This article was first published in December 2024.

Where can you find Helsinki's best picnic spot during the winter season? Warmth and light even during the dark times of year? Well, just north of Töölönlahti Bay, from the warmth of the Winter Garden beneath palm trees and banana plants! The Winter Garden is the city's hidden gem, and it's definitely worth visiting with children too!

The Winter Garden is always wonderful, and really perhaps one of Helsinki's most beautiful places. And since entry is free and it's almost always open (closed on Fridays when the plants and fish are tended to), it's easy to pop in multiple times or spend longer there. There's no café at the Winter Garden, so you can bring your own packed lunch, which you can enjoy at tables in the greenhouses while listening to the sound of the waterfall and admiring the garden's hundreds of plants. Kids especially love the carp swimming in the garden's pond and the large spiky cacti.

Until Epiphany, the Winter Garden is decorated with Christmas decorations and flowers, plus PLENTY of gnomes. How many gnomes did you find?

Little Helsinki strongly recommends a visit to the Winter Garden! You can't get a stroller into the greenhouse, but there's a sheltered baby parking area outside. Due to the renovation work on Mannerheim Street, most trams coming from the city center stop at the Winter Garden (City Garden) stop.

During the summer season, hundreds of roses bloom in the Winter Garden's outdoor garden, and the courtyard area also has excellent picnic spots.

Winter Garden
Hammarskjöldintie 1 A
00250 Helsinki

Free entry

Opening hours currently in effect:
Monday to Thursday 10am–4pm
Friday closed
Saturday and Sunday 10am–4pm
Holidays 10am–4pm

The Winter Garden is a lush oasis in the middle of Helsinki.
At Christmas time, the Winter Garden features festive plants and decorations.
The Winter Garden's main attraction is the fountain pool where you can see fish!
The Winter Garden building itself is full of beautiful details.
The Winter Garden has many benches and tables where you can spend time and enjoy a picnic.
The cactus greenhouse grows larger and larger cacti.
Even during the winter season, you can find flowering plants at the Winter Garden.
At Christmas time, until Epiphany, you can see gnomes in the Winter Garden. How many did you find?
Gnomes at the Winter Garden.
Winter Garden decorations at Christmas time 2024.
The Winter Garden is decorated in a festive Christmas atmosphere until Epiphany.
The Winter Garden's splendor at Christmas 2024.
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