Helsinki 2017 advice and FAQ

Thank you Jonza for all the great information. My ship will be docked at the LMA port. Will I be able to walk from here to the Market Place and the Rock Church? Will I need local money or can I use euros? Thank you for your answers.

In addition to what Ultima Thule already answered, you can of course use public transportation. The closest tram stop is at the ferry terminal in West Harbor 300-400 meter walk from the ship. You can see routes to both the Rock Church and Market Square in the route planner:

LMA to Rock Church: https://www.reittiopas.fi/reitti/Selected%20location%3A%3A60.1526237629343%2C24.913129806518555/Temppeliaukion%20kirkko%2C%20Etu-T%C3%B6%C3%B6l%C3%B6%2C%20Helsinki%3A%3A60.172953%2C24.925227?time=1496037600

LMA to Market Square: https://www.reittiopas.fi/reitti/Selected%20location%3A%3A60.1526237629343%2C24.913129806518555/Kauppatori%2C%20Kaartinkaupunki%2C%20Helsinki%3A%3A60.167357%2C24.951698?time=1496037600

Hi, I have a question regarding Uber. Is Uber readily available in Helsinki and are they allowed to pick up/drop off passengers at LMA pier?

Thank you!

Uber is a bit controversial in Helsinki:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/helsinki_uber_drivers_now_face_criminal_charges_when_caught/9096774

Uber is a bit controversial in Helsinki:

 

http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/helsinki_uber_drivers_now_face_criminal_charges_when_caught/9096774

Thank you, Ultima Thule, for the article. I have also read that Uber IS legal in Finland as long as the driver has taxi license (although these articles are dated from summer of 2016). I was just wondering if that is a common occurrence and also if there is any new development recently on that front. Thank you though.

The downtown core is very compact and it is pretty easy to just go there and stroll around to what interests you. The Church in the Rock is slightly outside the core area and getting to Suomenlinna fortress requires taking a ferry from Market Square.

Great info in this thread - thank you! How long would you say it takes to go to Suomenlinna fortress via ferry from Market Square? Our ship will be docked at LMA, we were thinking of taking the tram into Market Square, and are trying to determine if we have time to visit Rock Church and the fortress...our ship will only be there for about 6 hours. Also how often does the tram come to the West Terminal stop?

Great info in this thread - thank you! How long would you say it takes to go to Suomenlinna fortress via ferry from Market Square? Our ship will be docked at LMA, we were thinking of taking the tram into Market Square, and are trying to determine if we have time to visit Rock Church and the fortress...our ship will only be there for about 6 hours. Also how often does the tram come to the West Terminal stop?

About one hour from the ship to Suomenlinna. See example route from LMA to the southern end of Suomenlinna: https://www.reittiopas.fi/reitti/Selected%20location%3A%3A60.15276259350466%2C24.913537502288822/Selected%20location%3A%3A60.13825429919754%2C24.989626407623295?time=1497679200

Tram 9 runs every 10 minutes Mon-Sat and every 12 minutes on Sundays. Tram 6T also runs to the terminal every 10-12 minutes during afternoon and late evening. Tram trip from the terminal to downtown takes 10-15 minutes. The Suomenlinna Ferry runs every 20 minutes for most of the day and takes roughly 15 minutes.

In six hours you should be able to do everything you mention depending on how long you want to spend at each place.

Thank you for this great thread. We are in Helsinki from 7A - 4P on Sept 11 and are thinking of spending the (short) day at Seurasaari. We are very fond of folk museums and will want to be somewhat relaxed after 2 full days in St Petersburg. Is there a simple route from LHB to Seurasaari usind public transit? Or would you recommend a taxi ($$$$?).

We are in Helsinki from 7A - 4P on Sept 11 and are thinking of spending the (short) day at Seurasaari.. Is there a simple route from LHB to Seurasaari usind public transit? .

That should be a combination of buses 14 and 24:

https://linjakartta.reittiopas.fi/en/#?mapview=map&line=1014++1,1014++2

https://linjakartta.reittiopas.fi/en/#?mapview=map&line=1024++1,1024++2

I recommend you make the change at Arcadia street or earlier. (You will have to walk two blocks to the 24 bus stop

The buses also meet further north, corner Topelius and Linnankoski streets but that corner is right now under repair and quite messy.

Update:

At the moment the way from bus 14 to bus 24 at corner Topelius and Linnankoski streets works well but I cannot guarantee that part of the sidewalk hasn't been closed as well by September.

Instructions:

Exit bus 14 at stop "Kirjailijan puisto". Go 30 meters back to the corner. Turn right and cross the street. Continue 75 meters along Linnankioskenkatu to bus 24 stop.

I was wondering if I could walk to the Louis Vuitton store from the market square. Can you give me directions and a time frame for doing so. I will be with my 1 year old in a stroller.

I was wondering if I could walk to the Louis Vuitton store from the market square. Can you give me directions and a time frame for doing so. I will be with my 1 year old in a stroller.

Very easy. Just follow Northern Esplanade westwards (that's past the fountain and then keeping the right side of the Esplanade Park as seen from the market) for three more blocks. (a quarter of a mile in total). Store is in the street corner and cannot be missed.

We will be in Helsinki on Monday 8/28/17 and would like to purchase several Oiva Toikka glass birds. Is the Iittala store on Esplandi the best place to shop? We would like to look not only at current but past collections..

My husband is a crazy F1 fan!! Any good places to buy some Bottas merchandise?:cool:

Thank you!

We are in Helsinki on Sunday Aug 20 with the NCL Getaway. We are a family of 4 and will just explore the central area, loosely following the Rick Steves walking tour. We are docking at West LMK terminal and I see that the Tram lines are changing the week before we arrive. So it looks like I can take Tram 7 right to Senate Square - does anyone know how long this will take? I also wonder if they reduce the schedule on a Sunday? Also is it easy to buy tickets with credit card at a store or machine? If I have Euros it looks like driver can take money and provide small change - is this right? I realize that a lot of attractions and shops won't open until around 10am-12pm, so if we get off the ship around 9, hoping that will give us plenty of time to catch tram and see all the main sites from Market Square to Rock Church?

I see that the Tram lines are changing the week before we arrive.

I 'm glad you have noticed that.

I

So it looks like I can take Tram 7 right to Senate Square. - does anyone know how long this will take?

Thats correct! From 14 August you'll have to use tram 7 instead of tram 9 from the West Harbor. Time depends much on time of day. I should say 15-20 minutes.

II also wonder if they reduce the schedule on a Sunday?

yes

I

Also is it easy to buy tickets with credit card at a store or machine? If I have Euros it looks like driver can take money and provide small change - is this right?

If I remember correctly there was one machine for credit cards (with chip) and one for cash. The tram driver should sell tickets as well 9 euro for a day ticket or 3.20 for a single ticket. There are also 2.50 euro single tram tickets from machine only, not from the driver.

We will be in Helsinki on Monday 8/28/17 and would like to purchase several Oiva Toikka glass birds. Is the Iittala store on Esplandi the best place to shop? We would like to look not only at current but past collections..

The Iittala store likely is the best place in Helsinki to shop the current collection of Toikka's birds. Quick googling in Finnish did not turn up any stores that would advertise having the past collection. At least from the quick google search it seems that most of the trade in second hand birds happens online. If you are not already aware, the Design Museum has an online photo collection of ~200 birds: http://toikka.kokoelma.fi/listaus.aspx?id=20382

My husband is a crazy F1 fan!! Any good places to buy some Bottas merchandise?:cool:

Thank you!

Sadly I cannot recall seeing any and a quick search only points towards the official Formula One online store.

Regarding the glass birds the Iittala store is surely the best place.

For second hand you could check out the following:

https://designdistrict.fi/en/member-categories/vintage-antiques/

I visited Helsinki Second Hand in a garage at Korkeavuorenkatu 5 http://www.helsinkisecondhand.fi/ some time ago and noticed they had some glass birds there. Note that their own side says they are open from 11 while design district's site says they open at 10: http://www.helsinkisecondhand.fi/yhteystiedot/

Regarding F1 there was a Formula 1 specialist store in Helsinki earlier that had everything from books to shirts, caps and used tyres but it closed a few years ago.

Hello, Thank you so much for this helpful thread. There are a group of us (32) on a NCL cruise with a port stop in Helsinki on Saturday, September 16th from 7 am to 4 pm. It is the last port on our tour and we feel we may just want to do the Hop On Hop Off Bus (red bus) which appears to pick up right at the port. We do have a few questions that I hope you will be able to answer. It seems at that time of year, the bus may only run once per hour. We are concerned that if we can't get on the first bus at the port, it may be a long wait until the next one. Do we have that information correctly? If we miss that first bus, it seems like there is a church we may be able to walk to which is actually the next stop. Is that a place that we could spend an hour touring while awaiting the next bus? Is there only one company that runs such a service or is there perhaps another similar bus for tourists? Lastly, do you think that this would give a good overview of the city or does it miss anything significant?

Thank you so much. We are all very excited to see your beautiful city!

The Iittala store likely is the best place in Helsinki to shop the current collection of Toikka's birds. Quick googling in Finnish did not turn up any stores that would advertise having the past collection. At least from the quick google search it seems that most of the trade in second hand birds happens online. If you are not already aware, the Design Museum has an online photo collection of ~200 birds: http://toikka.kokoelma.fi/listaus.aspx?id=20382

 

 

Thank you so much for your reply Jonza. We definitely will be stopping at the Littala store and I have looked at the Design Museum photo collections ..... a lot!

Regarding the glass birds the Iittala store is surely the best place.

 

For second hand you could check out the following:

https://designdistrict.fi/en/member-categories/vintage-antiques/

 

I visited Helsinki Second Hand in a garage at Korkeavuorenkatu 5 http://www.helsinkisecondhand.fi/ some time ago and noticed they had some glass birds there. Note that their own side says they are open from 11 while design district's site says they open at 10: http://www.helsinkisecondhand.fi/yhteystiedot/

 

Thank you Ultima Thule for your reply. I did look at the directory vintage antiques in the design district but was unaware of the Second Hand and if we have time will stop there as well.

Hello, Thank you so much for this helpful thread. There are a group of us (32) on a NCL cruise with a port stop in Helsinki on Saturday, September 16th from 7 am to 4 pm. It is the last port on our tour and we feel we may just want to do the Hop On Hop Off Bus (red bus) which appears to pick up right at the port. We do have a few questions that I hope you will be able to answer. It seems at that time of year, the bus may only run once per hour. We are concerned that if we can't get on the first bus at the port, it may be a long wait until the next one. Do we have that information correctly? If we miss that first bus, it seems like there is a church we may be able to walk to which is actually the next stop. Is that a place that we could spend an hour touring while awaiting the next bus? Is there only one company that runs such a service or is there perhaps another similar bus for tourists? Lastly, do you think that this would give a good overview of the city or does it miss anything significant?

 

Thank you so much. We are all very excited to see your beautiful city!

Two Hop On Hop Off companies operate in Helsinki:

Strömma: https://www.stromma.fi/en/helsinki/sightseeing/sightseeing-by-bus/hop-on-hop-off/

Citytour: http://www.citytour.fi/Hop-On-Hop-Off-buses

Their websites say that the interval would be 20-30 minutes until end of September. Your ship will dock at quay LMA and there is no sights within nice walking distance. There is a tram stop close by where in September you will have a direct tram connection to Senate Square. See the first post of the thread for more info. Depending on what you want to see, just taking public transit could be cheaper and more time efficient.

Thank you Jonza for the very helpful info on this thread. Our family of four will visit Helsinki on Aug 30 (Wed) from Celebrity Silhouette. Tentatively we are thinking of visiting Market Square and Rock Church. I would like to get some transportation advice from you.

Option 1: Take tram 7 from LMA to market square. Walk from there to Rock Church. Then take public transit (which one?) from there back to cruise. If we only take two public transits is it cheaper to buy two single tickets than day pass?

Option 2: Since we have 4 people is the cost of taxi or Uber for the above two trips comparable to the public transit?

Thanks very much for the help!

Two Hop On Hop Off companies operate in Helsinki:

Strömma: https://www.stromma.fi/en/helsinki/sightseeing/sightseeing-by-bus/hop-on-hop-off/

Citytour: http://www.citytour.fi/Hop-On-Hop-Off-buses

 

Their websites say that the interval would be 20-30 minutes until end of September. Your ship will dock at quay LMA and there is no sights within nice walking distance. There is a tram stop close by where in September you will have a direct tram connection to Senate Square. See the first post of the thread for more info. Depending on what you want to see, just taking public transit could be cheaper and more time efficient.

Thank you Jonza. I am a little confused about the tram situation. When I look at the maps of the two HOHO companies, it appears that they will stop at the cruise port. Are you saying the Getaway docks elsewhere? Or are you saying that where the HOHO bus picks up is not as close to the port as it appears on their maps and thus we need to take a tram? Thank you for your assistance!

Thank you Jonza for the very helpful info on this thread. Our family of four will visit Helsinki on Aug 30 (Wed) from Celebrity Silhouette. Tentatively we are thinking of visiting Market Square and Rock Church. I would like to get some transportation advice from you.

 

Option 1: Take tram 7 from LMA to market square. Walk from there to Rock Church. Then take public transit (which one?) from there back to cruise. If we only take two public transits is it cheaper to buy two single tickets than day pass?

Option 2: Since we have 4 people is the cost of taxi or Uber for the above two trips comparable to the public transit?

 

Thanks very much for the help!

Sounds good. Tram 7 will leave you at Senate Square which is one block away from Market Square. The walk from the Market Square area to the Rock Church is about 2 km do you may also opt for tram 2 for that leg. From the church to the ship I would just walk to Kamppi (900m straight street) for tram 7 (or 9 that leaves you slightly further from the ship) back to the ship. Or you can take a bus for one stop there if you prefer not to walk.

Day ticket costs 9€, single 1h ticket from the driver 3.20€, single 1h tram only ticket from a ticket machine is 2.50€. If you make only two trips, single fares are cheaper. For three trips single fares are cheaper if you buy at least one of the trips from a machine.

Taxi rides would cost 10€-15€ per ride and more if stuck in traffic. Ends up being slightly more expensive than public transit. If you make at least three trips, I would go with the day ticket. If you are likely to walk the second leg and not add other legs to your journey, buy single fares or take a cab.

Thank you Jonza. I am a little confused about the tram situation. When I look at the maps of the two HOHO companies, it appears that they will stop at the cruise port. Are you saying the Getaway docks elsewhere? Or are you saying that where the HOHO bus picks up is not as close to the port as it appears on their maps and thus we need to take a tram? Thank you for your assistance!

No. The HoHos do stop at the cruise port. The tram is an alternative to the HoHos.