Helsinki is the capital and the largest city of Finland
Friday, 13 February 2015 - 07:54 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General , European Union , European Capital of Culture
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Downtown Helsinki © Tpienonen
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Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the
region of Uusimaa , located in southern Finland, on the shore of the
Gulf of Finland , an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 596,233, making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of
Stockholm (Sweden), 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of
St. Petersburg (Russia) and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of
Tallinn (Estonia). Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes the city of Helsinki and three other cities: Espoo and Vantaa , which immediately border Helsinki to the west and north, respectively; and Kauniainen , which is an enclave within the city of Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world’s northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.1 million people, approximately one in five Finns, live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
A panoramic view over the southernmost districts of Helsinki from Hotel Torni © KFP
The nearby city of Vantaa in the Helsinki metropolitan area is the location of
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport , with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. Since early 2009, Helsinki has been exploring a merger with Vantaa. On 30 March 2009, the city council of Vantaa agreed to review Helsinki’s proposal of a possible merger, while emphasizing that the review is not about the possibility of terminating the existence of the city of Vantaa. On 31 January 2011, the city council of Vantaa turned down Helsinki’s proposal of a possible merger, with 45 votes against the proposal compared to 22 in favour of it.
In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the
World Design Capital for 2012 by the
International Council of Societies of Industrial Design , narrowly beating
Eindhoven for the title.
Read more on
City of Helsinki ,
Helsinki Tourism ,
Design District Helsinki ,
University of Helsinki ,
helsinki.com ,
helsinki.fi ,
Wikitravel Helsinki and
Wikipedia Helsinki . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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