Which food tours include something to drink

All six listings include something to drink, and only one of them ends at a bar. The rooftop tour finishes with a drink and a city view, though the alcoholic ones are not part of the ticket. The city walk includes non-alcoholic drinks, the Kallio walk says drinks included without qualifying it, the coffee tour includes water bottles and a cinnamon bun with filter coffee, the cooking class includes a welcome drink, and the island tasting includes organic blueberry juice and a water bottle while banning alcohol outright.

Listing by listing, in their own words

The city walk includes non-alcoholic drinks across its seven tastings, and states that alcohol is not included. Three hours, Senate Square to the Old Market Hall.

The Kallio walk says drinks are included and does not say which. That is the loosest wording of the six, and since the listing publishes no route either, I am leaving it exactly as it is rather than guessing what turns up in the glass.

The rooftop tour includes a non-alcoholic drink among its seven tastings, includes lunch, and ends with a drink and a city view from a rooftop bar. Alcoholic drinks are explicitly not included. So the view is in the ticket and the beer is not.

The coffee culture tour includes water bottles, and one of its tastings is a cinnamon bun with Finnish filter coffee. That coffee is the point of the whole tour rather than an afterthought.

The cooking class includes a welcome drink, then three hours of cooking in a private home on Lauttasaari.

The island tasting includes food and drink, organic blueberry juice and a water bottle, and does not allow alcohol at all. That is the operator’s rule for the trip, not a national one.

The alcohol rule that catches people out

Anything above about 8% alcohol by volume is sold only in Alko, the state monopoly shops. They keep shop hours, close early on Saturday and do not open on Sunday. Supermarkets sell beer, cider and long drinks up to that strength until 9pm and then stop. This surprises visitors more than any other practical fact about the country, and it is the reason a tour that says drinks included is almost always talking about something soft. The Alko page has the whole system.

Tipping is the other one. It is not expected here. Service is included, rounding up is a courtesy and nothing more, and nobody will follow you out of a bar about it. Two of the six listings say explicitly that tips are not included, which is a statement about the ticket rather than an instruction. More on tipping.

And the water

Finnish tap water is excellent everywhere and is served free. Bottled water is unnecessary here in a way it is not in most of Europe, so a listing that includes water bottles is being thoughtful rather than generous — you could have had it from any tap in the city. Carry an empty bottle and fill it. More on the water.

Ends at a barThe rooftop tour, only

Says drinks included, unqualifiedThe Kallio walk

Includes a welcome drinkThe cooking class

Includes filter coffeeThe coffee culture tour

Alcohol not allowed at allThe island tasting

Alko closesEarly Saturday, all day Sunday

Included

Non-alcoholic drinks, on the city walk
Drinks, unspecified, on the Kallio walk
A non-alcoholic drink and lunch on the rooftop tour, which ends at a rooftop bar
Water bottles and a coffee with a cinnamon bun on the coffee tour
A welcome drink on the cooking class
Organic blueberry juice and a water bottle on the island tasting

Not included

Alcoholic drinks on the city walk and the rooftop tour
Any alcohol at all on the island tasting, which bans it
Tips, on the tours that mention them — and they are not expected here anyway
Anything from Alko after hours: it shuts early Saturday and all day Sunday
A reason to buy bottled water, given the tap water

What works

Every one of the six gives you something to drink with the food
The rooftop ending is the only bar finish on this site and it is a good one
Blueberry juice on an island is the most Finnish drink on any of these listings
Filter coffee on the coffee tour is the one genuinely local thing you can drink here
Free tap water everywhere means nobody needs to plan around hydration

Worth knowing

Alcohol is excluded from the ticket wherever it is mentioned
The Kallio listing does not say what the included drinks actually are
Alko hours catch people out on a Saturday evening and every Sunday
A rooftop drink in the wrong month is a cold drink in a cold wind
None of these tours is a bar crawl, and none of them pretends to be

Counter tip

If you want a drink with a view at the end of the rooftop tour, decide before the group gets to the top. The included drink is the non-alcoholic one, and the queue at a rooftop bar with a group of people who have all just arrived together is not the moment to start reading a list. Know what you are ordering on the way up the stairs.

Book the one that ends on a roof

Live availability for the rooftop tour is below. If what you actually want is the coffee rather than the bar, the coffee culture tour puts a cup of filter coffee and a korvapuusti at the middle of its route, and the decision page compares all six.

Check dates & book

Ends above the rooftops

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Frequently asked questions

Do Helsinki food tours include alcohol?

No. Where alcohol is mentioned it is excluded: the city walk and the rooftop tour both say so, and the island tasting does not allow it on board at all. Anything above about 8% ABV is sold only in the state Alko shops: how that works.

Which food tour ends at a bar?

Only the rooftop tour, which finishes with a drink and a city view from a rooftop bar after visiting Jugend Hall and the Old Market Hall. The included drink is a non-alcoholic one. Full detail on the rooftop page.

What is included to drink on the Kallio tour?

The listing says drinks are included and stops there, without naming them. It does not publish its route either, and I am not going to invent either detail. What the listing does say is set out on the Kallio page.

Do I need to buy bottled water in Helsinki?

No. Finnish tap water is excellent everywhere in the country and is served free at any table, so the two tours that include water bottles are being thoughtful rather than solving a real problem. Carry an empty bottle and fill it from any tap you pass: more on the water.