Helsinki, Finland

After Rovaniemi, we decided to check out Helsinki for a couple of days. It’s the largest city in Finland so we thought we’d get a nice city vibe too. The city is cute but pretty small, and when it’s cold like it was in September you run out of things to do pretty quickly! I’d recommend it as a weekend town for sure.

Where we stayed

As I’ve mentioned before Hilton is always my first choice, so we booked the Hilton Helsinki Strand. I got an upgrade to an executive room with a nice view which was awesome, and access to the executive lounge is always cool. The hotel was also near a metro line and bus stop and was easy to get around.

How to get around

We decided to invest in the Helsinki Card which comes with free public transportation. We chose the Helsinki Card Region which included travel to and from the airport as well. It’s about 45 minutes on the train to the city center of Helsinki and then we took a metro to our hotel. It was pretty cold when we were there so we took the metro and bus most places, which was very easy to navigate and figure out.

Things to do

Suomenlinna

This is an old sea fortress that you can take a ferry to and explore. It’s full of history and very interesting. There’s also a couple cafes on the island - some people actually live there as well. We had a fun few hours exploring and taking photos. This is included for free as part of the Helsinki card.

Rock church

This church was built directly into solid rock. It’s very beautiful. It costs a couple euros to come in and wander around. It’s surrounded by several tourist trap type places but it was worth a stop to see the beautiful interior. This was also free with the Helsinki card.

Helsinki cathedral

We didn’t go inside this cathedral but it was very pretty from the outside.

Uspenski Cathedral

We didn’t go in this cathedral either but took a lot of pictures of it - it was designed by a Russian architect and the gold top is pretty cool. It’s right by the water and the main market area.

Hakaniemi Market Hall

This is a little indoor market that sells food, souvenirs, and a variety of other things. They also have several food stalls that serve hot food and baked items. I got some creamy salmon soup from one of the stalls which is a popular food in Helsinki.

Where to Drink

SKÖNE

We actually went to this bar twice. It’s on the water and has a great view. They also have several varieties of a famous drink in Finland called Long Drink. Its original form is gin and grapefruit soda, but they have some other flavors. It’s actually sold in bottles or on draft at a lot of places! I loved these and tried them everywhere we went but enjoyed them here.

Karl Fazer Cafe

Ok, this is coffee, and not the usual alcohol I feature in this section. But! Helsinki has a ton of coffee shops, and also these awesome Finnish cinnamon buns, and you should try one out.

Where to Eat

Skiffer Kallio

This was a late night choice where we ate a very strange pizza with pickles on it and a whole head of roasted garlic. It was better than it sounds! This place was also very cute and we enjoyed it.

Restaurant Kannas

We were really wanting just some sort of pub food this day and it was weirdly hard for us to find. We ended up taking the cable car to this cute restaurant that had an awesome beer selection. I had finnish meatballs and pepper sauce with mashed potatoes, beets and pickles. Very Finnish and very tasty.