Together with a colleague I went to a conference in Helsinki. We spent a day exploring the city. Beforehand, I never thought that we would be able to see so much in one day. And guess what? We did everything on foot.
Church Temppeliaukio
Highlights ⚡️
- Temppeliaukio Church; this was definitely a highlight of the trip. This church is built into a rock and really special to see. You can buy your entrance ticket here or at the counter. Pay attention to your bag; when we were there a tourist was robbed ⛪️
- Dom Church; You will find this beautiful church on Senate Square. It was a sunny day, so we sat on the steps in front of the church and watched people pass by 🔔
- Old Market Hall; This market hall can be found along the harbor. Inside you mainly smell fish, so I would recommend that you take a seat outside on the large terrace 🐟
- Visit an island; our colleagues made a reservation for dinner at this restaurant, which they visited by ferry. Seems like a special experience to me 🚢
- Architecture; I am a fan of Scandinavian design. An example of a beautiful design is the Library Oodi 📚
- Visit the sauna; We didn't go, because we didn't have time for that, but visit a Finnish sauna! You have a lot of them, but we thought this one would be cool 🧖♀️
District Taka-Töölö
Lowlights 😵💫
- We wanted to have a night out and visited three(!) bars. It was a Thursday evening and they were all empty. There was no life to be seen. We visited these bars: Monkey Rooftop Bar, Ateljee bar and American bar 🍹
- It is very quiet (maybe because it was a Friday?) and that made it feel like a boring city. Maybe it's because I grew up in Amsterdam, that this took some getting used to for me. But you cannot compare this city with, for example, vibrant Copenhagen 🫠
- It's very small, so you can basically see everything in just a few hours. I would therefore only visit Helsinki if you are passing through and not visit it as a multi-day city trip. One day is more than enough 🫣
Dom Church on Senate Square
District Kaartinkaupunki
District Kasarmitori
Location and transportation 🚗
We flew directly to Helsinki with KLM. From the airport you can easily take the train to the center. You can also take an Uber (approx. €35).
We chose the Mestari hotel in the center of the Kamppi district. Good hotel, but soft beds, which don't have my preference. Breakfast, on the other hand, was delicious!
You can easily get around in the city on foot, but you can also take a scooter! You can find them on every street corner.
Are you in Helsinki for several days? Then take a Helsinki Card City. This allows you to travel for free with public transport and you'll also receive discounts to various attractions.
Do you want to combine Helsinki with another city? Then book this day trip to Talinn.
District Etu-Töölö
Fish stall at Kauppatori harbour
Old Market Hall
Fun facts about Finland 🤓
💧
Finland has the cleanest and purest water in the world
🎅
Santa Claus comes from Finland! His address is: Santa Claus Village, FIN-96930 Arctic Circle
☀️
In Finnish Lapland there are sixty days a year during the summer where the sun does not set! They also call this the 'Midnight Summer'
💚
With no less than 200 nights a year, Lapland is the perfect place to admire the Northern Lights
🧖♀️
Finland has about two million saunas!
🏞️
With more than 188,000 lakes, Finland is also called 'The land of a thousand lakes'
🌦️
Best time to travel to Helsinki:
City trip: May to October
Winter activities: December to February
Helsinki was nice to see once, but in my opinion it is not recommended for a multi-day city trip.
Hauskaa päivän jatkoa!
Nathalie
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