Back in october a few friends and I decided to use a weekend for a trip to Helsinki. I was pretty excited about the opportunity as it was my first time travelling to Finland. To get to Helsinki we took the overnight ferry from Stockholm which was an experience in itself. Also it was a very affordable way to travel, costing just 25€ per person one-way for a bed in a cabin. 

We left Linköping around noon and took a train to Stockholm, were we got lunch and boarded the ferry. It was a long ride of nearly 17 hours but as the ship felt more like a cruise ship than a regular ferry we didn’t get bored on board. There was a cheap duty-free store, multiple restaurants and bars and even a casino available! The next morning we awoke with Finland already in sight and arrived in Helsinki at 10am. 

After we got back to land we got our bearings and headed to our hostel to deposit our luggage. Now we were ready to start exploring the city. Our first goal was to visit the fortress Suomenlinna, which is located on a group of islands before the shores of Helsinki. This was a great sight to see, as it was a huge area which was completely free to explore. The islands were dotted with old relicts like cannons and castle walls.

After we got back on the mainland we took advantage of an offer of the National Museum of Finland, which offers free entrance on friday afternoons. It was a very interesting and interactive modern museum which I can highly recommend to get an insight into finnish history and culture! For dinner we decided to get pizza and then we headed to a bar in Helsinki’s student quarter of Kallio to finish off the evening with some beer and card games.

On the next day we knew our ferry back to Sweden was leaving around 4pm so we had to get up early and make the most of our time in Finland. We started the day with a walk around the olympic park were we got to see the stadium where the Olympics of 1952 took place. Afterwards we visited the Temppeliaukion church, which was built straight into the rock, an impressive architectural highlight.

Now it was almost time to head back to the ferry and we did so after getting a quick but very tasty lunch. Back on the boat we were in for a surprise, as the theme of the ride to Stockholm was the Gospel Cruise! We felt pretty weird in our normal clothes among a crowd of older, fancily dressed gospel enjoyers, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. The shows and live bands of our first ferry ride were no more, now it was gospel everywhere! We enjoyed our last evening of the trip in this weird atmosphere and had a good boat ride. The next day we arrived back in Linköping around noon.

All in all I have to say I really enjoyed this trip and the chance to visit Finland. Even though it is a neighbouring country of Sweden, some aspects are very different, like the language for example. Finnish is like nothing I’ve heard before, I’m sure it’s a hard language to learn! Also I got a very pretty patch for my overall, sporting a proud finnish elk, which is definitely a plus. Helsinki on the other hand was not the most impressive city I’ve ever visited, but it was still interesting for 2 days. My highlight was definitely the fortress islands of  Suomenlinna. If you visit longer I’d recommend you to also visit the finnish countryside! I really enjoyed the time on the ferry and I think it’s an awesome way to travel, less stressful than the plane, but still time efficient due to the overnight rides.

I hope you enjoyed this trip report and you’ll hear from me again soon!

Niko

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