Our family of four, 2 adults and 2 children (ages 10 & 13) will be traveling from Italy back home to New York and will have an overnight layover in Helsinki. Our flight gets in about 3:30pm and we leave 11:30 the next morning. We are looking for a hotel recommendation in the Rick Steves style - clean, safe, and as inexpensive as possible without sacrificing the first two! We would like to get to experience as much of Helsinki as possible in this short amount of time - we realize it may just be dinner a walk around the city. Any suggestions?
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12315 posts
I don't have a specific hotel to recommend. Look in the area of the center near the TI, outdoor market, and ferries to Suomolina Island (no further out than the train station). If you stay there, most of what you will want to see is easily accessed by foot or tram. I like to start with tripadvisor.com, search budget hotels and use the map to search near the center area.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I stayed in Hotel Anna, not even realizing it was a Rick Steves' recommendation until I saw the Blue Book in the lobby. It's a fairly basic hotel, but one of the more reasonably priced in Helsinki. The location is fairly close to the harbor and cathedral. That being said... If you stay in downtown Helsinki, you won't have time to accomplish much more than check in to your hotel and find dinner. By the time you disembark your plane, go through immigration, retrieve your bags, catch the bus to downtown, figure out which tram or bus to take next to your hotel, check in, and get settled, it will likely be around 6 PM. You might be able to gain an extra 30 to 60 minutes by taking a taxi directly from the airport to your hotel, but that would barely allow you any more site-seeing time. Likewise, an 11:30 flight back to the US won't allow for anything more than eating breakfast and going to the airport. If you're traveling in the summer, at least you'll have plenty of daylight to walk around the city, but most of the sites close by dinner time. Of course, there's always the airport hotels, but there's little in the immediate area and it it's far from the downtown area.
Posted by
Olympia, Washington, USA
4 posts
I have stayed at the Holiday Inn by the airport before, but there is nothing to do there. So I am going to try the Sokos Hotel Vaakuna Helsinki by the railway station this time. Good prices and one can walk down to the Esplandin park and view all the wonderful statues and the fountains down to the water front and maybe see a big cruise ship in the harbor after dinner, that is if you are staying in the summer. Sincerely,
sma
Posted by
OP
Binghamton, NY, USA
22 posts
Thank you for all the helpful information. Please keep recommendations coming. We are leaning toward the Scandic Continental because of the central location and it is on the Finnair shuttle bus route. Opinions welcome.