborg, is a sea fortress spread over eight islands off Helsinki, six of them fortified, dating from 1748.
About Suomenlinna
Where to stay in Suomenlinna
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
A bed on Suomenlinna is a bed behind the ferry timetable. The islands hold Sotamuseo, Suomenlinnan kirkko and the Ehrensvärd-museo, so a stay here buys the fortress in the early morning and the late evening, when the day crowds from Helsinki have gone back across the water. Suomenlinna sleeps only a few guests.
Most beds sit across the water in Helsinki, which still puts Vesikko and the Suomenlinna-museo within an hour of a central address.
About Suomenlinna
What are the main landmarks in Suomenlinna?
Museums outnumber ramparts here. Sotamuseo and the Sotamuseon Maneesi, the Ehrensvärd-museo, the Suomenlinna-museo, Tullimuseo and Suomenlinnan lelumuseo all sit inside the walls, and Vesikko is kept among them as an exhibit in its own right. Suomenlinnan kirkko stands over the rest.
Memorials thread between the buildings: Ehrensvärdin hauta, the Ilmatorjunnan muistomerkki and the Suomenlinnan vankileirin muistopaikka. Aleksanterinpatterin näköalapaikka takes the view.
What is the history of Suomenlinna?
The fortress dates from 1748. Sveaborg is its other name, and it survives on the islands alongside Ehrensvärdin hauta and the Ehrensvärd-museo, the two sites that carry that name into the present register. Later layers sit on the same ground: the Ruotsinsalmen v:n 1790 taistelun muistomerkki recalls a battle of 1790, the Ilmatorjunnan muistomerkki an air-defence role, and the Suomenlinnan vankileirin muistopaikka a prison camp.
Six of the eight islands were fortified.
Where is Suomenlinna?
Suomenlinna's islands lie about four kilometres south-east of Helsinki's centre, in the archipelago that begins south of Esplanadi and Bulevardi.
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Updated September 2026