Where the boats leave from
Why this page exists
I sold tickets at a kiosk on the Market Square quay for nine summers, and the single most common thing I did was point. People arrived at the public ferry gate holding a cruise ticket. People stood in the sightseeing queue with an HSL card in their hand. People walked the length of the quay twice in July heat looking for a red flag. Market Square is a wide open space with water on two sides and almost no signage aimed at a first-time visitor, and the departure points a few hundred metres from each other do entirely different things.
So: work out which boat you have booked, find its paragraph below, and go to that one place.
1. The HSL ferry gate — the eastern side of Market Square
This is the public ferry to Suomenlinna. It leaves from the eastern side of Market Square, directly in front of the Presidential Palace. If you are standing on the square with the market stalls behind you and the water in front, walk towards the palace and you will find the gate and, in summer, a queue.
It is run by HSL as part of the city’s public transport. The crossing takes fifteen minutes. It runs every day of the year, from early morning until late at night, several times an hour in summer and at least once an hour in winter. An ordinary AB ticket, valid ninety minutes, covers it — the same ticket that works on the tram. You do not buy it from a boat company and you cannot buy it from a sightseeing kiosk. The full explanation, including what to do at the other end, is on the Suomenlinna ferry page, and how to pay is on the paying page.
On a July Sunday the queue for the last ferry back can be long enough to be a plan of its own. Do not leave the island on the final sailing if you have a dinner reservation.
2. The sightseeing piers — along the Market Square quay
The sightseeing operators tie up along the same square, on the quay where the kiosks are. This is where the archipelago loop leaves from, and where the boat half of the bus-and-boat ticket leaves from, with departures at twelve, two and four in the afternoon.
The longer evening cruise goes from the operator’s own pier on that quay, and the marker to look for is a set of tall red flags. That is the most useful landmark on the whole square, because it is visible from a distance and there is nothing else like it. If you have booked the evening sailing, walk the quay until you see red flags.
These boats do not land anywhere. They go out through the channels, show you the city front and the fortress walls from the water, and return to the same quay. Product pages: the archipelago loop, the evening cruise and the bus and boat ticket.
3. Café Marina Bay, Kanavaranta 4 — the RIB
The RIB tour does not meet on Market Square. It meets at Café Marina Bay, Kanavaranta 4, which is on the Katajanokka side of the canal, a short walk round the head of the harbour from the square. Allow more time than the map suggests, because the walk goes around water rather than across it and the first-time version of that walk always takes longer.
This is the one sightseeing product that lands on an island, for a snack lunch and a public sauna, and it supplies the life jackets and goggles. Three and a half hours: the RIB page.
4. The private boat — two possible meeting points
The private boat offers two routes, the Eastern Archipelago and the City Front, and they have different meeting points. This is not a detail to skim. Check the confirmation, and if you have booked for a group, tell everyone the same place rather than saying “the harbour”. The private boat page has the rest.
5. West Harbour (Länsisatama) Terminal 2 — Tallinn
This is in Jätkäsaari, west of the centre, and it is a proper ferry terminal with check-in inside the building. Tallink Silja sails to Tallinn from here, with the ships Megastar and MyStar, five to seven crossings a day. Eckerö Line also sails to Tallinn from West Harbour Terminal 2, one to three a day, two hours fifteen to two hours thirty.
It is not walking distance from Market Square with luggage and a deadline. Give yourself the tram ride and the terminal time. The day trip product is here, and the choice between the lines is on which Tallinn ferry.
6. Katajanokka Terminal — Viking Line
Katajanokka is the peninsula immediately east of Market Square, behind Uspenski Cathedral. Viking Line sails from here to Tallinn, two to three a day, two hours fifteen to two hours forty-five, and to Stockholm on the overnight sailing. Trams 4 and 5 serve Katajanokka.
I grew up on Katajanokka, within sight of the berths, and I will say the obvious thing: it looks close to Market Square on a map and it is close, but it is close in the way the far side of a river is close. Walk it if you have time and no bags. Otherwise take the tram.
7. Olympia Terminal, South Harbour — Stockholm
Tallink Silja’s Stockholm sailing leaves from the Olympia Terminal in the South Harbour. The Stockholm crossing is overnight, about seventeen to eighteen hours, leaving in the early evening and arriving the next morning. Timings are on the Stockholm crossing page.
8. The cruise quays
Cruise ships do not berth at Market Square. They berth at Hernesaari, at Katajanokka, and at the South and West Harbours. Tram 6 serves Hernesaari; trams 4 and 5 serve Katajanokka. If you have arrived on a ship and want to be on the water in the time your call allows, the arithmetic is entirely different and it has its own page: arriving by cruise ship. The short version: a ninety-minute loop from Market Square fits, and a day trip to Tallinn does not.
What works
- Everything except the international ships is within walking distance of Market Square
- The ferry gate is unmistakable once you know to look at the Presidential Palace
- The evening cruise pier has tall red flags, visible from along the quay
- Trams 4, 5 and 6 cover the harbours the square does not
Worth knowing
- Nothing on the square is signposted for someone arriving for the first time
- The RIB meets on Kanavaranta, not on the square
- The private boat has two different meeting points depending on the route
- West Harbour and Katajanokka are on opposite sides of the centre
Before you leave the hotel, write down two things: the name of the pier or terminal, and the name of the operator or shipping line. “The boat at eleven” is not enough information to find anything on Market Square in July.
If you are not sure which one you booked
Check whether your confirmation names a shipping line. If it says Tallink Silja, Eckerö Line or Viking Line, you have a ship to another country, and you want West Harbour Terminal 2, Katajanokka or the Olympia Terminal. If it says HSL, you have a city transport ticket and you want the ferry gate in front of the Presidential Palace. If it names none of those, you have a sightseeing product and you want the quay along Market Square.
Where the ferries actually go, as a list, is on the ferry destinations page.
Leaves from Market SquareHelsinki Archipelago: Sightseeing Boat Tour
Late light, longer loopHelsinki: Evening Archipelago Cruise
Another country by lunchtimeFrom Helsinki: Return Day Trip Ferry Ticket to Tallinn
One reminder, because it is the mistake I watched most often from the kiosk: the widget above books a sightseeing boat, not the ferry to Suomenlinna. The ferry is run by HSL as part of the city’s public transport, you buy it the way you buy a tram ride, and nobody sells a separate ticket for it here. The ferry has its own page.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Suomenlinna ferry leave from?
The eastern side of Market Square, directly in front of the Presidential Palace. It is run by HSL, crosses in fifteen minutes and takes an ordinary AB city ticket: the ferry page.
Where do the sightseeing boats leave from in Helsinki?
Along the Market Square quay, a short walk from the public ferry gate but not the same place. The evening cruise uses the operator's pier marked with tall red flags.
Where do the Tallinn ferries leave from?
Tallink Silja and Eckero Line sail from West Harbour (Länsisatama) Terminal 2 in Jätkäsaari; Viking Line sails from Katajanokka. Check your booking for the line: which ferry.
Where does the RIB tour meet?
At Café Marina Bay, Kanavaranta 4, on the Katajanokka side of the canal rather than on Market Square. Allow extra walking time: the RIB page.
I arrived on a cruise ship. Which quay am I at?
Cruise ships berth at Hernesaari, Katajanokka, the South Harbour and the West Harbour. Tram 6 serves Hernesaari and trams 4 and 5 serve Katajanokka: the cruise port page.