FINLAND: Helsinki in 3 days
I am not going to lie, Helsinki was not on my list of “must sees” as I have done a lot of Europe and tend to lean more towards traveling to Asia and South American countries. However, Travis had to go for Grad School so I could not pass up the opportunity of traveling with him. I am so glad I decided to join Travis as HELSINKI WAS AMAZING! WE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE CITY AND THE PEOPLE! Below is my advice on visiting Helsinki:
PREP: Getting ready for our Helsinki/Stockholm trip was pretty simple. As a US citizen you don’t need a visa. Hardest part was having to dig through all our vacuum sealed bags to find fall and winter clothes. Living in Key West we never touch those clothes and looking up the weather it said Helsinki would be in the high 50s or low 60s during the day which is very cold to me! So layers of clothes, down jackets, scarves, hat and boots were all packed. We found it to be a lot cheaper to fly round trip to Stockholm (from Miami) instead of Helsinki, so we decided to add Northern Sweden and Stockholm to this adventure (see next blog post) so we needed a lot of warm weather clothes. My best luggage solution was my large four wheel suitcase and it was never an issue dragging it around the two cities. The only major pre-planning I did for this trip was google some top sights and museums I wanted to see. As a visual person I took time to google map all the places I wanted to see in Helsinki and STAR them so I could see the distance and location between everything. There are some other great apps for this like Visit a City or Tour Helsinki apps so you have plenty of options for research/ideas before arriving in the city.
WHERE TO STAY: There are plenty of hotels and Airbnb’s to choose from. I suggest googling places that fit your specific needs. We split our Airbnb stay up into two different locations in the city, so we could explore those different areas by foot. We had one Airbnb in the Ullanlinna area before staying in the hotel (Scandic Park) provided for Travis’ school and then a different Airbnb the two days after his class in the Punavuori district. I’d recommend finding a hotel near everything that interests you. I enjoyed the city center area the most as it had all the museums and bars. However, it’s a relatively small city and easy to bike, tram, scoot or walk within thirty minutes to any major part of it so we got a cheaper place a bit away from the city center and walked into town.
ARRIVAL: Once you arrive at the Helsinki airport there are a few ways to get to the city center (train, taxi, Uber). For budgeting reasons we took the train. There are plenty of signs once you exit the airport so follow those signs to go underground. Here you can purchase a onetime ticket at the ticket machine and jump on the train. The last stop is Helsinki and it gets you to the city center. From here we took a taxi (located right outside the station) to our Airbnb.
TRANSPORTATION: Getting around Helsinki is extremely easy. I recommend you make sure you have cell service so you can take advantage of the apps/maps. We have T-Mobile so it is free to use internationally. Our go to favorite form of transportation was the scooters! I was a bit terrified of them at first, but they ended up being a fast and convenient way to get around the city. You can download an app for each company. We used LIME. There are scooters all over the city and all you have to do is scan the code to start the ride. Make sure you stay in the designated bike lanes or the side of the street to avoid hitting pedestrians. We also purchased the city bike week pass for only 10 Euros. This allows you to use any of the yellow bikes for up to thirty minutes a ride. They have a map online to see the bike rack locations and you also see them everywhere when walking/biking. It’s a very easy city to bike and we did a great combination of this and scooting (Depending on how lazy we felt like being, haha). They also have trams and buses which we never ended up using.
DAY ONE: We got up early and went to Cafe Engel to get a tasty breakfast. This cafe is situated right in front of the famous Helsinki Cathedral so the views were delightful. We signed up for an Airbnb city walking tour at 10am so we could get a feel for what areas we liked most and would want to go back to explore. They also have a Hop on and Hop off bus. I find both of these options to be super helpful In getting to know a new city. Our walking tour dove into all the Finnish history. We explored the Senate Square, tours inside the Cathedral and Orthodox Church, a walk through the famous market, the esplanade park where we got to see many beautiful flowers and a famous statue of the man who wrote Finland’s national anthem as well as other beautiful buildings lining the park. We then walked around some of the museums as our guide pointed out their library that allows residents to use their 3D printer, play video games, use sewing machines and much more. Helsinki has over 80 museums which is a lot considering it’s relatively a small city with only a population of 600,000 people.
After our city tour we stopped by Brewdog to get a beer and then took a power nap, because jet lag. After our nap we went to The National Museum of Finland which closes at 8pm. I am not a huge history fan, but Travis loves this kind of stuff so we wanted to get this museum in before he started class. It was very informative and I loved the more recent history levels that were more interactive - including taking a photo booth photo and adding it to a slideshow of “future presidents”. After the museum we scooted to Löyly for a night at the sauna. I highly recommend making reservations for this place as it books up fast. It is located on the water and after enjoying two choices of shared (men and female) saunas you can jump/walk into the freezing cold water. This is tradition after sweating it out in the heat. They also had a common room with a fireplace and couches where we enjoyed a few drinks between our sauna visits. After the sauna we had dinner at the restaurant adjacent to Löyly. We then scooted back to our Airbnb to rest up for the next couple of days.
DAY TWO: Travis had school today so I took the opportunity to explore all the museums and popular sites that were on my starred list to see while in Helsinki. I started at the Temppeliaukio Church which is a famous and quite impressive church that is built directly into solid rock. From there I walked to Taide Halli which had an exhibition by artist Ugo Rondinone called Everyone Gets Lighter. I am not a huge fan of clowns, but I am a huge fan of color so I was motivated to see this exhibit. It was FABULOUS! Each clown is named and posed after a simple verb which collectively forms a day in the life of. I spent a good hour just wandering between the two rooms and taking in all the sorrow, joy, love, pain and emotion they each presented. *When planning what museums you would like to see please take note that a lot of the museums are closed on Monday’s so plan your trip accordingly. I then scooted to the seaside park, Sibelius to see the abstract monument, Passio Musicae. It was also quite a popular spot so I took some time to sit in the park and people watch all the tourists come and go while enjoying the fresh autumn air.
One of the major things on my list was the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum so I made sure to have enough time to scoot there from the park and walk around the island. You cannot bring scooters on the island so make sure you park them before walking on the bridge. I got to step back in time, exploring historic Finnish cottages, farmsteads & manors. You can purchase a ticket to enter some of the buildings - which I did so I could see as much as possible - or you can just wander the grounds. It was quite peaceful and nice to get into nature a bit as well as see all the Finnish history. I finished off my lovely Helsinki day by eating at the famous Ravintola Sea Horse restaurant where we tried reindeer and it was delicious. We then bar hopped a few places before getting a few drinks at the speak easy Trillby & Chadwick. Of course no photos were allowed, but they made crafty cocktails all with a fun detective agency theme.
DAY THREE: I think you could do everything you would want to in two days in Helsinki. It was nice to have an extra day to get in some more museum time and just take my time walking the city. I started my morning with a tasty and cute cappuccino at Moomin Cafe. Then wandered the city for a bit, taking in all the architecture, sitting inside the famous silent church and then spent most of my day at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma. They had a lot of exhibits, but the one I was the most excited about was Nervescape VIII by Shoplifter/Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir. Tons of color (which we all know I LOVE) and it was hands on so you were able to pet “touch” the exhibit. I then walked over to the Central Library to explore each level and sat on one of the couches to people watch. Travis met up with me after class and we went to our favorite sauna again before eating dinner along the esplanade and heading back to the hotel for an early evening since we had to get to the airport super early for our next adventure to Sweden!
