Helsinki part 1: Where we stayed and what the city is like

Writing up our summer holidays, finally! We decided to go to Helsinki this year, we had already been to Stockholm and Copenhagen so decided to continue on the Scandinavian capitals theme.

I’ve split this post up to keep the length manageable and to squeeze more pictures in!

We left it quite late to decide where we were going and by the time we had finally committed a lot of the airbnbs were gone, and what was left was either not that nice or very expensive. We eventually found the place we stayed in, which is not in Helsinki proper, but a commuter town called Tapanila about 13 kilometres from the centre. This turned out to be an absolutely excellent decision! The guest house was in the ground floor of an old wooden house, with a terrace leading directly onto a garden with a trampoline and a basketball hoop, and directly next to a playground, a football pitch and a basketball court. And a sauna inside! The actual space inside was quite small, and we didn't all sleep in the same room but because of all the outdoor space that didn't matter.

And because Helsinki public transport is so amazing, it actually took less time to get into the centre than it would have from most of the apartments inside the city. 15 minutes on the train and a train every 10 minutes!  We got a seven day ticket (you can get any amount of days up to 13, the first day is €12, but then just €6 a day after that) which meant we could get on any tram, bus or public ferry. All the buses and trams have screens and announcements for stops, and the app with the routes works really well, so you always know exactly where you are. That being said though, Helsinki is pretty compact, so we did do a lot of walking too. But it was nice to have the option to jump on a tram. The cycle infrastructure was also excellent, or course, and there really wasn't huge amounts of cars driving about and they actually stuck to the speed limit, which I don't think I have ever experienced anywhere else.

As always with these trips, a lot of the best stuff was just to see the city go about its business. One of the great things about this trip was that it's not at all touristy. Lots of stuff was signed and explained in English, and everyone we interacted with spoke English. But you didn't see loads of tourists and there isn't a touristy central core of the city like there is in most places

In terms of structure, the city is almost entirely mid density (5-8 storey) apartment blocks, with the exception of the wooden house area Vallila, we didn't come across any areas that were single family houses or mansions. There are lots and lots of parks though, and people are using them. In particular there was loads of people in them sunning themselves in bikinis/swimming trunks, which I found quite strange!