Six Days In Sunny Helsinki

[therock]

Hei Hei!

 

Greetings from the land of the never-ending sun!

 

Just sharing some tips, info and photos of my current trip :)

 

 

 

Some basic info first:

 

 

 

Helsinki

 

 

Helsinki; Swedish: Helsingfors, is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. Helsinki has a population of 605,523, an urban population of 1,159,211 and a metropolitan population of 1,361,506.

 

 

Some links to guides:

 

http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/finland/helsinki

 

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/finland/helsinki

 

http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en/come/tourist-information

 

 

The country of Finland is sandwiched between two larger powers, Sweden to the West and Russian to the right, and both nations have strong influences on this country. In fact the official second language here is Swedish, with signs showing both Finnish and Swedish. English is an optional third language, but many younger people are picking up this for commercial reasons.

 

A basic summary of what’s good here:

If you are here in winter, it’s a fabulous place to see the Northern Lights.

The scenery is ok, but it’s best to combine it with other Scandinavian countries, as it is not the most exciting place to visit.

Food is nice and it is not as expensive as Norway or Sweden (be prepared to spend $50 for two at Macs).

If you like mountains, lakes and outdoors, it’s a nice place.

It’s also a stepping stone to visit St Petersburg, Estonia and other Scandinavian places.

 

Getting here involves a direct flight with Finnair, or you have to transit, eg from Frankfurt if you take SIA. Not the chpeatest place to visit, but it’s still cheaper than Norway by a large margin. Budget S$30-40 a meal if you do not want to eat Macs all the time. Or bring some cup noodles J

 

Some basic travel tips:

 

You can get a data only card for E7.9 or use roam planning from home.

Food tends to be expensive but not as bad as the Scandinavian countries.

The trams and buses are excellent and the people are very friendly. Most will speak some English .

The city is not too big and a cab ride from the airport takes about 20 minutes and 40 Euros. Their public transportation system is superb, with trams, trains, and the metro. Add cabs and free bicycles in your hotel, it’s fantastic. The terrain is flat and easy to move around. One thing you will notice is how clean their trains are, with no rubbish, or graffiti. In fact you hardly notice any litter, unlike Singapore where despite the proliferation of rubbish bins every ten metres, you still see litter all over. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many hotels offer free bicycles for you to ride around:

 

 

 

For such a small city, you have many travel options, and there are these toilets in the metro, where you press the flush system and it will not only flush but spray water out to wash your hands. But it requires some coordination otherwise you might do the wrong thing and end up washing your hands in the water used to flush the toilets!

 

 

 

The trains also go out in to the region, and you buy a pass which covers the city or the regional pass, rather than a strictly by distance kind of system. Furthermore, you can get the Helsinki Card for unlimited travel and visits to the museums and other attractions. (https://www.helsinkicard.com/)

 

 

 

 

The days are long here, and the skies never really get dark; this is what it looks like at 11pm:

 

 

Of course when you visit a new place, you look out for the local food and it's not all fermented herring here..

 

 

This white perch is really awesome!

 

The restaurant is floating on a lake:

http://www.ravintolameripaviljonki.fi/

 

 

It also does nice desserts:

 

 

 

 

And more food:

 

 

For good oysters and seafood at the Kamppi Centre (which also has funky toilets):

Fisken: http://www.fisken.fi/

 

 

 

 

This makes your regular fish and chip shop weep… and it wasn’t too expensive - < S$20

 

 

Plus great coffee too.

 

 

 

 

 

[therock]

Even more food!

 

The market hall is a nice place to shop, eat and bring home all kinds of salmon.

 

 

Outside the hall, there is a carnival like market place too.

 

 

 

 

 

Just look out for the birds!

 

 

The salmon was really good

 

 

How about some reindeer:

 

 

And good bread:

 

[therock]

Now no show and tell is complete without pics of their cars right?

After all it's a car forum ;)

 

The other thing you notice is that they use Mercedes for their cabs! Typically an E Class but sometimes a C class or B class. Some are station wagons, and many cars here use diesel. Even the new S90 is used as a cab here. I think the drivers love their cars and FC is secondary to a good drive.

 

Furthermore, the roads are largely made of cobblestone in the city centre, so a solid suspension is a must. You see mostly continental cars, with a significant proportion of Audi and even more Mercs. But there are noticeably less BMWs. Makes you think about their reliability... and of course, lots of Volvos.

 

 

 

 

 

The majority are Conti makes here, and the odd Jap / Korean car, but you do get some pretty nice cars here, probably because they are still cheaper than our prices by far despite the high tax rates (close to 50%) and VAT of 25%.

 

Fuel costs around the same here, due to high taxation.

 

Hatchbacks and station wagons outnumber sedans by far.

 

And some classic ones too:

 

 

Since there is no COE, you will see cars which are reliable and past their usual time to scrap in SG:

 

 

 

There are more people driving manual shifts here but traffic is generally light so there are few jams. The cars and trams co-exist on the same roads very amicably, and even though there are many of blur tourists walking about, they don’t horn at us. 

[t0y0ta]

Everything has English signs?

[therock]

More car shots:

 

 

[therock]

Everything has English signs?

 

Their official language is Finnish, the second language is Swedish so both signs are pervasive.

English is also very common as it's the working language in the EU.

 

That's unofficially their third language.. 

[Freeder]

Can post some Finnish chio bus ?

[therock]

You want Swedish gals mate

They look quite different..

No Carlsberg girls here..

[therock]

It's Nuuksio National Park day..

Sadly I'm stuck in a train with some inebriated Finnish

If I don't report back in 24 hours, then you know I am finished ;)

Edited July 1, 2017 by therock

[therock]

Helsinki evolving from a sleepy town to a more vibrant place and it's not just about fermented herring..

 

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by therock

[therock]

Nuuksio National Park, merely an hour away and you are in a green paradise..

 

Take the train to Espo, then switch to bus 245A, and stop at the Solvalla stop.

 

 

Finnish are famous for their skiing and telemark, where they ski long distances and shoot their rifles.. definitely not easy and a test of their breathing..

 

 

 

Interestingly there's a SUV proving ground here too :

 

 

 

 

 

Info on the park:

 

http://www.nationalparks.fi/nuuksionp

 

http://effitimonholiday.com/2015/09/a-day-trip-from-helsinki-to-nuuksio-national-park/

[Little_prince]

lol. i went during winter. sibei jialat.

 

from there can make a short trip over to estonia.

 

Talinn is beautiful.

 

so are the gals.

[therock]

Yeah Estonia and St Petersberg are a short boat ride away..

More nature shots:

 

 

It's a good thing we can run faster than a bear..

 

 

 

 

 

[Sabian]

That's probably Usain Bolt speed.

[Noob79]

nice thread, looks awesome

[BanCoe]

I like the toilet seats which are retractable ....... very good for man to direct shoot and for push down when want to use

 

Very smart ... why Singapore public toilets don't do like this; 

 

But whats surprises me is which sicko can go and vandalise this kind of thing also (see the scratchings on black seat) 

  

[Sunny]

Yeah Estonia and St Petersberg are a short boat ride away..

More nature shots:

 

 

It's a good thing we can run faster than a bear..

 

 

 

 

 

i may be able to run 37.5km/hr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but after 1 min...chuan liao

the bear maybe can run for 5mins at that speed

 

 

 

[therock]

Toilets:

They are definitely not catered to Asians!

I am above average in height and I still have trouble reaching the urinals!

 

Tall Finns :)