‘Helsinki? Where’s that?’ I was often asked, [it’s the capital of Finland].

Why Helsinki? Well my favouritist composer ever, Jean Sibelius, came from there so that was good enough for me! Oh, OK, it looked interesting too and I always fancied taking the ferry accross a frozen Baltic Sea to Tallinn for a two centre city break. Yep, I decided February 2018 was the best time to go!

We knew Helsinki was expensive so we chose to stay for only two nights followed by three nights in Tallinn which worked well, although this meant we only got a small taste of Helsinki.

We flew direct from Gatwick to Helsinki. Transfer to the Central Railway Station by Finnair City Bus was easy peasy and not too expensive.

We stayed at Hotel Arthur which was only five minutes walk from the station. The Hotel was fine, clean and well run as one would have hoped.

We enjoyed our short stay in Helsinki which had a modern feel. Many of the buildings were built in the 20th century and were functional but not always inspiring, however dig a bit deeper and there are treasures to be found.

After two nights we took the afternoon ferry to Tallinn, Estonia. Both Finland and Estonia use Euros so there were no currency issues to worry about.

Click on the links below for more info on Helsinki.

Quick Links:

Things to see and do

Ferry boat to Tallinn

Eating and Drinking