Helsinki and Tallin - Hop and Shop

When it comes to a shopper-stopper, there can’t be much to beat a shop window piled with toilet roll pyramids, Tate Modern-style.  Not your average, Andrex-puppy pastel shades either, but in-your-face shades of scarlet, orange and black. 

If you want to make a statement with your bathroom stationery, the Pino boutique in Helsinki’s chic Design District is clearly the place to do it.  If you can stretch to €2.50 a roll, that is.

The Finnish capital is proud to showcase the very best of national design, alongside tempting fashion boutiques, department stores and shopping centres.  Combine this with a laidback lifestyle, some seriously good restaurants and a lively club scene, and you have a great destination for a city break.

But add in a day trip across the water to Tallinn and you’ll be treated to two cities with dramatically contrasting cultures on one short trip. 

Blessed with a long and attractive waterfront, the harbour-city of Helsinki has a fresh, contemporary air to it.  Few of Helsinki’s famous landmarks pre-date the 19th century when stone replaced local wood as the favoured building material.

The Estonian capital of Tallinn however – 50 kms away across the Gulf of Finland – is positively crammed with ancient buildings.  The Medieval houses, churches and civic monuments within the walls of the Old Town have been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO for being one of the most complete collections in Europe.

There are more than 30 sea crossings a day between the two capitals.  In winter, ferries take around 3.5 hours but in the summer months, you can cross by catamaran in just 1 hr 40 minutes.  We stayed three nights in Helsinki in the comfortable Hilton Strand – ask for a room offering harbour views - and took a day trip to Tallinn.  But new hotels are springing up all around the Estonian capital if you want to make a night of it.  Try the Radisson with its 24th-floor bar and panoramic viewing terrace for a piegon’s eye view.

Helsinki is easy to get around on foot, although the tram service is frequent and quick.  For a novel sightseeing tour, try the SporaKOFF pub tram which leaves from the Railway Station between mid-May and mid-August.  Sightseeing buses – and boat tours - are a popular way to get your bearings and absorb a bit of Finnish history at the same time. 

Ruled by Sweden and Russia in times gone by, Finland has been independent since 1917, unlike Estonia which only broke free of the Soviet Union in 1991.  So whilst Finland is an old hand at self-rule, its near neighbours are still getting to grips with being their own boss.  Both capitals have a City Museum where you can painlessly fill in the gaps in your Baltic history and understand what shaped the modern nations. 

A sightseeing tour of Helsinki takes in the city centre landmarks of Senate Square, the gleaming white Cathedral, and tree-lined Esplanade with its buzzing shops and cafes, as well as the attractive waterfront, city parks, and Suomenlinna sea fortress – Helsinki’s own UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Tallinn’s hop-on, hop-off city tours offer three separate circuits which go beyond the Old Town to include the Rural Life Museum and  Kadriog Park, setting for both the new Kumu museum of contemporary art and Peter the Great’s ornate holiday home, now a museum of classical art.

Whilst Tallinn plays up its Medieval past with themed attractions like the popular Old Hansa restaurant and the chilling Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments, Helsinki is very much in the here-and-now.  We particularly enjoyed the contemporary northern Italian fare and stylish décor at Sasso on the Market Square (or try the Fishmarket seafood restaurant downstairs).  Follow it with a traditional vodka cocktail at the Arctic Icebar on Ylipoistonkatu or an evening in one of Helsinki’s many clubs.

When it’s time for some retail therapy, take the No 6 tram from outside the railway station.  A 10-minute ride costs less than 2€ and drops you off outside the factory shop of Iittala glassware and Arabia ceramics, two of the most stylish brand names in Finnish home furnishings.  
Leave time to hit the Design District too.  Marimekko on the Esplanade is the last word in bold patterned textiles and accessories in bright primary colours, and the Design Forum on Ekottajankatu gathers the work of upcoming Finnish designers under one roof. 

But be sure to go home with some of those toilet rolls – the ultimate gift for the person who really does have everything!

TRAVEL FACTS
Finnair operate 4 daily flights to Helsinki from London Heathrow (www.finnair.com).  For sea travel from Helsinki to Tallinn, try Nordic Jet Line (www.njl.fi) or Tallink (www.tallink.fi). 

For a range of low cost options click here

USEFUL WEBSITES
Helsinki:  www.visithelsinki.fi
Tallinn:  www.tourism.tallinn.ee
Hilton hotel:  www.helsinki-strand.hilton.com.
Iittala:  www.iittala.com
Sasso:  www.palace.fi

24 October 2007