In my post Visiting Helsinki? Here are 12 Free Things To Do, See and Use, I teased about a very useful online service. I did mention in the Helsinki Mini Guide that Helsinki is technologically adept. Well, this is a perfect example of a forward thinking city taming today’s technology and then using it to great effect. What is it and how can it help us with our research and planning for our visit to Helsinki?
Wouldn’t it be great if during your visit to another city, you could safely approach someone on the street who you were confident would have the answers to your tourist questions? Sure, there are Tourist Info offices sparsely located here or there, but they’re not always conveniently nearby. The City of Helsinki solves this problem with something called the Helsinki Helpers. By sending out a small army of young representatives, they are there, well, everywhere on the streets, to greet you and to answer your touristy questions.
During a visit to any city, visiting a museum is always something that can be tacked onto the agenda. Especially in Europe, there is no shortage of museums to visit – it’s an embarrassment of riches so to speak. Normally, museums have some sort of free admission day, albeit maybe with certain date/time/age/citizenship restrictions and Helsinki’s museums are no exception.
While researching for a visit to Helsinki, I searched through the city’s museums in case anything interesting was in town.
Needless to say, Europe has more than its fair share of grandiose and unique churches of all denomination types. There is the world’s largest church in St. Peters Basilica, the Gaudi masterpiece Sagrada Familia, the stunning Notre Dame Cathedral, the Duomo in Florence and even though not technically a church, the awe-inspiring Meteora Monasteries of Greece, to mention just a few. They are all visually stunning and are major tourist draws for their respective countries.
You’ve got a day or two to spend in Helsinki, and invariably, you’ve got no idea what to see and do. Unlike her more well-known European neighbors, nothing rolls off your tongue when the topic of Helsinki is brought up. It’s also a city that’s widely known to lean on the expensive side. On the other hand, you’re not looking to splurge so wouldn’t mind some savings along the way.