Helsinki Card-worth it?

[CJcruzer]

I have bought my Stockholm card - not sure about the Helsinki card.

The fortress admission without guided tour is 6 Euros, one day transportation card is 6 Euros (I believe that includes the ferry over to the sea fortress) and would like to walk as much as possible and see the main sites (Senate Square, Rock Church, etc)....

The Helsinki card includes an audio guided city tour worth 25 Euros, hop-on hop off busses are 23 Euro I believe.....and the Helsinki card includes a tour at the sea fortress (can never spell the name right!!)

Is Helsinki do-able easily with just a transportation day pass - or is the city tour worth it, and how far are some of the sites (that we would need transportation for, rather than walking from the Market Square)...?

the helsinki card on line has a 3 Euro discount - total cost of 30 Euro! We are there from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.


any advice, opinions, suggestions appreciated.

CJ cruzer

[SF]

We were debating the same thing as we'll be in Helsinki this June. After weighing the pro's and con's we decided we'll be purchasing it for several reasons even if it ends up working out to be a dollar or two more or less than if we didn't buy it. We want to take the guided tour at the fortress Suomenlinna. Plus someone correct me if I'm wrong but some of the different museums on the island charge a fee to view. We didn't want to have to constantly be paying Euros and figured it would be easier to just show the card. Plus, the city tour you can take with the card is well worth it. It's an hour and a half free tour to see the main sights. Was told you can book it for any hour this year where in the past it was only at certain times. Overall, if you add it all up plus figure the convenience of not having to constantly change money to us give or take a dollar difference it's worth it.

[sailaway5]

We also purchased the Helsinki card and just received it recently. There is a nice pamplet and map which shows all attractions and times. I have also reserved our city tour (for the time we wanted) as they suggested in the guide book. We are also only there one day in July. We plan on doing the city tour for the main sights, ferry to the fortress on the island and wander around the town. It appears to be good value. Have fun planning.

[jmlh]

My DH & I purchased the Helsinki Card for our Baltic cruise in July 2006. It proved to be a good investment as we went over to the island, saw the fortress and the historical film, wandered around and then returned to Helsinki. After a bite of lunch we took the included city tour which proved to be very interesting. We would not have seen nearly as much if we had tried to tour on our own without the included city tour. Enjoy Helsinki - we really enjoyed our day.:)