Trip to Helsinki & Stockholm

Just booked a trip to Helsinki (5 days) end of June and 4 days in Stolkholm
(4 days) we are mid 50s and traveling with parents late 70s. Any ideas? On
a budget but will go to Estonia for a day.

The ferry to Tallinn is a good idea for an interesting day trip. The
tourist bureau in Helsinki has a nice booklet on walking tours of
various lengths around the city, if that interests you. Otherwise, one
of the harbor tours from the market place area is a pleasant way to
spend a few hours.

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:34:02 GMT, "PAUL M HEATON"
wrote:

Just booked a trip to Helsinki (5 days) end of June and 4 days in Stolkholm
(4 days) we are mid 50s and traveling with parents late 70s. Any ideas? On
a budget but will go to Estonia for a day.
\
Helsinki is one of my favorite cities; we spent ten weeks there
in a flat summer before last, and we go there every couple of
years. That said, Helsinki really isn't all that exciting as a
tourist destination. It has a few fairly interesting sights, but
nothing you can exclaim over like you might tell friends about
going to the Eiffel Tower. On the other hand it is a pretty cool
city to relax in and wander about in. The transit system is very
good but most of the interesting stuff can be walked to.

There is a tram, the 3T, which passes near most of the tourist
sights. The tourist office near the east end of the Esplanade
should have the brochures, or there may be some on the tram.
Personally, we like to take the 3B tram which goes the same route
but teh opposite direction and follow the brochure backwards.
There's not as many tourists on that tram.

See the church in the rock, the Russian Orthodox cathedral, the
Lutheran Cathedral, et al. Be sure to browse around Stockmann's
department store. Be sure to walk around the market square at the
east end of the Esplanade and have coffee at one of the cafe
tents. Visit Suomenlinna, the island fortress in the mouth of the
harbor, ferry available for bus fare near the east end of the
market square.

A warning about the fast ferries to Tallinn (which is definitely
worth a day trip, but avoid using the taxis at the Tallinn ferry
docks; the Old Town is within walking distance and the taxis are
a rip-off): being small the fast ferries don't have very good
stabilization and we got pretty bad mal-de-mer on a crossing when
the sea was a bit heavy (and so did a lot of the more experienced
ferry riders); the bigger, slower ferries are more stable.




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