Weekendtrip to Helsinki

For two weeks Finland was open for people entering from Swedish without quarantine requirements. I was so lucky that I planned my trip to Finland just in that window. Last time I visited the country was 30(!) years ago and my memories were weak. Actually non existing. So a trip over the Baltic Sea was on my bucket list for this year even before Corona hit us.

So off I went for running Helsinki half marathon, race report to be found here LINK, sightseeing, sauna, seeing a friend and also work a bit since it was my work weekend. So in short I will brief you about my top investigations from the Finnish capital. Ready?

Food

Part of travels is to eat and I most of the time when I travel I find random places. The first evening I went out for a food hunt and all of a sudden there was a taco bar on the street. I stopped by and had real Mexican tacos. It was just superb and the place was a 10 point chic place located at an old kiosk. I think it is only opened during the summer season but don’t miss out if you are in the area. Tried to find a website of this gem but sorry, I didn’t managed. Maybe someone knows?

I was not only enjoying the weekendtrip to Helsinki on a leisure basis. I also needed to work a bit so I went out to find a suitable place to work at. All of a sudden I passed by a café I found to be cozy and to my surprise they served great deserts so I had a tiramisu and a drink while sitting down for a couple of hours with my laptop. Obviously it was a popular place for working and everyone being there this Saturday afternoon was working. Papu cafe is the place to head to if you want to do home office away from home in Helsinki.

After my half marathon I was hungry and wanted to have a fresh breakfast. Before the race I had looked up Roots of Helsinki which is a combined yoga studio, health café and lifestyle place with a relaxed atmosphere where you can enjoy delicious food and just chill out with friends or over a book if you like to. I saw that they teach yoga classes in English also so possible to go even though you are not fluent in Finnish. I can really recommend this place.

Sightseeing

The running race took me on the best possible sightseeing tour all around the city along the shore line. 21K of beautiful coast that I strongly recommend for a long run, a scooter ride or a bike tour. Take your time and stop by at the various great spots you find and I am sure your day will be all great. found so many beautiful places.

And not to talk about the parks. When my legs were so tired I could not even walk more I just had to explore Kaivopuisto. A green urban oasis and there I must have been when I was a kid because I knew I seen the slides in the children’s playground there before. The place is perfect for capturing views of the archipelago if you are climbing to the top of the hill.

City beaches and cliffs are part of the scenery and as you may know I love coastal places when these ingredients are parts of it. The never ending harbor alongside the beautiful walkway made me love this place. Wishing I also had a sailing boat…

You can’t go to Finland without visiting a sauna. I like a lot to go to saunas and they are to be found all around the city. There are public ones, smaller private ones and big private ones and I decided to go and visit one of the most popular ones, Löyly, which I recommend. Will make a separate post about that since it deserves that.

What’s more than sauna? the city center I also liked. It wasn’t huge but in good size and you find everything from markets to luxuary stores. There are also several green areas and loads of cafés if you would like to stop for a drink or food. Or just sit down at a bench watching people.

I saved the most iconic place to the end, the cathedral. I passed by there many times during my days in Helsinki but never went inside. But from outside it was a masterpiece of architecture.

My Helsinki trip was a bit of a rush trip so I couldn’t enjoy all of what the city had to offer. The main goal was to run the half marathon and all other activities was bonus ones. Think I managed quite well anyway in such a short time, don’t you think? I really got a teaser of what Finland could offer and as always when traveling somewhere my bucketlist gets longer and longer. Now I added skiing, lakes and meeting Santa in Rovaniemi to my travel list. And more sauna visits. Anyone else that also get a longer and longer travel list every time you get somewhere?

/ Pernilla that had a successful trip to Finland