Teitur

Not to imply anything untoward about the good inhabitants of the neighborhood (such as myself) I am still quite sure that this neighborhood has the highest number of hairdressers and hospitals per capita in Finland :D

It also has quite a high ratio of parks and seaside vs. concrete, but this is countered a bit by a couple of quite large streets which run through it. This means though that it is excellently connected to the rest of the city by bus and tram apart from being in walking distance of the city center. Apartments are quite expensive however as can be expected.

The neighborhood is mostly residential but most corners and larger streets have cafés, restaurants and local pubs, small stores and smaller services (such as hairdressers) scattered around them. It has a couple of cultural centers, a library, two quite large marinas and a full range of sports facilities -including two arenas, many fields, an Ice hockey stadium, facilities for watersports, indoors halls, gyms and two swimming pools! It is also home to the Finnish National Opera.

There are two hotels at the edge of the neighborhood, The Scandic Continental and The Crowne Plaza. There is also a sportshostel at the Olympic Stadium.

As can be seen on this map of the Design District project of Helsinki, most of the project partners are in Punavuori. These include not only the Design Museum and the Design Forum, both at the edges of the neighborhood, but also a large number of shops and galleries full of the best Finnish and international design as well as interestingly designed hipster’s bars and trendy restaurants -including a poppy one Michelin star restaurant. Other attractions include for example a very good wine bar and Helsinki’s biggest gay bar.

Many of the streets still have quite a “backstreet” feel to them so you’ll also find sex-shops and champagne clubs. This jostles nicely with all the antique shops also in the area :D

Though you can get quite a good view from the Linnanmaki Amusement Park I’d say that the Olympic Tower provides the best panorama view of Helsinki. The view over the central bay and it’s villas is really quite nice.

A ride up costs some 2 euros. The tower doesn’t accommodate large groups though. So if traveling with a large group I’d suggest breaking it into smaller groups of up to 15-20 people.

The stadium it self has a cafeteria style “café” and a hostel. It’s halls are also used for a number of activities ranging from popular sports to dance and martial arts classes.