My last Scandinavian capital city to cross off the list. Done Copenhagen, done Stockholm (many times) and finally did Oslo, just a week ago on this same trip. Whilst I liked Oslo, it didn’t quite match up Copenhagen and certainly wasn’t a match for Stockholm. I’m not sure why, but I’m desperate for another Scandinavian city to capture my heart. So here we go, 3 days in Helsinki.
Summer 2022 
4 DaysSo, this is the most icon building in Helsinki, arguably, as it’s the building always pictured in guides and books when discussing Helsinki. Not being located that far from my hotel it was the first thing that I headed for. On my second day I did a free walking tour and Senate Square (which is the square the cathedral sits on) was the meeting point. We learnt a little about the history of Finland, when it was under Swedish rule and then Russian. It was under Russian rule that many of the iconic buildings were built and when the country made its most progress. Therefore many of Helsinki’s buildings, this cathedral in particular, have a lot of Russian influence.
Salmon, White Fish, vegetables and always with potatoes and a creamy sauce. Or Salmon Soup, with much the same ingredients but in soup format! The best place to get this is in the Market Square, on the waterfront. There are orange tents there daily. Funnily enough they are all selling pretty much the same thing! As I was walking up, the smell of the food was amazing, and you could certainly tell it was fish related, but I was hoping for just a little more variety to choose from. That said, the salmon and potatoes were some of the best that I’ve tasted!
The rock church (or Temppeliaukion Church) is a church that is built into rocks with a dome roof, not only is this not in-keeping with what churches usually look like but not even in-keeping with Finnish architecture. The space is not only used for church services but also small concerts and events. It has the atmosphere of a church, oddly enough. But the dome roof is the most stunning part of this building looking up from the inside.
Made of 600 welded steel pipes, this is a popular monument for tourists, however it is a little out of the way of the main city, and sadly not really anything else in the nearby area to see.
There are many saunas in Finland, fact; there are more saunas here than cars! There are a couple of very touristy saunas here, one of them is called Löyly, which I had read about and seen on TV. I wanted a bit more of an authentic Finnish sauna experience though, the only problem was that my visit was during the last few days of June in the height of summer (and it was a hot summer in Scandinavia). Typically, many saunas close around this time until mid-August. However, I found one, called Kulturasauna which was walkable from the main centre of the city.
Upon walking in, I was told very firmly about the ‘no swimwear/naked’ policy within the sauna and given a tiny towel to sit on. I walk into the men’s changing room, the saunas, being authentic, are gender separated which you wouldn’t get in the touristy ones. The changing room was small and dark, again very authentic. Sauna houses are very basic and old, the generally don’t tend to be sparkling and shiny new!
Kulttuurisauna has a wood-heated single-fired mass stove, rather than coal or electric heated. Therefore, the smell of burnt wood was very prominent, but I liked it. Inside the sauna there was around 10 guys at any one time, varied in ages. We were told on our walking tour that Finnish people take sauna culture very seriously, and much like in Sweden it’s a cycle of sauna, dip in a cold ice lake or pool and repeat until you feel you can’t go on! Great experience and anyone visiting Helsinki and wanting a sauna experience, I would certainly recommend looking for an authentic Finnish sauna rather than something similar to what you could get at your local gym back home.
If I am being completely honest, I think this Scandinavian capital city is the lowest on my list of favourites. I don’t know, all in all I wasn’t that impressed. It’s not really comparable to Stockholm because of it’s size, but more comparable to Copenhagen. But it lacks the charm and the quaintness of Copenhagen, Copenhagen felt quite intimate and friendly, whereas Helsinki felt a lot colder, filled with big department stores and small shopping centres rather than small street-food areas and bars in old tall houses. From the point of view of someone who likes simply walking streets, taking photos of buildings and having authentic cultural experiences in the cities I visit, there really isn’t that much to do here. Even the free two-hour walking tour I did on my first full day, covered very little ground. The big wheel (much like The London Eye) failed to thrill me. Not much of a view from the top and encased in a tinted blue capsule therefore unable to take photos.
The city doesn’t have many spaces, whether they be, squares or water fronts to just sit and will the time away with a glass of wine or two. If it wasn’t for the trams in the roads and the odd building with Russian influences in its architecture, this could very much be akin to somewhere in the UK.
Maybe I’ve missed something? But, just like all other destinations, I’ve done hours of research, googling and scouring YouTube and I’m sure I’ve covered the main sights. Maybe I’m just too exhausted, being the final 3 days of a 2-and-a-half-week trip, to enjoy it fully? Maybe I’ve spent too much time in Stockholm and been spoilt there to really appreciate smaller cities in Scandinavia?
Glad I made the visit, pleased I’ve ticked off my last Scandinavian capital city, but I can now conclude that none of them beats Stockholm.
As 4 days in Helsinki was probably a little too much, I opted for a day trip on the final day. Ferries run 3 or 4 times daily, a 2 hour crossing from Helsinki to Tallinn. Tallinn is a very small city and so easily covered in a day on foot.
The city is very small and most of it within these walls. The Walls of Tallinn are the medieval defensive walls constructed around the city. Within the city itself, there is a mixture of German, Scandinavian and Russian architecture due to its past. It's a very well-preserved medieval city.
As I only had the afternoon, I opted for a 2-hour walking tour. The walking tour started at 2pm so by this time it was 31 degrees, so quite hot! I had enjoyed the short walking tours in Oslo and Helsinki, but I felt this one was a bit too much on the history side for my liking.
The tour guide was super friendly and very charismatic and I enjoyed learning about the origins of the city. Just before 4pm I wondered off from the group as I was hungry and thirsty. Later I saw the group finish in the town square at nearly 5pm, the tour had overrun by an hour! However, on the tour I did see the major sights, and I suppose the time in being stood listing to the history is time I would otherwise have spent on my phone looking at maps.
When I arrived, I headed straight to the town square for an aperol spritz (which seems to have become the signature drink of this Scandinavian trip) as I had 20 mins before a 2-hour walking tour. Iv’e realised that it isn’t just drinking aperol spritz that has become a ‘thing’, but finding the town square and town hall in every city has also become a bit of an obsession.
This square is beautiful though, very different architecture and colours in the buildings to that on mainland Scandinavia.
Given that before the covid pandemic, and of course the Russian/Ukranian war, I had planned a trip to St Petersburg (in Russia), I was looking forward to seeing the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and its Russian style of architecture (possibly the closest thing I will see to Russian architecture for many years now). Was I was very disappointed when it was under construction. Don’t you just hate that?! It was difficult to get a good shot of it without scaffolding.
There was a viewpoint from the wall overlooking Tallinn, which was impressive. To be honest I think by this point, the last day of a 2 week tour around Scandinavia (in 31 degrees heat), I was just too tired to really appreciate my surroundings.
