IISI Vallisaari Island Wine Tasting

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. ⛰️ 1

   Board the ferry at Kauppatori

   adventure $

   Find the Keisarinluodonlaituri pier at Helsinki's Market Square (Kauppatori). Buy a round-trip ferry ticket to Vallisaari (EUR 13.90). Board the waterbus for the 20-minute crossing through the Helsinki archipelago. Count the fortress islands as they appear. The city skyline shrinks behind you — this crossing is the threshold between ordinary Helsinki and island time.

   🍷 Log Memory
2. 📜 2

   Walk the fortress path to Cafe IISI

   history Free

   Find the path from the ferry landing and walk 100 meters through former military fortifications to Cafe IISI. Read the information boards about Vallisaari's history as a military ammunition storage island, closed to the public until 2016. Count the plant species reclaiming the stone walls — over 400 have colonized the ruins during decades of isolation.

   🍷 Log Memory
3. 🍷 3

   Taste 5 wines on the seaside terrace

   wine $$

   Find your seat on IISI's large seaside terrace overlooking the Helsinki archipelago. Taste 5 wines — typically spanning Italy, Spain, France, and rotating selections — as the sommelier introduces each one. Ask the sommelier about producers when they circulate table to table. The tapas buffet pairs with each wine. Friday and Saturday tastings at 13:00 and 17:00.

   🍷 Log Memory
4. ⛰️ 4

   Find the panoramic view from Aleksanterinpatteri

   Optional

   adventure Free

   Find the path to Alexander Battery (Aleksanterinpatteri), the island's highest point and a 19th-century fortification. From the top, count what you can see: Helsinki skyline, Suomenlinna fortress, open Baltic Sea, passing ferries. On midsummer evenings the sun hovers above the horizon and turns the fortress walls gold. This is also where IISI holds sunrise yoga on Saturday mornings.

   🍷 Log Memory
5. 🍷 5

   Taste the famous salmon soup at IISI Bistro

   Optional

   wine $

   Find IISI Bistro at Torpedolahti harbour on the other side of the island. Taste the salmon soup that TripAdvisor reviewers call the best in the Helsinki archipelago (EUR 15-20). Ask the staff which wine pairs best with it. The bistro is a container restaurant concept on a harbour terrace overlooking a small boat marina.

   🍷 Log Memory