Every design for Helsinki

Capital, seat of parliament and home to most of the country's finance, research and culture: Helsinki carries a lot of titles, and it keeps turning up near the top of international rankings for quality of urban life. Yet for the people who live here it is mostly a city of short distances and sea views, where Finnish and Swedish are both official languages.

Hakaniemen kauppahalli and Hietalahden kauppahalli, the city's market halls, show that everyday side best: places for the weekly shopping and a quick lunch rather than for sightseeing. A few streets away, Helsingin tuomiokirkko and Eduskuntatalo, the parliament building, give the centre its formal face, while Helsingin kaupunginmuseo tells the story of ordinary Helsinki lives. Out on the water, ferries come and go from one of the busiest passenger ports in the world, and the airport in neighbouring Vantaa connects the city to the rest of Europe, North America and Asia.

If you learned your way around these streets, or moved away and still find yourself missing the salt air of the Gulf of Finland, this map is for you: the shoreline, the islands and the grid of the centre, exactly as you remember walking them.