The Richie Reel travels to Helsinki and to be honest, it isn’t doable…. You can see a lot of Helsinki, but you will miss out on quite a bit. So the best thing to do is to list what you want to see and then prioritise it, work out opening times and then plan plan plan!
This is what we did…. Did everything go to plan??? Hell no! But at least we tried and we got to see most of it.
Helsinki is not that difficult to get around, there are trains, metro, trams and buses. We only needed to use the trains and trams… everything else we pretty much walked too as everything is quite close in terms of tourist spots. However, there are a few gems that are away from it all and that is when the tram comes in handy.
We bought a day pass which was €24 for the four of us, and this was also used for the Suomenlinna ferry. It did take us a while to work out which trams would take as in the right direction and also which stop – if all else fails, ask a local – they are so friendly and most speak English very well.
Helsinki is beautiful though so if you can walk, then walk. There are so many things that we saw along the way that we wouldn’t have seen did we take public transport. The cute cobblestoned streets and there are great photo stops everywhere.
Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna is an island close to Helsinki (around a 5 minute ferry ride – which is part of the travel day pass you should get) and was built in 1748 during the Swedish era as a fortress (mainly against the Russians) which worked well until 1808 when Russia took it over and then in 1918 after Finland got independence, Suomenlinna became Finnish and the rest is history. However, due to this history, the island/fortress has a Swedish, Russian and Finnish feel to it and this is an interesting combination.
We got to see Vesikko Submarine, a Russian church, explored around the fortress, witnessed a group of army cadets actually jogging in the snow and saw A LOT of icicles. The boys were fascinated by the icicles (to the point Fletcher did put some in a paper cup and carry it around Helsinki all day – they didn’t melt at all as it was that cold).
We had a map which we got from the Tourist information and the Lonely Planet book which helped us understand some of the areas, however, we ended up walking past a lot of things due to not knowing what it was. We would recommend getting an actual tour of Suomenlinna or visiting their website and downloading their online guide.
Vanha Kauppahalli Market Hall
After Suomenlinna we were cold and hungry – never a great combination for a Richards!!! Luckily for us, the food hall is literally a few minutes walk from where the ferry drops you off.
This place is awesome – it is cheap, cute and extremely Finnish!
The market hall dates back to the late 1800 and it still has that early 1900s feel to it which we absolutely loved. There are great photos of the Market Hall being constructed and also in action in the 1970s. There are food stalls where you can buy Finnish delicatessens and also some cute places to eat. We found a fab one and managed to find seats just in time as it gets very busy around lunchtime.
The boys enjoyed sitting and eating while watching the world walk past… they were also a big fan of the Salmon soup (definitely recommend this). We loved how warm it was in the stall and they also supplied blankets as well which I thought was such a lovely touch.
Helsinki Christmas Market
We stumbled across the market on our way out of Vanha Kauppahalli and it was so cute. There were food stalls, craft markets and a little fire pit that we appreciated. We were in Helsinki at the end of November so we think the markets that we saw were the “Early Bird” markets and we believe from around the 6th of December is when it gets impressive!
Helsinki Churches
Due to the history of Helsinki, there are a lot of Swedish and Russian influence in terms of architecture and churches. We got to visit a few churches while in Helsinki and they were all different is many ways.
There was the Russian inspired Uspenski Cathedral that overlooks the harbour of Helsinki and then there is the Neoclassical Tuomiokirkko which is next to the Senaatintori. This is a magnificent building and offered us some warmth which was very much needed. Our final church was the Kamppi Chapel. This wooden church has the main focus of offering a place for appreciating peace and quiet (as you can imagine we didn’t stay there long due to our non peaceful and quiet boys – however, the 10 minutes that they were able to be quiet was lovely in this chapel).
Helsinki Museum
This was closed, we have no idea why it was closed as everywhere else we looked had the opening hours and we turned up during the “opening hours” but it was closed. So we stood there for a few minutes not knowing what we did wrong and then decided that it was getting late and we wanted to check out a little hidden gem that we had been told about
Café Regatta
Take the tram towards Sibelius Park, stroll through the park (as it is quite nice) – however, keep an eye out for the cutest little café ever. Even though it was only 4pm, the sun had set and Café Regatta with its lights was a welcoming beacon.
The best thing about this place is that it sells sausages, which you then take to their open fireplace and sit next to complete strangers while cooking your sausages and making new friends. The fire was so welcoming and the boys loved the fact they were cooking their snack and then eating it (Fletcher’s did fall in the fire but that just adds to the taste).
The Café Regatta building has been around since 1887, and was changed from a Network shed to a Café in the early 1950s and in 2002 was firmly established as Café Regatta, the café with a Finnish soul!
This is a must if you are visiting Helsinki… a bit out of the way but worth it and something that the boys still talk about now.
To be honest, we finished at Café Regatta around 5:30 and were ready to head back to our AirBnB. Not sure if it was due to the early morning, the amount of walking or the cold temperature… however, we were grateful to be in our Helsinki home by 6:15pm where we chilled out, talked about our day and were then fast asleep by 9pm. We are so rock n roll!
Check out Episode 1 of our Finland trip here: https://therichiereel.com/2022/02/08/finland-episode-1-helsinki/
Checkout out all our youtube videos here: http://httpL//www.youtube.com/therichiereel
