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Hei!
I'm going to Finland next week for work, but tagging on some holiday time in Helsinki and Turku (3 days in each). I've had minimal time to do any research, so any tips of fun activities/things to see would be mega please. Public transport only.
I like saunas, biking, hiking, history and metal music (Korpiklaani genuinely one of my faves from the 00s).
Not a tourist hotspot... 😀
I spent 3 months there with work. Nearly 10 years ago now, but seems like yesterday. I had bloody marvellous time.
I posted a similar but different thread. Might be some useful bits in there: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/off-topic/helsinki-september-to-december/
I spent a bit over 24 hours in Turku and was blind drunk at a party most of the time, so I can't really give any sensible advice, beyond "don't get carried away with toasts"
Thanks @nedrapier, I'll go and read that thread now!
@DrJ, I'll bear that in mind for the conference dinner...
I was to and fro from HEL for work a lot over a four year period (well, apart from the first two years of Covid). 20-odd years ago, as a tech journalist covering Nokia, I visited quite a bit as well, and Helsinki is well up there on my list of places to go back to. It's a great place to visit and the Finns are generally awesome people - take the time to get around their sense of humour and you'll have a great trip.
There are a ton of islands in the harbour to visit, and plenty of paddleboarding and sailing opportunities, too - have a look at ferries if you have time there; on one of them you can go puttering past a beached submarine called Vesikko, which is apparently in much better condition than when I first saw it about 20 years ago, and is now open to visitors.
This time of year the days will be getting really long, so I'd suggest having a wander around downtown Helsinki of an evening - Bulavardi is a good place to walk along, as is the park at Kaivopuisto, which I think is @nedrapier's old manor. The posho!
On the late evenings - I got caught out a few times by a combination of it feeling like 6pm when it was actually 11pm, incredibly friendly Finns and the toasting / drinking thing. I was usually kidnapped by my coworkers for evening fun, so didn't usually have a clue where I was, but the main takeaway I got was that you can get to most places in Helsinki by walking for about 20 minutes.
Sauna is something Finns take it seriously. Most people are Anglophone, older generations due to subtitled UK and US TV in the 80s and 90s. One Finnish phrase gets you almost everywhere, though.
I would try and get out to Nuuksio national park. There was a bus when I lived there, but you could get a taxi or tbh I'd recommend hiring a car whilst you are there to get out of the city. The city is nice and all, but the forest is what Finland is all about. You can grab yourself some sausages, go for a walk through the forest, find a fire hut by a lake. Then you grill your sausages or fish, drink your beer and just be in the forest. It's better by bike if you can hire one because you can go further and see more stuff. Watch out for mozzies tho.
Thank you @bentudder, that's terrific. Practically everyone I've spoken to who's been to Helsinki says they love it.
I did just watch all five minutes of that video though, and I'm none the wiser as to what "no niin" actually means!
And thank you @molgrips, I didn't know you'd lived there! I do hope to get out in the forest somewhere. Hiking or cooking or channelling my inner shaman...
A Finnish colleague once told me that, in Finland, the main activities in summer are fishing and f###ing and in winter they just have f###ing.
Great country and great people.
Kippis
So he didn't mention Forestry, @Fruitbat? They like a bit of forestry!
Good one on Nuuksio, Molgrips. I did a bit of snowshoeing there one winter. Kept tripping over my own clown feet, to the hilarity of my workmates...
A Finnish colleague once told me that, in Finland, the main activities in summer are fishing and f###ing and in winter they just have f###ing.
Great country and great people.
Kippis
That would explain why they often get the top score in the world happiness rankings 😀
Sky bar at the top of Hotel Torni tower is cool this time of year, you can watch the sun go all the way to the N. Zetor is a fun bar, Helsinki Brewery does good beer and wings. Café Ursula does a great set-price lunch buffet on the seafront.
Allas Sauna is a fun one, Loyly is a bit overrated imo.
It's worth a short boat trip to one of the islands like Santahamina or Pihlajasaaren.
Depending on what you want, a night ferry to Tallinn is often cheaper than a Helsinki hotel, then you can get an extra city in as a bonus. If you're staying in Helsinki, I'd recommend the Katajanokka quarter.
I was a uni exchange student in Turku for 5 months about 18 years ago, and I had a Finnish girlfriend for about 4 years, so spent a lot of time in Turku and Helsinki. It was some time ago, but Finland is a great place and I generally felt more attuned to the Finnish way of life than the British one! Can't offer specific bars/businesses as it's been so long since I was there, but both cities are interesting to walk around and sightsee. Bear in mind Helsinki is larger, whereas Turku is like a large UK town (it's not much bigger than Reading in population!) and the city centre is fairly compact.
Helsinki: the harbour area is nice to walk around, and there are small boat trips to nearby islands, Suomenlinna is an old fortress island and interesting to pootle around and a short ferry trip. Worth looking at the indoor market and the interesting buildings like the orthodox cathedral (Uspenski).
Turku, get yourself to the river Aura near the main old church (Tuomiakirkko), take a nice walk along the southern bank of the river and after a couple of bridges there will be a number of large boats on the riverbank (hopefully still there!) that are all bars! They're really nice places to have a drink, and to walk to. Then you can keep walking down the river, cross over a footbridge to the northern bank and walk to the main harbour, maritime museum and small castle. If you have time and do a bit of research, catch a bus to nearby Ruissalo, a nearby island that has lots of accessible natural beauty to breathe in. The nearby wider Turku archipelago is incredible, and has an amazing looking bike tour route, but you'd need time for getting further afield. Turku is easy to get around by bike too, so renting a town bike is a good option, and go exploring. Also, metal/rock was a default music option in many bars, so you won't have trouble there. Also, there were many really good bars selling excellent beer, so I don't think you'll struggle on that front. I found regular Finnish lager generally tasted much nicer than generic p1$s you might get in a UK pub.
This time of year it'll be light late, and the twilight lasts until at least 1am so it feels (nicely) odd! Enjoy it, i'm jealous!
EDIT: there's a free foot/bike ferry across the river which is nice to use instead, it's called "Föri"!
I was a uni exchange student in Turku
Ooh. Interesting. My trip was in the context of a visit to the Swedish university, Åbo Akademi, as I was an exchange student in Sweden at the time 🙂
We encountered a group of not-so-young Finnish women getting off the Helsinki ferry in Talinn, 'Vee haff come here to trink!'. Blimey, Talinn wasn't that cheap. You can do a day trip via bus from Helsinki to Porvoo, see lots of forest and people fishing through holes in the ice and Porvoo is much smaller, old wooden buildings etc. I found the wind went straight through my jeans (ooerrr, mrs), this was Autumn, frozen sea etc, and I wished I'd brought another layer.
I was a uni exchange student in Turku
Ooh. Interesting. My trip was in the context of a visit to the Swedish university, Åbo Akademi, as I was an exchange student in Sweden at the time 🙂
Nice! Åbo Akademi was/is the cooler, Swedish-centric uni in town, I was at Turun Yliopisto - Turku Uni. I was a postgrad at my home Welsh Uni, which had links to Turku for some time, all via the now defunct Erasmus scheme (a bitter killing off by Brexit). I'd met my Finnish girlfriend of the time in my final year when she was on exchange! 😆
Thank you all, loads here! I won't reply individually but really grateful for the various recommendations.
I did just watch all five minutes of that video though, and I'm none the wiser as to what "no niin" actually means!
It’s obvious; no niiiiin! 😜
I live in Helsinki area and I don’t think I can add anything to great suggestions above, good work!
Restaurant scene in Helsinki has been bit turbulent since Covid but there is of good options available. Don”t know about bar scene these days, it is kalsarikänni or nothing.
There is a music festival in Turku next week, rockfest.fi, could affect hotel availability and pricing.
My hotels are all booked fortunately. I'm in Helsinki when rockfest is on and Turku after it's finished. I've got that the wrong way round, d'oh!
Any vegan/vegetarian cafes or restaurants you know of @mrmannerr?
it is kalsarikänni or nothing.
"pantsdrunk" 😀
There are vegan options in every bar and restaurant these days, if not purely vegan is required I can recommend Onda, Levant and Farang. All in Helsinki, last one I visited few weeks ago and it was very good.
Thanks, I'll check those out 🙂 . I'm now going a day earlier because of the Finnair strikes next week...
Well, if we're going to talk about Kalsarikanni, then we should talk about Blörö, the breakfast the day after.
I stayed here in Finland, the friendship inn, half way between Helsinki and Turku. I know you have your accommodation booked but it’s a really special place with wood fired sauna and access to their own beautiful lake. They seem to list sauna price separately so looks like you could go there just for that if you wanted to.
https://ystavyydenmajatalo.fi/the-friendship-inn-lodging/
Thank you, I definitely want to do some sauna tourism so I'll see if I'm passing!