Helsinki – anyone?

[creadinger]

Hi all,

If all goes well, I’ll be in Finland for a week in June for work. I’m sure I’ll be able to get out to explore the city by foot, but I’d also like to explore some by bike.

Has anyone ridden in Finland before? Anyone ever been to Finland?

Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated.

Topic

[Phatboing]

I was in Helsinki for a couple of days in 2012, and it was delightful. Most of the downtown area is pretty bike-friendly. The harbor bits have both cobblestones and streetcar tracks (simultaneously in some spots), and I watched a couple of cyclists get knocked about on those (nothing injured but pride).

Finnish is inscrutable. You know how you can read German or French and kinda guess at the meaning of some words? Forget about that.

(but most people speak English)

The weather is going to be spectacular.

This is all I remember for now (at least, re bikes and related things).

[cyclingfool]

You should have plenty of light for riding non-work hours thanks to the White Nights!

One random thought, you might check crazyguyonabike.com and look at Finland/Helsinki-related journals to see if anyone said anything about biking in Helsinki proper. Since it’s a touring journal, it might just be that they stored their bike in the hostel they stayed at for two days while sightseeing before taking off for the countryside again, but it might be helpful???

[consularrider]

@Phatboing 85326 wrote:

I was in Helsinki for a couple of days in 2012, and it was delightful. Most of the downtown area is pretty bike-friendly. The harbor bits have both cobblestones and streetcar tracks (simultaneously in some spots), and I watched a couple of cyclists get knocked about on those (nothing injured but pride)

So a few up and backs on O St, NW in Georgetown for practice? That’s what they had us doing for filming “Chasing Legends” a couple years ago.

[dbb]

I was there a few years ago and loved it. The city is amazingly walkable and the transit system is superb. Our hosts gave us transit passes we used to commute to/from work.

They seemed to favor older or city bikes. Nothing particularly fancy.

The coastline is amazing. I recommend you visit the temppeliaukioun, a rock church about a half mile west of the main train station. The museum of contemporary art is pretty neat as well. I was impressed by the blend of the old and new.

If I were to go back, I would likely walk. Helsinki is quite small.

[Dirt]

I have a friend in Finland. The cycling photos he takes are amazing. I want to be Finnish when I grow up.

[creadinger]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I’m hopeful that I will get the chance to rent a bike and ride for a couple of hours. Still no guarantee I’ll get to go yet even, so I’m hopeful for that as well.

So after a bit of searching I found this website – http://pk.reittiopas.fi/en/

And I used the ‘local scenic routes’ to plot this loop around the river.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4868021

Hopefully I’ll have the guts to do it. I mean I did plop myself at the airport near Inverness Scotland with nothing but myself, my bike, and a route map to Edinburgh a few years ago. Ok, I had lots of reservations made too, but still.

For this, all I need is 1-2 hours to myself.

[Author]

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