SATURDAY, MARCH 15 – SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2025

WELCOME TO HELSINKI

I feel like this always seems to be the case when I’m gearing up for vacation, but the few weeks before it was finally time to leave were absolutely brutal at work. I was working crazy hours on a major project right up until the Friday night before leaving, and had to just hope that my distracted scatterbrain had thought about everything I needed for this extreme climate! But the big Saturday finally rolled around and I took the day to marathon clean my apartment and pack for this much-awaited trip, excitedly leaving for the airport around 6:30 for my 10:45 PM flight. I was very happy that Finnair offers a direct flight from JFK to Helsinki, so I didn’t need to deal with a layover.

When I got to the airport I checked my suitcase and passed through security… and as I was walking to the gate I realized with a panic that I had thrown two extra lithium camera batteries into my checked bag which you are totally not supposed to do. I googled it while walking to see if it was actually a big deal or just an extra precaution, and it turns out if they’re not in a device (these weren’t) it is actually a big safety issue that I needed to deal with. So I went to the gate agent and embarrassingly explained the situation, and had to wait for them to get my suitcase off of the plane that it was already on, bring it to the gate so I could take the batteries out, and then bring it back to the plane.

I’m glad I remembered I put those batteries in there and did the right thing but was definitely worried that given the extra shuffle, my bag wouldn’t make it back to the right place.

With this fun little stressful experience out of the way, it was finally time to board, relax, and settle in for what turned out to thankfully be an easy and smooth 8 hour and 10 minute overnight flight. My Finnair Premium Economy seat came with a pile of amenities: a neck pillow, big headphones, a toiletries kit, and a blanket. I settled in with some Amazing Race catchup on the iPad and put my feet up to relax. Dinner was actually really good – chicken in a tomato sauce with asparagus and zucchini rice, and a nice caprese salad with olive tapenade.

Arriving in Helsinki, I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as my suitcase AirTag showed that it correctly made it onto our plane and was here at the Vantaa Airport. Worry averted. I made my way through the airport, stopping at the nicest bathroom to brush my teeth and freshen up haha – it had soothing nature sounds playing. Then quickly went through customs/immigration (with a surprising amount of questions and proof needed of my hotel booking and return flight), and found my way to the train that would take me to the city center.

The prettiest bathroom!

Marimekko and Moomin... definitely in Finland

Practically no line for immigration

I had deliberately chosen a hotel that was a <5 minute walk from the train station, and the directions on the hotel website seemed simple enough – take the train to Helsinki Central Station – but when I got to the airport station and map it was definitely more confusing than I expected! 😅

The map there didn’t list a “Helsinki Central Station” and all of the stops were written in Finnish and Swedish – and the ticketing used a zone-based system where you had to know which zones you’d be traveling through.

I gave it my best guess on the ticket, and got on what I hoped was the right train (another English-speaking tourist was also hoping for the best so we took the plunge together haha) and by some stroke of luck it turned out to be the right one. No one ever came by to ask for a ticket, so who knows if I bought the right one!

Heading down to the train station, treated to some opera! Very cultured.

Helsinki Central Station – made it!

My hotel – the NH Collection Helsinki Grand Hansa – really was only a few minutes walk from the train station, though over some very bumpy cobblestones that gave my suitcase wheels a good challenge! (I discovered a smooth-road shortcut over the next few days so thankfully had an easier time on the way back.) Once I made it, I checked in and was happy that even though it was 2:30 and not quite the official 3:00 check-in time, my room was ready.

It was a beautiful hotel and a great room!

I made the mistake / good choice of lying down for what was originally going to be 20 minutes or so, and ended up being about an hour and a half rest. It was honestly so needed, finally resting after not sleeping very much on the plane and coming off of that exhausting stretch of work. So I decided to cut my planned city walk down to just two highlights and take it easy. It was totally the right call.

The one place in Helsinki I knew I wanted to visit was the Library Oodi (“ode” in Finnish), about an eight minute walk from my hotel. On paper, a library seems like a random choice to visit, but this is a brand new, state of the art building that was totally worth the stop. Finland is one of the most literate countries in the world, and this certainly reflects that!

Oodi opened in 2018, and is so much more than books and (beautiful) reading spaces. The entire second floor is dedicated to 3D printers, musical instruments, video game rooms, recording studios, and more things that people can borrow to learn and create. Such a smart concept, in such a cool facility.

I walked around outside a little before going in, starting to figure out the Finland dance between gloves and not-gloves so I could work my phone and camera while not freezing my fingers off. It was only in the mid-30s, nothing crazy, but somehow felt bitingly cold.

I picked up a map but didn’t really have an agenda – I ended up heading to the top (third) floor first to walk around and take it all in. Those are live trees.

They have a cafe on the floor, so I stopped for a snack of a broccoli pastry thing and a coffee. I am always an iced coffee person, but in Finland in winter… it was all hot drinks this trip!

The pastry wasn't great (oddly dense and dry) so I ended up throwing most of it away. But that coffee hit the spot.

Forgot to take a picture of the cafe itself – this is from @davidzipper on Twitter

I then headed down that cool central winding staircase to the second floor, dedicated to plenty of spaces to create, along with all of those tools to rent.

Very impressed, I left the library to find my way to a tram station to head to my next stop.

Helsinki has an above-ground tram system that seemed to always be right where I needed it to be, and was very efficient. The only thing I found confusing about it in my couple of days using it is that the sides of the street aren’t always marked (in a way that I was able to understand which stops were next) – so sometimes it was a guess about which direction was correct. In hindsight, I guess I could have thought about where I was a which physical direction I was going haha. Thankfully this first time, there was a “1” and “2” on either side of the street so I was able to confidently stand on the right platform thanks to Google Maps calling out the “1” for where I needed to go.

Where I was headed was the Sibelius Monument, located in a park a bit north of the immediate walkable city center. I rode the five stops to “Tölö torg” and got out for the short walk to the monument.

From the tram stop it was about a 10 minute walk along and through a park to the monument, and it was a quiet one – barely any people walking around.

Getting out at the bus stop. Here she is, boys!

Jean Sibelius is Finland’s most famous composer, writing classical music from the late 1800s through the mid 1900s. He’s admittedly not a composer whose music I was super familiar with, but I always like a bit of music tourism and the monument itself looked cool, so why not explore the area. Truthfully, I most associate Sibelius as the name of one of two main music notation apps/programs that have been around forever (RIP Finale). I had heard it in that context for a long time before realizing it was the name of a composer.

The original monument was built

Leaving the monument, I walked about three minutes to the picturesque little Cafe Regatta, perched on the bank of a lake right outside the park. I knew it’s more or less a tourist magnet moreso than authentic local cafe, but on the cold night I thought it’d be a nice stop for a warm treat.

They’re known (per their signs) for their cinnamon buns and blueberry pie with vanilla sauce, and pretty much everyone was getting a hot chocolate. So I did too, along with a warm cinnamon bun. The heat of both was so comforting, though it all got overly sweet really fast haha. I had a decent amount of the cocoa, but took most of the cinnamon roll back with me and never really finished it.

I took the tram back to my hotel (pleased with my tired self for picking one near the main train station with a lot of tram line options), and ordered room service dinner before crashing for the night.

The food at the hotel was really, really good and worth mentioning! I ordered two appetizers: parsnip soup with porcini mushrooms and prosecco cream with toasted sourdough (the soup’s in the teapot, with the porcini and prosecco waiting in the bowl), along with roasted carrots with fennel, burrata, and hazelnuts. All fantastic!

I’d say it’s probably the best hotel room service food I’ve ever had, (though to be fair I don’t get room service too often).