Helsinki Sports & Outdoors

During the wintertime, when the temperature can be -20c, people go outside swimming in an ice hole made to a lake or sea. The temperature of the water is about 0c, so it basicly feels quite warm. It is very refreshing and gives you superb feeling!

There are many places where you can do this, for example in Oittaa camping area (Kunnarlantie, Espoo). In most places there is also sauna, where you can go after the swimming to get yourself warm again.

Remember that the goal is to be in the water 5-10 seconds, not minutes ! Take at least 2-3 sauna - swimming pairs.

Equipment: Swimming pants.

Ice-hockey is so popular sport, that during winter time you can find ice fields everywhere in Helsinki, especially in suburbs. They will open immediately when the weather is cold enough. Just take your skates and stick and go to play - usually there are games ongoing where you can participate. And free of charge. You can find the fields in map, they are of ellipse form and there are lot of them around Helsinki.

One of the most popular ice field is in Kallio (Brahenkatu), where the ice is done artificially, so the field is open every day from November to March independent from the weather. You can even hire skates there. There is a nominal entrance fee of 2 euros.

Equipment: Usually own skates and ice-hockey stick. No other equipment needed (such as helmet).

There are more and more golf players in Finland every year. It has become one of the most popular sports during the past few years.

There are dozens of golf fields in Finland. In Helsinki the nearest fields are a bit away from the centre, and not so easily accessible without a car. You can find the list of all golf courses in Finland from http://www.golfpiste.fi/kentat/?lang=fi. My favourite course in the capital area is Espoo Ringside Golf.

If you want to just try golf, I recommend you to go to Laajasalo par-3 golf course http://www.pekel.fi/laajasalongolf/. The golf course is accessible with a metro and a bus. You don't need a green card and you can hire golf clubs, even the prices are reasonable !

Equipment: Usually you need valid green card, own clubs, shirt with collar, straight pants and golf shoes.

Above all, there are three sports that Finnish people like to watch.

First is of course ice-hockey. The main league in Finland "SM-Liiga" contains 13 teams that each play about 50 matches during the season. There are thousands of people watching each match, and crowd can be really loud. Watching an ice-hockey game is truly an experience. In Helsinki there are two teams, Jokerit (plays in Hartwall arena) and HIFK (plays in Jäähalli). You can get tickets from www.lippupalvelu.fi. Prices are 10-30 euros.

When there are annual ice-hockey world championship games, Finland goes crazy. About million Finnish people (20% of the population) watch the games home from TV or in bars. There is usually a big tent besides main railway station where you can also watch the games. The games are in April-May.

Second comes, surprisingly, horce races. There are about 50 horse race tracks in Finland. Watching the races and betting on horses is actually good fun. In Helsinki the track is located in Vermo, which is easily accessable by train. The races are organized in Vermo every Wednesday year round. In the winter time races are organized also on most weekends. See www.vermo.fi for further information.

Third comes football. Football is not as popular sport in Finland as it is in central Europe. The reason is propably that all the good Finnish players play abroad. There are two main league teams in Helsinki, Allianssi and HJK. HJK is more famous of these two teams, and has even played in championship league three years ago.

Watching games of Finnish national football team, on the other hand, is very popular. We have nowadays very capable young players in the team, such as Alexei Eremenko Jr (Lecce), Mikael Forssell (Birmingham) and Teemu Tainio (Auxerre). Of course we have still also the grand old man Jari Litmanen, who once when playing in Ajax was one of the best players in the world. Home matches are played in olympic stadium. Check tickets in www.lippupalvelu.fi.

Helsinki Shooting Club is an indoor shooting range, where you can go as a first-timer. In Finland guns are strictly regulated, this is no exeption, but a decent way to start the hobby.

There are professional shooting instructors who will help you with your first shot to a cardboard target. (The instructors also enforce precise compliance to safety rules as well).

A gun can be rented from the club to be used there. For 35 euros you get fist-timer training on target shooting, a rented gun and a few rounds of cartridges.

I'd recommend that for ages 20 and up, it's no game, the guns are real.

Equipment: If you happen to have an own gun, you must have a licence for it before you can enter the club!

Need import documentation and permit, let you be warned.

You can get a free outdoor map of the Helsinki area from a service point of the city, a public library or transport authority (HKL) office.

Bike routes are on the other side. Turn to see "Outdoor recreation" map to see cross-country, fitness tracks, ski tracks, nature trails etc.

There are good pavements in Helsinki for bikes almost everywhere. In the mid-town they pavements end up abrutly sometimes.

Equipment: Bike - rent from Suomen Latu, or Greenbike.

http://www.suomenlatu.fi/toolonlahti/

http://www.dlc.fi/~jtam/greenbike.htm

The second football-stadium of Helsinki, where the biggest team of the city, HJK Helsinki, is playing.
The Finnair Stadium is not the biggest one I’ve seen, but still really nice. Takes around 15-20 000 spectators I would guess.
When I was there it was far from sold out, maybe 3-4000, but still a good game. HJK against KooTeePee. The homesupporters were around 50 persons, while the awaysupport was standing in the curva, around 25 persons.
I would guess that the name of the stadium is from one of the sponsors, the aeroplane-company with the same name.

Equipment: Well, nothing special. A blue-white flag or scarf if you really want to support the hometeam, but most people in the crowd went there "civil".