Finland Day 2

I am pretty much cramming every touristy spot into my agenda today. I really wanted to spend most of my time in Lapland at the Arctic circle. I like Helsinki a lot, great food, vibes and amazing architecture you can sit and stand in awe at. I think two days in Helsinki is plenty if you want to hit the high spots. There is a town you have to drive to or take a bus called Porvoo that I would take some time to go and visit if you have time.

By the end of the day I had 32,000 steps logged 🤣

Favorite spots from today:

Löyly-Finnish sauna experience with a dip in the freezing ocean water. $24 for 2.5 hours at sauna. Schedule this for the end of the day, it’s an amazing experience to finish of the day to get you relaxed. This was a happening place for a Monday night for sure with lots of people from all over the world. Made me think of the tower of Babbel if I was in biblical times with so many languages. When you come in you are asked to put your shoes and coat in a public closet (ummm is this a good idea, isn’t this what they do in movies so you can’t escape?). Then you walk around the corner to check in from your reservation (highly recommend getting a reservation). They give you two towels with your stay, one to sit your butt on so it doesn’t burn in the sauna and the other to dry off. They have a bar that you can grab drinks at if you reserve with an ID or credit card, just be careful drinking too much in that heat..hydrate! Three different saunas, one is more of a wet sauna, a dry sauna and a smoke sauna which is the hottest about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. After you stay in the hottest one then you walk down the stairs and take a quick dip in the freezing 28ish degree ocean 🥶! This is an absolute must!! The gentleman working at Löyly told me that it cleanses the soul to do this experience…so I did it twice. I think he is right, it was oh so cold but truly awakens your insides. There are a few areas to relax with a fireplace inside and a nice cozy place outside with table and chairs if you need to cool off with a beautiful animal rug and rustic theme. The smell everywhere is like sitting by a warm cozy fire in the cold. They have a restaurant/bar you can hang out at after your sauna experience is complete. Make sure you bring a hairbrush and take off all jewelry before going as it gets really hot. They supply a locker, showers and shampoo.

Boon Nam-Michelin 2022 restaurant, amazing Thai food. I did the vegetarian course meal with a smaller wine portion pairing and a few signature cocktails. The 555 Daisy and the Boom Kopitini with dessert (their take on an espresso martini). The food had great flavors, I loved the experience but if you don’t like spices this might not be the best place for you. They have several a la carte items on the menu they recommend which sounded delicious and maybe not so spicy. My favorite was the pumpkin curry 😋. This was “an experience” meal so this is definitely a $$$ kind of meal.

Presidential Palace-watched the changing of the guards. Right in the Bay Area and kind of reminded me of Buckingham Palace. They even had a guard guarding them as they changed out and went to what looked like the guard house. They did some fancy gun moves and had the cool winter hats on, very official.

National library of Finland-built in 1640 it has amazing architecture and paintings on the ceiling. It’s so still and quiet inside, very calming. Definitely go inside it is worth it. They do require all bags to go in a locker which they provide for free and hang up your coat in the public “coat hanging area”.

Helsinki Cathedral– views from the outside are astounding and at the top of the steps you can see pretty far into town and the bay. I went in for a short time since they were having a noon service. They let you come in as tourist but have signs up to be very quiet. Senate Square lies at the base of the stairs of the Cathedral and you can’t miss it.

Old Market Hall-definitely a must! This is a way to experience the local market but indoors. Get ready to try reindeer though haha! There are places to eat and drink here, a little Scandinavian cafe with food and another little lunch spot. They have handcrafted items from Finland along with a liquor store, fish market with reindeer of course, caviar galore and jams. Try the Cloudberry jam, it’s native to the Lapland area and it delicious!

Places to go if you have time:

Temppeliaukio Church-otherwise known as the Rock church. You can pay about $5 and gain entry to see inside. You can do a guided tour if you want to learn more about the history. Make sure you check ahead of time for events or closures since they still have services. This is definitely the most unique looking church I have ever seen. https://www.temppeliaukionkirkko.fi/

Helsinki Botanical Gardens-unfortunately they ended up being closed on Monday but I looked in the window and would definitely go if they were open. It sits inside a nice park with a cafe that you can grab coffee or lunch at.

Oodi Central Library– take a walk by this building at least to see it from the outside. There were drones of kids walking in so I decided to just look from afar. Again the architecture and uniquely shaped buildings are fun to see. Definitely okay to put it on your walk by your list.

Uspenski Cathedral-sits in the Bay Area and you can’t miss it as you walk around southeast of the city center. It was built in the 1860’s and it sits high on a hill overlooking the water. Check the times on when you can visit because they do close to tourists. Beautiful inside, if you like that kind of stuff ❤️

Allas Sea Pool-after grabbing a coffee at the restaurant and coffee shop, I sat down at a table inside overlooking the water not knowing what I was about to watch. So..imagine if you are facing the bay to the far right is a changing area separated for men and women, just basic black buildings. The visitors then change and your first pool if they walk to my left is an unheated sea pool..which sounds terrible in 27 degree weather but people were doing it. Then, they get out of the cold pool and walk past another pool that seemed to be closed and then all the way to the end of the dock was the heated pool +26 degrees C with steam coming off of it. The comical part of this whole experience was watching people start slowly walking in the snow path out of the dressing rooms and then quickly picking up the pace from what I can imagine is their feet freezing and their cold bums in their swimsuit! I know you would have to be there but I kept giggling just a little every time they did this. There was NO way I was doing this now. BUT if it had been warmer I would have done it. It is pretty neat looking because it’s like a floating pool in the bay and at night the pictures look so fun. Just have to get over the fear of everyone watching you! https://allasseapool.fi/?lang=en

Places I would skip:

Kamppi Chapel of silence– it is currently closed. Cool picture from the outside but that is all you can do.

Tar Island-very underwhelming and unless you want to get some good steps in I would pass this one