When I spent one day exploring Helsinki, I knew that I wanted to stop and had lunch at a market hall in City Center. Main reasons were firstly, it was cold out in late November and secondly it would be cheaper than a restaurant.
First I hit in Hakaniemi Market Square
Hakaniemi Market Hall
This charming 100 year old market hall has two floors full with vendors. The first floor is for fresh food and groceries. And the second floor is for crafty items. Recently the building is going under renovation scheduled to finish in 2020. But don’t worry, the vendors have been moved to a temporarily hall located next door.
Inside you’d find not only typical fresh food like vegetables, meat, and fish, especially salmon, you will find ready to eat items, such as these pickled fish and other pantry necessity.
A deli stall for cured meat and jam
One unique thing about Hakaniemi Market Hall is the non-food items. It is a perfect place to find some non too touristy souvenirs from this place.
There are few café and some place that you can sit for lunch. But I wasn’t too hungry yet and still curious about what the next market hall has to offer. One other good thing about this market is it’s right next to a major hub for metro, trams, and bus. So I hop on a tram and head it to Old Market Hall by the harbor.
Next market, here we go..
Old Market Hall (Vanha kauppahalli)
If you don’t mind walking, I found the easiest route is to take Tram 7 Länsiterm. via Kruununhaka for 3 stops. It takes about 10 minutes to reach the Senate Square ( Hallituskatu stop). You can spend sometime admiring Helsinki Cathedral before continue waking about 5 minutes toward the harbor – here you’ll pass another great outdoor market Market Square (Kauppatori). It wasn’t busy the day I went , just a handful of vegetable and souvenir vendors- maybe it was normal during Winter month.
Just around the corner from Market Square, in that beautiful brick building is the Old Market Hall.
Opened in 1889 as the first indoor market in Helsinki for better hygiene and organizing purpose.
The inside is a bit different than Hakaniemi Market Hall. It feels less hectic. Maybe because it’s served more tourists than locals. There are about 25 shops ,mainly restaurant, café , pastries and sweets shop, deli and local products for souvenirs especially fish and other seafood. It’s a true fun to walk around and snaps pictures.
Wanna grab something to eat?
There are many choices in the market hall to choose from. But for this cold winter day, a bowl of soup sounds really good.
“Warm soup looks so good for a cold day”
“Soppakeitto” or Soup Kitchen serves only soup, as a matter of fact, there are only just few soup on the menu always consists of meat, vegetarian, and soup.
They have 3 locations including one at Hakaniemi Market Hall. I found out later that Soppakeitto is kinda must stop spot to try soup when visiting Helsinki’s market halls. Hooray for me for not missing this.
There might be a waiting line here but it goes pretty quickly. You tell the cashier what you want and pay first. I ordered Seafood Soup and for €10+, it’s not bad for price of food in Helsinki.
I sat at a stool facing the alley to watch people passing by doing their things as I devoured yummy delicious complimentary bread and olive oil. Did I mention the bread will keep coming? The seafood soup is delicious with shrimps, salmon, and mussels and tons of vegetables.
And other best part of Old Market Hall is there’s a free small restroom inside the hall too. Warm soup and lot of bread were all I needed to refuel my exploration in Helsinki for the rest of the day.
Besides these two market, Helsinki has several other markets scattered throughout the city. Check out the Helsinki Tourism office, they have the list of all markets each day. I was there one week too early before the Christmas market started in early December which I was bummed about that.
Address :Hämeentie 1A, 00530 Helsinki, Finland
** The building is being renovated until 2020. The new temporarily glass hall is located at Hakaniemi Market Square, across the metro. You won’t miss it.
Address: Eteläranta, 00130 Helsinki, FinlandW
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 08.00 am – 08.00 pm Sunday closed
Happy Travelling
Patt W
All photos taken by Patt W unless credited otherwise. All rights reserved and can not be used or published without my permission.
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