One of my favorite bands (Bolt Thrower) is visiting the US for the first time in like 14 years, but all of their shows are sold out except for an appearance concurrent with SXSW in Austin, TX. I really don’t want to go to Austin, but it happens that their little 8 city tour includes an outdoor festival in Helsinki at the end of June.
Since I’ve been wanting to start traveling more, I figured this might be a terrific time and place to indulge myself, but the truth is I know very little about Finland and even less about Helsinki, so I figured I’d ask Dopers about the place.
Who’s been there? What’s it like? Is it frigid at the end of June? Will I need $100 for every meal? What is there to do besides bang my head at metal shows?
I was there with my future wife in 1992. A nice, clean city but kind of lacking in exciting things to do and see. I had learned Finnish in the early sixties and embarassed myself by how much of it I had forgotten.
Yes, it was expensive as all Scandinavian cities were, and presumably still are. By June the weather is pretty comfortable. Don’t worry about the language as Finns know how alien their tongue is and don’t expect much from tourists. Learn how to say hello, goodby and thank you and you will do just fine and the Finns will appreciate your efforts.
Erm, yeah, Helsinki isn’t one of Europe’s most thrilling metropolises. I stayed there just long enough to check out the ferry timetable to Tallinn, which is a lot more fun. (Even the Finns seem to think so - the beer’s certainly a lot cheaper!)
Still, an outdoor music festival in June would be fun. It will hardly get dark (Helsinki is at 60 degrees north, closer to the north pole than Juneau AK), and Finns really like to party. (Or at least get very drunk.)
As everyone’s said, not the most exciting place in the world- I went to a juggling convention in Finland a few years back, and spent two or three days in Helsinki on the way back. I pretty much ran out of stuff to do there on the second day. Food (and especially beer) is expensive everywhere in the county- in fact, Finland is just plain expensive, by European standards. It certainly wasn’t cold when I was there, it was roasting, but my trip was during the hottest temperature recorded since Finland became a country, so not exactly representative.
It’s a friendly place, and I encountered one person who didn’t speak a decent level of English (the woman on the counter at the international desk of the railway station :rolleyes: ) in about two weeks in the country.
Finland’s pretty easy to get around, and there’s a lot of nature and scenery and lakes to swim in and suchlike, if that’s your thing. I would have liked to spend longer exploring the rest of the country, but I wouldn’t rush back to Helsinki.
When I was in Helsinki a couple of years ago we weren’t lacking in things to keep us entertained, but we were only there for about a day and a half after a trip much farther north. We found a casino, a theater, a couple dozen restaurants, etc. The biggest concern I would have visiting Helsinki in June would be the mosquitoes. It is my understanding that summer in Helsinki and the surrounding areas is basically overrun with the fuckers and that they actually have annual mosquito killing contests because of it. We went in November so it was cold but not uncomfortable and all the insects were dead.
You don’t get that many mosquitoes in Helsinki - they are a major pest only in Lapland, elsewhere in Finland you get some but hardly enough to complain about. As already mentioned in June the days are roughly 18-20 hours long with long period of twilight at each end and no real darkness. Bring a sleeping mask if you need complete darkness to sleep properly. Day temperatures in Helsinki should be between +10 C (cold, rainy day) and +30 C … hmm, that’s 50 F to 86 F with most sunny days having the high temperature near 75 F.
I’ve spent several months in Helsinki since I’ve visited relatives there ever since I was a little kid so if you have specific questions ask away. I can’t comment on how boring the place is, though its true it is a fairly new city so there’s not many historic places of interest if those are your thing. It is also safe and clean city with good public transportation system - maybe that just adds to the boredom?
What everyone else said, I guess. It’s really astonishingly clean if you’ve just spent a few months in St. Petersburg. I forget the name, but there’s a punk band that’s all developmentally disabled people, which is pretty damned awesome–go see them if they happen to be playing. I can ask my Finn Friend their name this evening or tomorrow. Also, there’s this restaurant that’s on a boat that’s pretty good. Try the reindeer–you are in Finland, after all.
Where in town would that be and what is it called? Might be worth a visit the next time I’m there, but when I think of it, the next time I have a trip scheduled I’ll be too busy to get there.
BTW, talking about eateries, I’ve heard that restaurant Ravintola is a nice place.
I was there for a part of a day last May. The weather was great. We looked at some buildings and churches, and went to a nice farmer’s market by the harbor. And there is an excellent bookstore, with a cafeteria upstairs named after and designed by Alvar Aalto, who designed my dorm.
I’m not into nightlife, but I agree that Talinn is a better bet if you are - and cheaper. And funkier. I wouldn’t mind living in Helsinki, (not that I could afford to) but it is not high on my list for a revisit.
I’ll ask my Finn Friend. (My Suomi sidekick? There’s a shortage of good synonyms for “friend” starting with ‘s’.) As I recall, it was nearby some sort of big market building.
I’m finnish and I live in Helsinki (well Espoo actually) so I can answer some of your questions if you have them. June in Helsinki can be cold and rainy, july and early august being a lot more warmer and sunnier.
To be fair both of you were over here during the recession when things weren’t at their brightest.
I recommend Helsinki. I was there in 2000 for a conference.
Helsinki, and Finland in general, seemed like an alternate-universe version of Canada run by smarter people. No giant huge freeways, plentiful public transport, cities built on a more human scale, interesting architecture, etc. (Of course, that the entire country of Finland has significantly-fewer people than just the Greater Toronto Area may have something to do with it.)
Helsinki seems to have two city centres, one around the main railway terminal and the other some distance away. The second, as I recall, is almost art deco in style. The older part of town often substituted for Moscow in movies like Firefox.
My first time in Helsinki was in 1990, after I had spent ten months studying in Moscow, so it was like beaming onto another planet. I was struck by how freakin’ clean everything was and how good the food tasted.
This was in late June, so I was able to attend the music festival and dance at an outdoor arena. The weather was beautiful and it never got dark, so I had quite a good time. The Esplanade leading up to the harbor was nice, and I liked the outdoor market.
Take a boat ride around the islands and check out the Soviet Foxtrot submarine moored in the harbor. There are also docks where people come to do their laundry on the weekends.
I forget the name, but there’s a punk band that’s all developmentally disabled people, which is pretty damned awesome–go see them if they happen to be playing. I can ask my Finn Friend their name this evening or tomorrow. Also, there’s this restaurant that’s on a boat that’s pretty good. Try the reindeer–you are in Finland, after all.