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Scrolled through destinations forum and google searched, but can’t find a specific thread, so suggestions on how to fill a few days would be appreciated.
I’m aware of the open air pool/sauna near to ferry terminal, opportunity to pop over to Tallin for a day.
Any must/must no do’s?
Usually I enjoy ‘Travel Man 48 Hours In…’ for ideas of this nature (available on Ch4 on demand). However there wasn’t much up my street in the Helsinki episode! Sea kayaking looked fun I guess?
Food-wise try lohikeito (salmon soup), karjalanpiirakka (karelian pies) with munavoi (egg butter), cinnamon buns (Café Regatta on the lake is popular).
I’m not sure there is enough in Helsinki for a few days. 1 day and 1 night should do it. The museum of contemporary art was a highlight for me.
1 day in Tallin should also be enough,to get a medieval flavour for the city. The ferry boat is full of locals on thier booze cruse to Estonia, so be prepared!
Have you considered getting on a ferry to St Petersberg? You can travel overnight and get 72hrs visa free entry, there is much more to see and do in st peterburg. 72hrs wasn’t enough! I found the whole place fascinating. There are conditions to the visa free entry. You will need pre booked accommodation for entry as you can’t stay on the boat and you have to take 1 excursion from the boat upon landing. I just picked the excursion which was a bus only into the town.
Ferry Port immigration was a whole new experience and not for the faint hearted. Just make sure you keep every piece if paper they give you upon entry, as without it, you will have problems when you try to leave.
Moby SPL ferrys operate in this region. Its not a daily sail, so depending how flexible you are with your dates it could work. When I did this (2017 Helsinki-St Petersberg- Tallin) the cost of the overnight ferrys with cabins were cheaper than hotel accommodation in Helsinki, and with the visa free entry it was a no brainer.
The only negative was having Russian stamps in your passport. Especially when entering the USA. Very high imigration officer raised eyebrows when combined with Turkish and Chinese stamps 🤣.
Things have changed a bit since 2017, @kiley…
“FCDO advises against all travel to Russia.
Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against FCDO advice. Consular support is also severely limited where FCDO advises against travel.”My son & I are heading there in August and planning to do this at some point – looks great if you enjoy beer
https://www.raflaamo.fi/en/restaurant/helsinki/sparakoffI was looking round the city between bits of work, so did a random mix of stuff, but really enjoyed visiting! Cycling along some of the waterfront is fun. In terms of striking architecture, it’s ‘s worth going by the Sibelius monument,and into Kamppi chapel, and going by the Helsinki Music Centre and Finlandia Hall.
Suomenlinna is an interesting island to visit.
I always loved Helsinki. Agreed with all above but I think there is a nice feeling to the city so I never got bored there. I didn’t find Suomenlinna the most exciting but it is a good visit
The only negative was having Russian stamps in your passport. Especially when entering the USA. Very high imigration officer raised eyebrows when combined with Turkish and Chinese stamps 🤣.
Really? I’ve travelled to the US many times with both Russian and Chinese Visas (and 4 Turkish stamps) in my passport and nobody at immigration has ever raised an eyebrow.
Really? I’ve travelled to the US many times with both Russian and Chinese Visas (and 4 Turkish stamps) in my passport and nobody at immigration has ever raised an eyebrow.
Yes really. Across the land boarder from Canada to New York state. My son and I were going skiing. It was eairly morning and we were the only vehicle. We were asked if we had ESTAs and I polite informed the officer we didn’t need them across a land boarder. I handed over the passports I was then asked what I was doing in China, Russia and Turkey. I replied “work, Holiday, visiting parents”
I got the raised eyebrow “look” from the immigration officer suggesting he thought I was telling porkies.
We were directed to a separate area where the car was emptied and searched before we could continue our journey.
There was no explanation given and no other small talk. The experience at the boarder lasted circa 40mims
This was a time when both Russia and the UK were at war in Syria at the Turkish boarder. So I assumed they were implementing some procedural checks.
For future reference, the dividing line between two countries is a “border” rather than a “boarder”. The latter would be some who “boards”, i.e. lodges in e.g. a boarding school, guest accommodation, etc.
Or boards a means of transport, e.g., an aircraft, or train, which I think is vaguely related to the confusion this seems to cause! One boards a train to cross the border, maybe.
But every time I see this thread heading I’m compelled to comment, “I thought Helsinki had a maudlin quality which makes it unsuitable as a holiday destination.” 😂
@Kiley you just got one on a bad day, as I did when I came back from Friday Harbor to the mainland. Hadn’t left US soil but didn’t realise I needed to show a passport as the ferry had originated in BC Canada and picked up at FH
I got a ton of attitude, car and luggage searched and 10 mins of questions about my finances, how could I afford to make the trip etc.
Planning 24 hours in Helsinki as part of next year’s Japan and World Expo trip.
(it was cheaper to pay cash for the EDI-HEL leg than make it a redemption, so hence the overnight – just in case!)
So any and all tips welcome.
Oh dear. I am in the same situation @Colin and so far nothing is appealing at all!
I was hopeful this thread would brig up something of interest. But so far 24hrs in Helsinki sounds like it is visiting a sauna, to eat salmon soup, and drink beer (no, no and no!).
Well it’s not somewhere that seems to enthuse folks on here so far, but would I think it’s “maudlin” as NL suggests? I’m sure the happy Finnish may not agree, but I will defer my opinion until I have been, after all, ‘don’t knock it till you’ve tried it’.
It has plus points for me
– it won’t be pushing 40 degrees like Sofia was last year
– T3 lounges at LHR
– Finnair Platinum lounge at HEL
– a chance to try Finnair Lounge Seat on their A330 to see if it would be comfortable enough for a long haul
– 480 TP’s to kick start my new earning year
– a Brucie bonus in finding out that Springsteen is playing while I’m there and getting a ticketColin/Travel Strong – I think there may be a bit more to it. A Lutheran church build into rock (Temppeliaukio), Helsinki Cathedral, Uspenskin Cathedral, Kamppi chapel of silence (interesting architecture), Sibelius park. There’s lots of museums, although the national museum is closed till 2027. There’s an aviation museum near the airport.
Suomenlinna island probably not for a 24hr visit, although ferries only take 15 mins or so, and it’s somewhere I will go.
I’ve been looking at Trip Advisor etc for top things to do.Meta – food suggestions sound fine to me, a cinnamon bun a day sounds a good target, and I’m hoping there will be pickled fish on the breakfast buffet.
Degsy – a pub in a tram…..🤔 a maybe
Kiley – a big no to Russia – it would invalidate my insurance, and I understand relations between them and Finland are not great now either, so no point in risking issues with a return (or future visits elsewhere in the world).
@freckles, I think you’ve missed the pop culture reference here, you must be a youngster ? (though the Bruce Springsteen thing would seem to contradict that theory)! I’m surprised @Aston100 didn’t get in there before me, TBH.
My son is weirdly obsessed with Finland and knows all sorts of weird facts such as apparently all students are presented with a top hat and a sword on graduating, so we may end up going one day!
@NorthernLass – no, not a spring chicken, in fact I think I have a few years on you. I’ve just googled the phrase – Little Britain? Probably never watched it at the time.
It probably hasn’t aged well but it spawned a few catchphrases at the time!
@freckles yes, all sorts of fish for breakfast. Excellent berry jams too.
There is also Design Museum with early designs by Aalto’s early designs. The whole Design Quarter with some beautiful and unique items in shops. If you want some centrepieces for your home, Helsinki is one of the best places to shop for them even if prices are high. (Marimekko, Iitala).
Löyly sauna complex is a great experience. The locals love Karaoke so there are some good bars for that!. There are good walking tours too, incl on Suomenlinna
I can finally update this thread with my own experience, to say I have been very pleasantly surprised by Helsinki and Finnair so far too.
If cathedrals, sauna, and salmon soup isn’t your thing – worry not.
I had missed the suggestion above about Karaoke, but sure enough that is where we ended up at 1am after landing and seeing several kareoke bars from the window of the 600 bus (4.40 EUR from airport to city center). Always entertaining, even if 80 % of the renditions were Finnish songs!
Outdoor workout equipment is a thing in Helsinki, with some great outdoor gyms at various places.
And the highlight of 18hrs in Helsinki – the Helkatti Cat Cafe! Pre-booking recommended, but we got the last walk in spots. Best visited on a weekday when there are less kids (unless you have kids, I guess!)
As for the Finnair experience – I really really like it.
The A350 on a short hop from LHR-HEL was excellent, with just 11 people in the business class cabin and no one in any seat near us – it was a very relaxing evening.I found the no recline seat to be perfect and spacious, the IFE delighted me with some of it’s unexpected offerings, and whilst I passed on the main course, the pistachio pastry dessert was excellent.
I will be looking to transit in HEL again in the future!
Oh and the Scandic hotel voucher from Finnair worked a treat too.
70-something EUR + 500 Avios, for a very well appointed room at the Scandic Helsinki Hub, including breakfast for 2. Saved around £50-70 depending on how you value breakfast. The breakfast was excellent. Huge variety and all to a high standard.
Could not be a better location for walking out of the door and exploring with only 18hrs in the city – and the standard rooms that you get with the voucher were great. Moxy in vibe, but higher standard of bathroom, and a bigger bed.
If you are wondering whether they really want you to print the voucher in advance and hand over the best scrappy printout that your lesser used inkjet printer can muster – yes they really do!
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