While in Scandinavian, I had to choose between Norway and Finland, for logistic reason. I chose Helsinki, Finland over Oslo, Norway because of the time of year. My only reason for wanting to visit Norway would be to see the Northern Lights, which occurs in cooler temps and I’m trying to avoid the cold. Maybe I’ll fly in for a day when the lights are expected to be visible.
I stayed at the Crowne Plaza with an upgrade to the lounge floor. This meant a larger room, free breakfast, snacks/drinks until late night, and also a light dinner. The breakfast was amazing and I also took advantage of the lounge occasionally during the day (dinner was a hit or miss). My goal is to obtain lounge access for the remainder of this year and all of next year. By September of this year, my bookings at IHG hotels will be 40 nights, which will grant me lounge access at their hotels where available (mainly Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental hotels) through December 2026. This will be a big savings on my food spending.
The hotel was across the street from a park that led you to the City Center with shopping and restaurants/cafes. After riding the hop on/off bus, I realized there were several sections to the city center that I didn’t see on my first day of walking.
The 5 days in Helsinki was just enough. Even now as I’m writing and looking at my pictures, I’m thinking that this was not a memorable trip. Three days would be sufficient
I was planning a day trip to Tallin, which I thought was in Finland but it’s in Estonia. I booked the trip but it was cancelled the next day for lack of participants. I wanted to go on my own and after checking the map for Estonia I saw that it bordered Russia (as did Finland). When I checked the distance it was 130 miles and when checking the travel advisory it read… don’t, under any circumstances, approach the border zone. There are some locations where public roads cross Russian territory. Since I would be there without a tour guide, I decided not to visit Tallin. I’m sure it’s a safe place to visit but I would advise doing so with a group and guide.
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Food: I was convenienced to try a reindeer burger. I heard my sister say… try new things. Well this was not the time to try new. First, I’ve discovered that they don’t like to cook their meat thoroughly. And you don’t know if it’s actual beef. It’s definitely not ground beef, that doesn’t happen in Europe. I found that out in Portugal last year. I also had veal meatballs with speghetti and for breakfast, they had veal, chicken and pork. I liked the veal better. Oh, as for veggies, you can get a veggie sandwich (cucumber with arugula). What is that… no meat… no ma’am!!!!
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Conclusion: The Crowne Plaza is a really nice hotel to stay but just be prepared to get your steps in. I walked an average of over 12K steps everyday. One day it was over 18K (that’s when I also walked to the laundromat).
Helsinki is a 3-day visit and nothing more.
Enjoy the pictures!
