starel

We have an option of stopping in Helsinki for 2 or 3 full days during the first week of June,2004. Any suggestions as to length of visit and places to see?

ira

Hi starel,

I found two days in Helsinki sufficient to see its sights.

The Helsinki Tourist Office has a website at http://www.hel.fi/tourism/

abram

e were in Helsinki for oine day, and I think two would have been better.

We enjoyed Market Square, Senate Square, the Lutheran Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, the Church in the Rock, and the City of Helsinki Museum.

We didn't take the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus, but I think that would have been a good idea.

indytravel

I was there in June 2001 and enjoyed the city a lot. Spent 2.5 pleasant days. The sun sets at 11:00pm and rises at 4:30am. You get lots and lots of daylight hours to enjoy.

Some of these were mentioned before but these were places I visited and liked.

The Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum. Beautiful building with interesting modern art, if you're into that. The coffee shop in the lobby had free internet access on 3 or 4 computers.

The Tennis Palace had an excellent modern art exhibit too. I think a lot of their stuff is temporary exhibits. You'll have to see what they have going on.

Took a short ferry ride over to Suomenlinna island. This served two purposes, one to see the city from the water and two to see the island itself. There were a few museums on it to see. An artillery museum, an historic home, and a visitors center with an interesting film about the island in multiple languages. I toured a German WWII submarine but I've since learned that the sub is no longer there. There were lots of boats about with people working on them. There was an old ship being restored too. At the far end from where the boat docked was a restaurant in an old part of the fort. It served very good pizza.

Went to the Sibelius monument, an unusual piece of art that is in a pretty park.

The church in the rock, Lutheran & Orthodox churches were both beautiful. I especially liked the Lutheran church. It's setting is very grand and the clean almost spartan look inside is refreshing from so many over-the-top ornate churches in Europe.

The art museum was good. Couple of paintings apiece by Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Munch with a lot of Finnish art.

Went to the small Cygnaeus museum. He was a private art collector and his stuff is on display in his house. While in the area went to the Mannerheim Museum. I learned a lot about a very interesting man who I never knew existed before I saw his museum.

elina

Indy gave you many museums, I'll add my two favourites: the National museum and Seurasaari outdoor museum. Seurasaari is an island full of old houses from different parts of Finland. My favourite is a tiny wooden shed in a tree. It is from Lapland, and it was used to protect food from wild animals.

You could also visit Porvoo about 40 kilometres east of Helsinki. There is a well preserved, and still inhabited, part with little wooden houses dating from 1500-1800. But don't take an ordinary bus, go by boat and see the archipelago outside Helsinki, or take a museum train.

Or if it is a beautiful, warm day, just go to the beach. There is a good sandy beach in the center of Helsinki, and the water is clean.