Frequently asked questions

Our event facilities are available all year round. The Gunpowder Magazine is closed in January–March due to the difficult terrain. Our rented spaces are heated with district heating, but during windy weather and in winter, the facilities may be drafty due to the old windows. The ferry operates all year round and the passageways are maintained even in winter. In winter, the soothing soundscape and extraordinary starry sky of the fortress provide a memorable setting for your event. 

Suomenlinna can be reached all year round by HSL ferry. Ferries operate daily from 6.00 a.m. (from the Market Square) to 2.00 a.m. (from Suomenlinna). We recommend that the event organiser instruct participants to arrive at the ferry pier early, especially during the summer, as queues may form. During the summer season from May to September, Suomenlinna may also be reached by water bus, for which you can buy a ticket in advance. The water bus operates from the Market Square to the Artillery bay in the middle of the fortress. 

Check out the section on how to get to Suomenlinna on our website, where you will also find links to purchasing water bus tickets, schedules and other key information. Open the Arriving to Suomenlinna section in a new tab here. 

You can get around Suomenlinna on foot. Some of the roads are paved with cobblestones, and so it is a good idea to wear comfortable footwear. The roads in Suomenlinna are cleared of snow, gritted and lit even in winter. 

The customer must guide their guests to the event facility primarily by using maps. Our event facilities can also be found on Google Maps. If guidance cannot be arranged by map alone, a few small signs can be attached to signposts. The signs and their fasteners must be removed from the posts immediately after the event. Attaching signs to facades or anywhere other than signposts is strictly prohibited. We charge an hourly rate according to our price list for the removal of signs left in the terrain. 

Suomenlinna is a car-free zone where only service traffic is allowed. The customer of an event facility has the right to drive a service vehicle. 

Cars for service traffic are brought to island by ferry. Vehicle space on the ferry deck are booked through Suomenlinnan Liikenne. It is advisable to book a space for your vehicle on the deck as early as possible. Cars can be brought to the fortress either on the service ferry that operates from Katajanokka on weekdays or on the passenger ferry departing from the Market Square, which also transports cars on weekends. You must be at the ferry terminal at least 10 minutes before the ferry departs. Cars cannot be transported through the Suomenlinna district heating tunnel, as the tunnel is reserved for emergency vehicles and authorities only. 

The speed limit in the Suomenlinna area is 20 km/h and parking is only allowed in marked spaces. Facility-specific parking is available during the rental period; at other times, cars must be moved to public parking spaces. Please check the map for service traffic in advance in the Maps section on our website.

The doors of Suomenlinna’s event facilities have electric locks, for which the customer will receive a key code a few days before the event. Only the Gunpowder Magazine as well as a few toilet and storage rooms have regular locks, for which the key pick-up will be agreed upon separately with the customer. 

These separate keys are picked up as agreed from the pink Jetty Barracks at the ferry pier, where the Suomenlinna Visitor Centre is located. You can check the opening hours of the Visitor Centre in the footer of our website. The keys are always returned to the Visitor Centre or to the mailbox on its door (when the customer service is closed). The customer is obliged to lock the exterior doors of the rented facility when leaving and to close the windows. We will charge the customer for the costs incurred due to lost keys (e.g. changing and rekeying the locks). 

We arrange open evening tours of our banquet facilities about once a month on weekdays between 3.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. We announce the evening tours in our event calendar and on our Facebook page. Otherwise, we can also show our facilities by prior arrangement on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on days when the space is not booked. 

The rent includes the use of the facility and its equipment during the agreed rental period. The movable property belonging to each space is listed in the equipment list provided on the page for that event facility. We do not offer any other items, movable property or additional services. The furniture is included in the rent of all the facilities. 

All the facilities have kitchens suitable for heating up food, but tableware is only included in the rent of the Pajasali Hall, Piirtämö and the Ballast Room. All the spaces also have sound systems that work with Bluetooth or HDMI connections. More detailed information can be found in the event facilities’ own equipment lists. 

Many different events and functions are held in our facilities. All furniture is placed as left by the previous customer. The customer can furnish the space as they wish. Ready-made templates on our website make it easier to plan the event by providing ideas and tips on how to arrange the tables in the space. You can also request us to arrange the furniture for an additional fee, in which case the furniture will be set out according to your wishes by the time the event begins. Furniture is included in the price for meetings and seminars. 

The banquet facility is available to the customer from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Doors and windows must be closed by 10 p.m. and loud music must stop by midnight so as not to disturb the night’s rest of the residents of nearby buildings. The last hour, from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., is reserved for cleaning the space and catching the last ferry, which leaves at 2 a.m. You should allow enough time for clearing the facility and also inform other key event personnel and catering staff about the time limits.  

The facilities may be rented every day for a different customer, so bringing items into the space itself is not possible. Pirunkirkko, the Myllysali Hall and Tenaille von Fersen have storage rooms available to the customer from 3 p.m. the day before the event until 3 p.m. the day after the event. 

Customers are free to choose their own catering service. We highly recommend the catering services operating in Suomenlinna, as they are used to our facilities and have their own kitchens in the fortress. You are also allowed to bring your own drinks into our facilities. 

Food preparation in a food cart is not permitted in Suomenlinna. A catering station can be brought into the space, if necessary, but please note that the food served at events must be such that it can be heated up in the kitchen of the facility. Food preparation in food carts, woks, steamers or other similar equipment outside the kitchens is not possible due to the delicate surfaces of the facilities. The instructions also apply to outdoor areas. Suomenlinna is a cultural heritage site of inestimable value on a global scale in terms of its landscape and buildings. The World Heritage Convention and a high conservation status oblige us to take special care of the fortress and to avoid anything that could endanger the important values of the site. Read about enjoying Suomenlinna with care on our website.

For fire safety reasons, any kind of handling of fire is prohibited in Suomenlinna. Outdoor candles may not be used, and candles may not be lit indoors. Only electric lanterns and electric candles are allowed. The prohibition also applies to all pyrotechnics, smoke machines and sparklers. We always charge a minimum of €600 for fire safety violations. 

Smoking is only allowed outside our facilities. Ashtrays can be found near the front doors of our spaces. The Tenaille von Fersen person lift platform may not be used as a smoking area under any circumstances. We always charge a minimum of €600 for fire safety violations, such as smoking indoors. 

The customer must leave the facility in a basically tidy condition within the rental period. You do not need to move the furniture, wipe the tables or wash the floors (except for spilt drinks and other obvious messes). Cleaning is included in the rental price. All items brought into the space are to be taken away or placed into storage, and waste is to be sorted and collected in rubbish bags and the bags taken out to the bins (mixed waste, biowaste, cardboard, paper, metal). The locations of the recycling bins can be found on the map for service traffic. Bottles and cans with a deposit can be left in bags next to the waste bins. We charge a fee according to our price list for items or rubbish bags left in the space, for more major cleaning or if the hall’s furniture or equipment has been damaged or removed from the space. 

The toilets have toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap. Each facility has a dustpan and a cloth to clean the floor. 

All buildings and the cultural environment of Suomenlinna are protected by a decision of the Government. No fastening, taping or hanging of any kind is allowed on the exterior or interior of the buildings. 

Efforts have been made to restore the surfaces of the event facilities to their original appearance as much as possible. The old whitewash and brick surfaces cannot withstand tape, adhesive putty, etc. Decorating the facilities is only permitted when it can be guaranteed that the walls will not be damaged. The hooks and rods in the facilities can be utilised for decoration purposes. Decorations and their fasteners must be removed after the event. 

Outdoor areas are not included in none of our rental venues. When renting a space, it is possible to obtain a permit to use the outdoor area for related ceremonies and toasts from the customer service for conference and event facilities. You can contact us directly by email at tilavuokra@suomenlinna.fi. 

We keep a calendar of all activities taking place outdoors. This way we can ensure that the area is safe and that several events are not held in the same place at the same time. A permit can be obtained for, for example, 1–2 hours and the use of the area is free of charge. The intention is not for the party to spread outside the banquet facility. 

Items left in the event facilities will be delivered to our office. We will store the items for two weeks due to our limited storage space. For enquiries during office hours, please contact the customer service for conference and event facilities. 

If you did not find the answer to your question on this page, we would be happy to help: you can contact us via the contact form on our website (here is a link to the form, which opens in a new tab), by email at tilavuokra@suomenlinna.fi or by phone at +358 (0)295 338 420, Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–3 p.m.