February 7, 2007
Reasonable places in Helsinki
When in Helsinki, I usually try to stay at the Radisson Seaside hotel, which is located a little outside the main city right at the waterfront but easily accessible by tram or walking. When you arrive at the airport, you can get the airport shuttle bus, either the Finnair or the Blue one and they both bring you right to the central train/bus station. From here, it is a short walk to the trams and then take the correct tram (number 6 I believe but check to be sure!) to the Seaside hotel. If I recall, you can go either way on the tram to the hotel as it goes in a circle but there may be one way slightly shorter. The hotel can be booked directly at the Radisson web site. If booked well in advance and there isn’t too much going on, you can get a fairly decent price there. They have special offers for their smaller rooms (10 sq. metres), which are sufficiently big enough as you won’t be spending much time in the room anyway. During the IST 2006 event, Zeta and I stayed at the Sokos President hotel, which is closer to the train station. The Seaside hotel was already very expensive when we were booking so we chose this hotel from the IST 2006 web site yet booked it at www.ratestogo.com at a lower rate than published for delegates on the IST 2006 web site. Closer to the time of the event, I discovered that I needed to go over one day earlier to Helsinki and all the hotels were pretty much already filled up so I booked one on the ratestogo web site called Hotel Anna or the Anna Hotel (i have seen it referred to as both of these) located at Annankatu 1, 00120 Helsinki, FINLAND. It was quite reasonable with breakfast included. Although I was a bit worried about what I would get, it was pretty good and I was later sorry that I hadn’t booked this hotel for the whole duration as it would have saved a good deal of money throughout the week. It was a little off the main street (10 minute walk to Stockmans) and was also well serviced by tram line. In future, I would probably check Seaside hotel first, followed by this hotel. For eats in Helsinki, I would recommend a restaurant called Zetor (yes, the same company that makes tractors), which is located on the main street on the same side and close to Stockmanns. Zetor is known for real traditional Finnish style food so may not suit everyone. They do have some veg. options including a nice vegetable stew but beware of burning your tongue as it was extremely hot (temperature wise). On one of the nights, Miguel Ponce de Leon kindly invited us to a Daidalos dinner that was being held in a restaurant very close to the Seaside hotel and this was a great place also. I would certainly go back there again. If interested, you would need to get name from Miguel.
Posted by jclarke at 5:21 PM
| TrackBack
|
