In Norther’s Footsteps in Helsinki: The Rocky Shores of Lauttasaari
On a summer day in Helsinki we had a few hours to spare for a visit somewhere, and this time Lauttasaari Island was our chosen destination. We found beautiful smooth-rock shores, ja nice beach and clear seawater! The area has a public swimming beach and protected coastal meadows. We were out and about, inspired by music.
- Location on the map
- Plenty of shoreline paths
- Accessible: partially
- Fire pit: no
- Getting there by public transport: Bus no. 21 runs from Kamppi to the Melkonkuja stop, from where it’s a 400 m walk to the shore
Helsinki has an enormous number of wonderful beaches, so many in fact that the sheer abundance has kept me away from them until now. It has felt impossible to choose which beach to head to whenever I’m in Helsinki. This time I picked up inspiration from an article I put together earlier for Finland, Naturally, A Metalhead’s Travel Guide to Finland, and chose a beach where, if my information is correct, Norther’s music video for Mirror of Madness was filmed.
We traveled to Lauttasaari by metro and continued by bus toward the southern tip of the island. We got off the bus at Melkonkuja, from where it was only a few minutes’ walk to the shore.
Saturday was a beautiful, calm day at the sandy beach, where only a scattering of people were spending time: some playing, some eating a snack, some sitting on a picnic with friends. No one was swimming, and I wondered why: was the wind too cold, or could there be blue-green algae in the water? The water looked bright and clean, though, and to me the summer weather was at its most beautiful.
We set off along the shoreline path toward Kokkokallio rocks.
In a sheltered cove, seaweed had washed up on shore, and I filled my lungs with air that smelled of the Baltic sea. Young crows were working their way through the seaweed mat, searching for treats. The people passing nearby didn’t seem to bother the birds.
At Kokkokallio we tried scanning the horizon and studying the shapes of the shore, but since the surroundings aren’t really the focus of the music video, we couldn’t be sure whether this was the exact right filming location. On top of that, the video was filmed in winter, which had us wondering whether the ice back then might have sat lower than today’s water level. Either way, the spot was so beautiful that it made us want to spend a good while there simply enjoying the summer sea.
I can never get enough of staring into clear seawater, and the same goes for the feel of smooth rock underfoot.
We looked toward Vattuniemi on the other side of the swimming beach and decided to stop there too.
On the Vattuniemi side we found an information sign telling us we had reached the edge of a nature conservation area, asking visitors to stay on the path so as not to trample the plants of the coastal meadow.
The path stood out clearly through the shoreline grove, and there was a sweet sense of peace around us, even though here and there, at the ends of smaller side paths, there were people about. One was watching birds, another was out for a run, and a third was walking a dog. Even on the little skerry offshore there seemed to be a couple of people lounging and swimming. They must have either waded, swum, or paddled some kind of craft to get there.
The network of paths seemed to continue on further into the area, so I’d recommend coming here with more time to spare.
From what I’ve been able to work out from the map of Lauttasaari, I’m fairly confident the music video was filmed somewhere among these rocks. If anyone who was there happens to read this piece, feel free to leave a comment and let us know whether we got it right!
This article was translated with the help of AI and reviewed by the author.
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A Metalhead’s Travel Guide to Finland
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