Two years ago, our daughter Mazzy spent the fall semester studying abroad in Kuopio, Finland. Her classes were to finish just before Christmas, so when booking return flights for her trip, we decided the whole family would join her and have a Nordic holiday. We had traveled in the states before for the holidays, but never in Europe and never to a place so far north, with so very little light at that time of the year. That little detail wasn’t on our mind as we were booking the tickets (in July). I was focused on the Christmas markets and the festive atmosphere we’d be a part of. Besides, Helsinki is called “The Christmas City”!
Icelandic Air is a common airline to use for flights to Finland. Their flights always have a layover in Reykjavik, Iceland and as a perk, you can extend that layover for up to a week for no additional cost. To take advantage of this, we spent a week based in Helsinki, Finland, and then another really dark week in Iceland.
Logistics
Sometimes complicated travel plans go horribly awry. Other times, they work without a hitch and you feel beyond lucky. We were lucky this time. Here’s how it went down…Three of us were flying from MSP and Declan was flying from JFK. We met in Reykjavik and then continued on together to Helsinki airport, where we met our dear Scottish friends, Fiona and Alex, who flew in from Glasgow. We then took the train into the main Helsinki train terminal, where Mazzy arrived from Kuopio by bus. Amazingly, this all worked like a Swiss watch. Or a Finnish one, we don’t know.
Itinerary
Dec 20- arrive Helsinki – stay at a hostel, explore the Christmas Market
Dec 21- explore the city until evening cruise leaves for Stockholm (see post here)
Dec 22- 6 hours in Stockholm, cruise back to Helsinki
Dec 23- Helsinki City Museum, Oodi Library, walk around
Dec 24- More exploring, cemetery strolling with candles at night
Dec 25- Ferry to Tallinn Estonia (see post here)
Dec 26- Flight to Reykjavik in afternoon
Dec 27- Jan 2- Reykjavik
Lodging
Helsinki is an expensive city, there is no question about it. Given our propensity for cheap travel, costs drove some of our decisions about how to spend our time there. Rather than spending 7 full days in Helsinki, we decided to do an overnight cruise ship to Stockholm for two of the days and to go to Tallinn, Estonia for a day trip on Christmas Day, when everything was closed in Finland, but not in Estonia. The two overnights on the cruise ship were actually much cheaper than staying in Helsinki those nights--- and we got the bonus of seeing another Nordic city (more on this later). Another benefit is the vast quantities of cheap booze available for purchase on the ferry.
The timing of these trips led us to spend the first night in a hostel. Eurohostel had a room for the 5 of us, with a shared restroom down the hallway. The cost was less than $100/ night. The kids were not impressed, as it felt a lot like a slumber party with the parents, but hostels are rarely about luxury or great comfort and all about affordability. Overall, it fit the bill and the location was very close to the Viking Line cruise departure.
After returning from the Stockholm cruise, we stayed in an AirBnb in the Länsistatama neighborhood of Helsinki, on the west side of the city. It was a modern development with plenty of small grocers and other shopping nearby. It was 2 bedrooms and slept the 7 of us (Fiona and Alex included) for about $265/night. There was only one bathroom, but there was a sauna and extra shower. We cooked most of our evening meals in the flat, and then played cribbage, Bananagrams, or watched movies.
Traveling during Christmas Week
The Christmas markets were wonderful, with mulled wine (glögg), roasted chestnuts and sausages, and lots of little shops - a sensory delight. The main Christmas market in Helsinki is right in Senate Square, at the base of the landmark Helsinki Cathedral stairs.
A contrast to holiday cheer was the fact that many places had reduced hours or were just plain closed during the holidays. As much as I checked things online beforehand, the opening hours were just not updated, so we did run out of luck on a few things. We were not able to get into Alvar Alto-designed Finlandia Hall, Temppeliaukio Church, or the Löyly Sauna because they were not open. Christmas is a family-focused celebration for the Finns, so starting Christmas Eve, the whole city shuts down.
One lovely tradition we stumbled upon was that Finns go to the cemeteries to light candles for their loved ones on Christmas Eve. Our kids stayed home in the warm, while the adults went out to visit the Hietaniemi Cemetery, where candles were lit at nearly every gravestone. It was an impressive sight and a lovely way to honor loved ones no longer with us.
Darkness
Mazzy had warned us about the limited daylight in Finland during the winter, but it’s hard to imagine until you experience it. The sky never even really got bright on most days and the cloud cover was quite intense. The sun would come up at 9:30 am and set about 6 hours later. It’s a good thing there were so many holiday lights up, otherwise, the dreariness would have been oppressive. In the north of Finland (Lapland), the sun does not rise at all this time of the year, so it could have been worse.
With only my iPhone for photos, I have to say my photos were a bit disappointing, as the camera just didn’t do as well in the constant dim light. It also had issues responding in the cold, which was very frustrating.
Löyly Sauna-- take a sauna and then descend into the freezing water. Too bad this wasn't open on Dec 24 for us!
Cold
Yes, it was cold at times, especially on Christmas Eve, when we set out wandering about, but the cold got to us, and after several hours outside we headed back indoors for a bit of the day before heading out again. On occasion, we stayed put. We consider ourselves hardy Minnesotans, but when traveling and exploring a city, that is a lot of time outdoors. Nice heavy parkas, gloves, and boots were super important and I’m glad I had gotten the warm gear. For the rest of my packing, I could have skipped most things, as no one really cares if you wear the same sweater day after day. Fiona and Alex did so much better than us with their packing, fitting everything into a small backpack (although granted, they were only traveling for a week, versus two weeks for us).
Cruise Ship to Stockholm
First of all, we can’t believe we did something called a cruise. We are not cruise people----but when in the Nordic countries, this is a very popular thing to do, if for nothing else, but to get cheap alcohol and a cheap room for the night. Alcohol is very expensive because of the taxes, but everything is duty-free on the cruise ships, so there were many people with dollies to cart off their treasures at the end of the cruise. We got a couple of bottles along with this wonderful gin with infused herbs. The bottle alone was worth it.
We did participate in the breakfast smorgasbord, which was a lot of classic Nordic food, lots of pastries, and was a worthwhile experience. Lounging over the meal, while navigating through the archipelago going into Stockholm was quite lovely.
More on the Stockholm adventure here---but bottom line, the 6 hours we spent in Stockholm was not nearly enough. We wish there would have been an option to stay longer----but our schedule did not allow this time.
Ferry to Tallinn, Estonia
We will also touch on this in another post but heading over to Tallinn for Christmas Day was an excellent choice. Estonia’s big Christmas celebration is on the 24th, so everything was open on the 25th. The ferry took a little over 2 hours each way.
Helsinki Main Railway Terminal
This Art Nouveau masterpiece was designed by Eliel Saarinen. It’s surprisingly smallish for the main train station of a city’s capital – but it gets the job done and it’s gorgeous, a lot like Fiona.
Helsinki Cathedral
In the epicenter of the city, this imposing building has a shitload of stairs. The neo-classical cathedral is white on both the inside and out—classic Finish clean design, even if it’s historic.
Uspensky Cathedral
The other landmark church rising above Helsinki’s harbor is this Russian Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1868. With golden cupolas and an impressive but dark interior, this structure is worth the climb.
Finlandia Hall- Alvar Aalto concert hall built in 1970
Oodi Library
This new central library opened up just weeks before our arrival. We marveled at the dual-sloped floors and the freedom from some of the restrictive building codes we deal with in the US. This is a fun place to spend some time pretending you live in Helsinki.
Kamppi Chapel of Silence
This small, but impressive chapel did not allow photos---but you can step inside and spend a few moments admiring this lovely space.
We always enjoy grocery shopping--- a few minutes out of the cold and interesting stuff!
Licorice: There is more licorice and truly horribly tasting treats in the candy sections of stores than one can imagine. In grocery stores, there is often a whole damn aisle dedicated to licorice. I'm not kidding! They don’t fuck around with their licorice.
Bad, Bad Boy in Helsinki's West end harbor area
Finnish Folk:
The Finns are kind, polite, helpful when asked and private. They’ll let you be and expect the same from you. They like their privacy and can seem a bit stand-offish, or aloof. They aren’t being unfriendly – they’re just good at social distancing. My daughter recounted the story of saying hi to a stranger on the street one morning on her way to class. The person stopped abruptly – looked at her quizzically and said, “I don’t know you!” before walking away. One of our great joys in travel is talking, interacting, and hopefully getting to know a few locals a bit. Given the season, the darkness, and the cold, we didn’t really get that experience this time. Maybe we’ll go in the summer when folks are outside and drinking!
Perhaps our favorite part of Helsinki was just walking around, getting a sense of the city, and peeking in the windows of the stores. Loving the many Marimekko storefronts and the understated simplicity of modern Finish design.
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