One Sunny Morning

This January we decided to experience a real winter. And what better place to do that than Finland – a home to Santa Claus, roaming reindeer, and fairy tale views of snow-covered forests. It ended up one of our most memorable trips. We spent 2 days in Helsinki and 5 days above the Arctic Circle in Lapland northern region (more about Lapland in the next post). When planning the trip, there wasn’t actually a lot of detailed information online, so in this post I share tips we learned from our trip – maps, places to see, things to do and what to pack.

About Finland

A little bit about Finland. It’s the seven largest country in Europe by area, but the 3rd least populated after Norway and Iceland. There are only about 5.5 million people – same as in much, much smaller Denmark. Together with Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and a few small territories, it belongs to Nordic countries geographical region. One of its nicknames is ‘land of a thousand lakes” since it has over 180K of them nestled among the endless forests stretching as far as eye can see. The independent country of Finland existed only for ~100 years, from 1917. Before that time, it was at various points in history under Swedish, Russian or dual influence. Some more interesting facts about Finland: it’s the place where sauna was invented about 2000 years ago, it has produced many world-class race car drivers, Finns consume the largest amount of coffee per capita than anyone else (makes perfect sense when it’s dark and cold much of the year) and Finland often is at the top of “Happiest countries” list. If you want to learn more, I found Culture Smart guide book about Finnish customs and culture quite interesting when prepping for the trip.

Sightseeing

Helsinki city center is pretty small and one can see all the attractions in 1-1.5 days. We visited the Helsinki Cathedral – one of the Finland’s most famous buildings, built in the beautiful neoclassical style upon the order of one of the Russian tsars. More recently, it was featured in the music video of a famous Finnish DJ, Darude. I am sure you’ve heard the song. Another interesting architectural sight was Temppeliaukio Church or Rock Church built directly into a huge rock. The building is unique and feels more like a concert hall than a church. Kiasma modern art museum was closed when we were there, but we were able to visit Amos Rex underground museum that featured and immersive installation by a Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck. We also stopped the Oodi library building that has interesting architecture (and we love books!). The library had a whole floor dedicated to free workshops, from 3D printing to music recording, fashion design, etc. A large contrast to the poorly funded US libraries. You can find these and other places also marked on our map.

Local Experiences

We were really excited to try sauna in the country that invented the experience. Since we only had 2 nights in Helsinki, we visited two unique places: Löyly and Allas Sea Pool. 

Löyly is a ~ 35 minute walk from the city center, on the shore of the Baltic sea. There are public transport options, but we wanted to walk to see more of the city. It was dark, but perfectly safe. The place is not very large and so they require pre-booking online. We visited on Sunday night, after the Sunday brunch crowd, but there were still quite a few people and most of them Finns. The place has 3 saunas and a lounge room with a fireplace where you can relax and have a drink in between sessions. We loved the experience – they really know how to get the sauna really hot! – and even did a plunge into the icy sea waters after warming up inside.

By the way, we learned that “löyly” is a uniquely Finnish term meaning steam from throwing water on the hot sauna stones.

The next evening we visited Allas Sea Pool, located right in the city center, close to Esplanadi park. While Löyly felt more like a spa experience, Allas Sea Pool had a more sporty/athletic atmosphere. The 3 saunas – one for each gender and one mixed – were small, fitting up to 8 people maximum. A very nice feature was an outside ‘heated’ pool that you could jump into after each session. Of course, the option to dip into the icy sea was also there :). It was a memorable experience running out of sauna to the pool under the slight dusting of snow and swimming while looking at the lit-up city shoreline.

Food & Drink

We love trying new cuisines and drinks when we travel (who doesn’t, right?). A staple dish all over Finland is sautéed rein deer or poronkäristys. Reindeer meat is even more prevalent in Lapland where reindeer are farmed. So, if you are going there on your trip, you can save the tasting for later. In Helsinki, we liked Zetor restaurant for the delicious food and a unique, cowboy/ farm-themed decor reminiscent of Texas. We also were pleasantly surprised how good the food was at Ekberg cafe – the oldest cafe in Finland, located right across from the Helsinki Cathedral. A prime tourist spot, in USA it would mean poor food and exorbitant prices, but in Finland – not the case. While trying salmon soup or lohikeitto – another popular local offering – we saw several dogs hanging out with their owners inside the cafe – an especially nice contrast to Boston’s anti-dog culture. One of the mornings, we got breakfast at Cafe Explanade, a pleasant cafe on the main street bordering Esplanadi park. We tried delicious Karelian pastry with buttered-egg topping. Mmmmm. You have to try it!

Helsinki seems to have more international cuisine restaurants than local ones. So, on our last day we decided to try something unique and hard to find back in US – an Armenian restaurant. Armenian House was excellent – from delicious food, to cozy atmosphere, to great service. It was one of the best meals we’ve had in all of our travels.

Now to the drinks. If you want to try some of the local adult beverages, keep in mind that in Finland, any alcohol with > 4.8% ABV can only be bought in government-owned Alko stores. That’s where we headed to try some mini-bottle samples of Jaloviina (a cut brandy), Lakka (a cloudberry liqueur), and Koskenkorva Salmiakki (a mix of vodka and salty licorice). Another famous drink served in bars but also sold in cans and bottles is Finnish Long Drink – a gin and grapefruit (or another juice) mix.

Shopping

While walking around the Esplanadi park area, we stopped by a couple of shopping centers curious to explore Finnish brands. One brand we discovered was Lumene – a cosmetics line incorporating natural Finnish ingredients like various berries, birch sap and others. The brand is very popular in Finland and has been winning various awards around Europe. Specifically developed to counteract the effects of cold and harsh weather, it’s also much more affordable than other similar brands. When I got back to US, I found out its also available in US. We’ll see how well it fares for the Boston winter weather.

Another Finnish brand we have never heard of before – but that’s is very popular all over Europe – is Halti outdoor clothing company named after a peak in Lapland region. The brand has existed since 1970s and has been outfitting professional winter athletes, Mt. Everest climbers, and various expeditions to Andes, Greenland and beyond. So, if you need some warm clothing and a practical souvenir you’ll get to wear for years to come, this would be a good brand to buy.

What to pack

The weather was unusually mild (according to locals) when we visited in mid-January. The temperatures hovered around 0 C/32 F and so a warm coat, some warm leggings and decent winter boots were enough to stay warm. After researching some options online, I went with Eddie Bauer base-layer shirt and winter boots – for their reasonable price and good quality. In Lapland, where it was a little colder, all of the tours provided jumpsuits, mittens & extra warm wool socks, so you really don’t have to bring anything extra unless you want to.