48 hours in Helsinki … preplanning options

With any new city, I try to figure out a high level plan, the same applies to spending 48 hours in Helsinki on my way to Tallinn and/or Riga. That being said, I’ve booked a weekend at the Hotel Kamp, which is reputed to be the “Best Hotel in Finland … and no I don’t have cash to burn but rather using my Starwood cash and points (I love this program!) … It’s only $90 a night for $500 a night suite with some SGP points!

Once I check in, I’m heading to the Olympic Stadium just like the one in Montreal with the great view, then it’s off to Senaatintori (Aleksanterinkatu/Hallituskatu Helsinki), or Senate Square, is a scenic area of the city where 18th century merchants once built their homes in.  By the 19th century, though, it had become the center of the Finnish government.   Churches, neo-Classical buildings, and universities subsequently sprouted there over the years as a result.

After traipsing around all day … then it’s on to Suomenlinna, which is an inhabited sea fortress sprawling over an area of six islands – Susisaari, Pikku-Mustasaari, Långören Kustaanmiekka, Iso-Mustasaari, and Länsi-Mustasaari.  It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was built in 1748 to protect the city from Russian invasion. Since I won’t be in town for a long time, I can’t really do Karelia Lake Country or Lapland Ethnic Region – they’re just too far.

Thoughts about Finnish saunas? Then it’s also on to Uudenmankatu Street in the city’s Punavuori district. This is what I’ve found so far.

About Rishiray

Rishi Sankar is a Cloud HRMS Project Manager/ Solution Architect. Over the past 15+ years, he has managed to combine his overwhelming wanderlust with a desire to stay employed, resulting in continuing stints with 3 major consulting firms (IBM, Deloitte, Accenture). He documents his adventures around the world on "Ah Trini Travelogue" with pictures and stories from the road/tuk-tuk/camel/rickshaw. You can follow him on Twitter at @rishiray and on Facebook at "Ah Trini Travelogue . He doesn't like Chicken Curry but loves Curry Chicken and is always trying to find the perfect Trinidadian roti on the road. He also doesn't like cheese and kittens ... and definitely not together. E-mail from his blog is appreciated like a 35 yr old Balvenie at rishi@rishiray.com

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