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Vantaa · Finland

Helsinki-Malmi Airport: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Residents jog across wide decommissioned runways instead of standard park trails, sharing an open landscape that is shifting into residential construction.

About the place
About the place

Helsinki-Malmi Airport preserves functionalist aviation architecture while opening its former airfield grounds for public recreation.

The site originated as the capital city airfield, replacing floatplane operations with dedicated land runways. Architects Dag Englund and Vera Rosendahl designed the functionalist terminal to handle international traffic. Military forces operated from the grounds during wartime conflicts, and the Allied Control Commission administered the property before returning supervision to Finnish authorities.

Read on

Deep clay and marshy soil made reinforcing the runways for heavy airliners prohibitively expensive, redirecting scheduled commercial flights to a newer hub in Vantaa. The airfield subsequently focused on pilot education, private aviation clubs, and border surveillance flights. Municipal authorities closed the runways to aviation and opened the asphalt paths for recreational walking ahead of planned apartment construction.

Associations
  • Functionalist terminalPreserves historic aviation architecture designed by Dag Englund and Vera Rosendahl.
  • Runway recreationRunways and taxiways provide expansive paved routes for public outdoor exercise.
  • Flight training legacyServed as the primary center for domestic civilian pilot education and clubs.
  • Aviation closureFlight operations ceased following municipal lease termination and runway closures.
Facts
  • Architects Dag Englund and Vera Rosendahl created the functionalist terminal building.
  • Scheduled airliner traffic shifted to Vantaa because soft clay soil made runway reinforcement prohibitive.
  • The decommissioned airfield runways and taxiway corridors serve as public recreational space.
  • The Finnish Border Guard maintained an active operational air base on the airfield grounds.
Source: Wikipedia

Getting there and staying

No free-housing hosts here yet — the nearest city with them:

Saint Petersburg1,532 hosts · 3 hr 30 min
2 sources · As of November 3, 2026
Source: TravelHub · OurAirports (public domain)