Sign in with Facebook"Probably my favourite place on earth - Helsinki" Helsinki by sabsi
Helsinki Travel Guide: 3,614 reviews and 7,274 photos
Päivää!
For me Helsinki is one of the most interesting and beautiful cities I've ever been to. Plus it's quite "exotic" compared to other European cities - because of the language and the style and everything!
When I still had a Finnish boyfriend I came here quite often in summer to visit him and his family. Now he is gone, I am gone and I had not been back here for 3 years.
I must have been completely nuts!!!! I went back for a long weekend in October/November 2003 and I fell in love with the city again right away. So much in love that I decided to go back in June 2004 for a midsummer holiday. It was - again - wonderful!
In March 2005 I visited for the first time in winter. I was scared of horror temperatures way below zero. Luckily it wasn't too cold (mostly -2 to -9C) and when the sun was out it was really beautiful and I wasn't even wearing gloves or hat. Unfortunately the afternoon I had reserved for picture taking in Helsinki was the only time the sun wasn't out. It was dark, windy and grey but definitely a real winter experience :)
In summer there's this lovely atmosphere with loads of boats, open-air cafes and concerts and every Finn seems to be smiling and enjoying summer. During midsummer it hardly gets dark at night and it's probably the most beautiful time of year.
I have many great memories of long summer days here ... of picknicks at Suomenlinna ... of washing a carpet "the finnish way" (see my travelogue for more about that!) ... of eating peas at Kauppatori ... of lazy sauna evenings ... of the Finnish midsummer celebrations ... of nice VT meetings and many cool lonkeros etc etc.
When winter arrives this city is different... it's grey and dark ... the people seem to be quieter (apart from the ones I know of course ;-) ... there are hardly any tourists ...
What a great time to go to finally experience Helsinki's great nightlife. I have been to more bars, restaurants and clubs during my four days in Helsinki in autumn than in all the times I had been there before in summer! So now you will finally also find quite a number of nightlife tips here.
Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this page as much as I enjoyed building and "renovating" it all the time.
- Pros:Great architecture, nice port, exotic atmosphere, great nightlife
- Cons:Queuing for a taxi in the middle of a freezing night can't be good for your health ;-)
- In a nutshell:One of my favourite places in Europe
Reviews (84)
The biggest 'Pulla'
Restaurants
(12)
Cafe Esplanad is a stylish selfservice cafe at Pohjoisesplanadi. They serve tasty food like pasta and salads as well as... more travel advice
Winter in Helsinki
Things to Do
(26)
In winter Helsinki has a special charme I think - especially around the port. The sea is frozen. As the big ferries and... more travel advice
Little Nepal
Restaurants
(12)
This tiny place in Annankatu was Gil's recommendation so we chose to go there the last evening I have been here for a... more travel advice
V-Bird
Transportation
(6)
I flew into Helsinki with V-Bird recently from Niederrhein Airport Weeze - which isn't far away from Düsseldorf (30 mts... more travel advice
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Tourist Traps (3)
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Off The Beaten Path (9)
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Warnings and Dangers (2)
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Nightlife (9)
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Shopping (4)
See All Expensive but great
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Comments (151)
Yes I do agree - a beautiful opening picture of Helsinki. Hi from South Africa.
Great tips. I was wondering, is it a long walk from the ferry terminal (coming from Stockholm) to the city center? Or should I take a cab? Take care
Hi Sabsi, Information on your pages is fantastic. Looks a great place to visit, have not been this far north in Europe. Very different from my home in Australia.
Hi, Great pages about Helsinki. I'm planning to go there in June, so I very much appreciated reading your pages. Have a nice day!
Great tips Sabine, thank you for sharing! Heading to Helsinki next week :) Greetings from Barcelona, Isa
Great Page! Looking forward to checking out some of your great tips in three weeks time when I visit. Thanks - Brian
nice tips. It looks like a lovely city. :-)
Nice to visit your pages...
nice notes and pictures. very interesting about a spot I know nothing about. I think I'll go !
loved your helsinki pages and tip. i think findland is the best place i have ever visited