Helsinki Design District: Punavuori, Ullanlinna and Jugendstil Streets

Beginning on the southern side of green Esplanadi Park (where the historic glass-veranda restaurant Kappeli has stood since 1867 and the flagship stores of Iittala, Arabia, Artek and Marimekko line Pohjoisesplanadi and Mikonkatu) and stretching south across the residential grids of Kaartinkaupunki, Punavuori, Kamppi and Ullanlinna down to the sea lies the Helsinki Design District. Rather than a single shopping mall, it is a walkable 25-street neighbourhood network marked by circular black-and-white "Design District Helsinki" stickers in the windows of galleries, antique dealers, jewellery workshops, record stores and bakeries.

The Design Museum and Museum of Finnish Architecture (Korkeavuorenkatu & Kasarmikatu)

Anchor your walk on the corner of Korkeavuorenkatu and Ullanlinnankatu, where two national museums stand side by side (soon to be united by a new waterfront museum project at Makasiiniranta, while their historic halls remain active cultural hubs):

• Design Museum (Designmuseo, housed in an 1894 neo-Gothic red-brick school): traces how a small northern country turned everyday objects into durable works of art: Kaj Franck's stackable Teema tableware, Alvar Aalto's undulating 1936 Savoy Vase and three-legged Stool 60, Maija Isola's bold 1964 Unikko poppy print for Marimekko, Oiva Toikka's mouth-blown glass birds and orange-handled Fiskars scissors.
• Johanneksenkirkko (St John's Church): right across the park rises Finland's largest stone church (1891), a twin-spired Gothic Revival landmark overlooking a sloping lawn.

Boutique Hopping in Punavuori (Iso Roobertinkatu & Fredrikinkatu)

Head west across pedestrianised Iso Roobertinkatu ("Roba") and up Fredrikinkatu and Uudenmaankatu, where second-hand vintage Artek furniture shops and Nordic fashion studios share blocks with artisan bakeries (such as Greenbake, Levain or Way Bakery), natural wine bars and the red-brick courtyard of Sinebrychoff Park (home to the free Sinebrychoff Art Museum inside an 1842 brewery mansion).

Jugendstil Architecture on Huvilakatu and Eira

Continue south into Ullanlinna and Eira. Between 1905 and 1907, architects Onni Tarjanne, Lars Sonck and Waldemar Aspelin built Huvilakatu, a narrow residential street painted in sherbet shades of pistachio green, apricot, lemon yellow and rose pink with turrets and stained-glass windows. Walk five minutes further to the seafront promenade of Kaivopuisto and Merisatama for views across the islands and a stop at lakeside Café Ursula.