Iconic places in Helsinki: Esplanade Park

On one of the greens in Esplanadi Park, a few small groups of people chill on the grass with the trees of the park dominating the views all around them. To the right, large crowds can be seen walking down the main thoroughfare of Esplanadi Park.
Lead text
If the Esplanade Park could talk, it would have a thousand stories to tell. Since the early 1800s, couples have fallen in love and separated beneath the trees that line the park on both sides. People flock to the park to hang out, be seen and simply soak up the atmosphere.

Soap bubbles fill the air around the monument to Johan Ludvig Runeberg in the middle of the Esplanade Park. Children run around happily trying to catch the bubbles, and an adult too joins in when no one is looking.

If the Esplanade Park could talk, it would have a thousand stories to tell. Since the early 1800s, couples have fallen in love and separated beneath the trees that line the park on both sides. People flock to the park to hang out, be seen and simply soak up the atmosphere. The four starkly contrasting seasons in Helsinki ensure that the park is forever changing but always beautiful. The pale greens of spring, overwhelming colours of summer, golden yellows of autumn and frozen splendour of winter are further highlighted by the city’s talented gardeners, who never fail to come up with inspiring new flower and plant arrangements. 

With the arrival of autumn, the lamps in the park give the park a completely different appearance. Later in the season, the appearance of Christmas lights around the monument to J. L. Runeberg, Finland’s national poet, marks the beginning of the holiday season in the city centre. The historical monuments and public sculptures in the park provide a counterbalance to the modern-day street art, performers and buskers. The Esplanade stretches from the Swedish Theatre to Kappeli, opposite which you will find the public sculptures Mermaid (1941), Hey There/Free Ride (1940) and Water Nymphs/Play (1940) by Viktor Jansson, father of Moomin creator Tove Jansson. The monuments to Eino Leino (1953) by Lauri Leppänen, Topelius (1932) by Gunnar Finne and Runeberg (1885) by Walter Runeberg each represent the styles of their own periods.

Show image on the left
Off
Show created/updated
On
Show in search dropdown
Off
Teaser text
If the Esplanade Park could talk, it would have a thousand stories to tell. Since the early 1800s, couples have fallen in love and separated beneath the trees that line the park on both sides. People flock to the park to hang out, be seen and simply soak up the atmosphere.