Helsinki

Known as Finland's "Prime City," Helsinki is the country's capital and most populated city. It is the administrative centre of the area of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and it has a population of 656,250 people. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland and serves as the region's administrative centre. Its urban area with a population of 1,268,296 persons, making it the most popular urban area in Finland and the country's most important centre for politics, education and finance as well as for culture, art, and research. Tampere, in the Pirkanmaa region, located 179 kms (111 miles) north of Helsinki, is the country's second most populous urban area. In addition to being 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 kilometres) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 kilometres) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki is also the capital of Finland. With these three cities, it has strong historical relationships.

Aside from serving as the World Design Capital in 2012, Helsinki also served as the site of the 1952 Summer Games and the 52nd European Song Contest, which took place there in 2007.

One of the world's greatest levels of urban life may be found in Helsinki, which is ranked second only to New York City. As part of its annual liveable cities ranking, published annually by the British magazine Monocle, Helsinki was named the world's most liveable city in 2011. Finland's capital was placed ninth out of 140 cities in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 liveability poll. According to the American magazine Time, Helsinki will be one of the world's best cities in 2021, as a city that "has the potential to develop into a blooming cultural nest in the future" and that is already well-known around the globe as an environmental leader. In a poll done in 2021 by Boston Consulting Group and the BCG Henderson Institute, Helsinki was ranked as the third best city in which to live, behind only London and New York City, which were ranked as the first and second best cities to live respectively. As a result of its location in the Lapland area, Helsinki is one of Finland's most important tourist destinations in terms of international tourism, alongside Rovaniemi and Turku.