Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Helsinki

Before you go

What happens when you get there

The tapeworm treatment

A vet must treat your dog against Echinococcus multilocularis 24 to 120 hours before arrival in Finland and record it in the pet passport. Dogs only, puppies under three months included, and no requirement for cats or ferrets. Finland and Norway are the only two countries that accept the 28-day alternative, where two treatments 24 hours to 28 days apart let a dog move freely for 28 days at a time. Ireland and Malta don't accept it. Changing planes in Denmark without leaving the airport customs area doesn't trigger the rule, but leaving the airport does.

Dogs in restaurants and shops

Decree 318/2021, Article 26, lets the operator of a restaurant, café, kiosk or grocery shop admit pets into the customer area at their own discretion. They can limit it by species or size and must display those limits at the entrance, so look for a sign at the door rather than assuming either way. Assistance and guide dogs go in without the operator's permission. No animal, assistance dogs included, may go into a kitchen or any food handling or storage area.

Leads, and where dogs aren't allowed

The Public Order Act requires a dog on a lead in Helsinki and the waste picked up. Dogs aren't allowed on public swimming beaches, in children's play areas, on sports fields or in market squares unless it's specifically permitted. The market square point catches everyone out, because the Kauppatori at the eastern end of the Esplanade is one. In the countryside, a dog over five months must be leashed or immediately leashable from 1 March to 19 August under the Hunting Act.

Fenced dog parks

Eleven inside the districts these hotels sit in. Tervasaari on its own causeway island in Kruununhaka, Laivastopuisto at Laivastokatu 1 and Katajanokanpuisto at Satamakatu 3 on Katajanokka, Lapinlahden puistikko in Kamppi, Sinebrychoffin puisto at Bulevardi 46 and Tehtaanpuisto at Sepänkatu 17 in Punavuori, the Kaivopuisto run and Rantakallionpuisto at Merikatu 31 in Ullanlinna, and Taivallahti, Nervanderin puistikko and Rajasaari in Töölö, Rajasaari being the biggest near the centre. House rules: go through the gate ahead of your dog, no toys or sticks brought in, and a small dog means under 40 cm and no more than 15 kg, so don't take a big dog into the small pen.

Dog swimming beaches

Four in Helsinki, and every other public swimming beach is closed to dogs. Lauttasaari at Veijarivuorenpuisto, Nummitien kenttä in Heikinlaakso, Uutela in Vuosaari and Munkinpuisto in Munkkiniemi. In Espoo the marked one is Toppelundinranta at Mellstenintie 4 in Haukilahti, about 2.5 km from Hanaholmen.

Trams, the metro and the Suomenlinna ferry

HSL runs the trams, metro, buses, local trains and the Suomenlinna ferry on one ticket. It publishes nothing at all about travelling with pets, in English or Finnish, and pets aren't listed among those who travel free, so we won't promise you a free ride. Dogs are a normal sight on Helsinki trams in practice, but ask at an HSL service point or on board. Suomenlinna also publishes no rule about dogs, so treat the outdoor paths and ramparts as open on the lead and expect the museums and indoor cafés to be a question at the door.

Winter, and the salt

Helsinki grits and salts its streets, and in the inner city the council clears the roads while each property owner clears the pavement outside, so the salting varies block by block. Between November and March, rinse and dry the paws after every walk because salt burns between the pads and gets licked off, and think about boots or paw wax for anything longer than twenty minutes. Watch for gritting sand too, which is sharp and lodges between the pads. The sea paths at Katajanokka, Kaivopuisto and Töölönlahti are the first places to glaze over.

Vets

The University of Helsinki Small Animal Hospital in Viikki is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and Helsinki addresses can go straight to the emergency department without a referral. The out-of-hours line is 029 41 57201. Espoo, Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi are covered on weekday evenings from 16:00 and from Friday 16:00 to Monday 08:00. Two private 24-hour hospitals also cover the city, Espoon Eläinsairaala at Kurjenkellontie 14 in Espoo and Evidensia Tammisto at Tammiston Kauppatie 29 in Vantaa, on the airport side.

Best walks

The Esplanade runs from Mannerheimintie down to the harbour, all lime trees and grass, and it's a walking park rather than an off-lead one, with the Kauppatori at the far end where dogs aren't supposed to go. Kaivopuisto is the big seafront park in the south of the peninsula, about 1.3 km from the Market Square, with the Ullanlinnanmäki hill, the observatory and the sea path along Ehrenströmintie, plus its own fenced run. The Töölönlahti bay loop is a flat 3 km of waterside path starting from Kaisaniemi Park behind the station. Katajanokka gives you a forty minute shoreline circuit with the sea beside you the whole way and two fenced runs within 500 metres of the Grand Marina and Home Hotel doors. Tervasaari is a small island on a causeway in Kruununhaka with a dog run on it. Out in Espoo, the Rantaraitti coastal path runs about 40 km along the whole shoreline and goes right past Hanaholmen.

When to go

May to September for the long light and the sea paths, with June and July giving you close to twenty hours of daylight and terraces where the dog can sit with you. Late August into September is the best of it, warm enough for the shoreline and past 19 August, when the countryside leashing period under the Hunting Act ends. Winter is beautiful and workable but it's a paws job. From November to March the streets are salted and gritted block by block, so rinse and dry after every walk, and the sea paths at Katajanokka and Kaivopuisto glaze over first. The Suomenlinna ferry runs all year, through the ice.