Finland & Denmark - Day 3: Suomenlinna & Tampere

[Hutch]

It seems like quite a few folks have been hitting up Finland lately, so hopefully some of this won’t be too redundant. But I’ve got another country/few more parks and set aside some time for sightseeing, plus this is a good way for me to personally archive this trip.

Taiga was the obvious draw for this trip, so a visit to Finland for the three parks (among other stuff) started brewing together. Denmark also became a natural add-on given the frequent flight options and my eagerness to return after spending less than 48 hours in the country a few years ago.

Boston would've needed a layover on the way to Helsinki (Denmark being an obvious option), but we actually flew direct from Chicago. We spent a weekend in the city anyway for a cousin's wedding, so we flew out directly after that.

Day 1 - Helsinki

I’m used to overnight transatlantic flights arriving much earlier in the morning, but thanks to starting out further west and flying out late, we landed in Helsinki at a little after 2 PM. Immigration was a bit of a pain, between the lack of gate agents, dozens of travelers having to cut in line in order to make tight connections, and gate agents generally taking more time with each individual, the whole thing took an hour to get through. By the time we got into the city, checked into our hotel, and had a quick regroup, it was already close to 5, but still had a solid amount of time to explore Helsinki.

We stuck close by in the downtown neighborhoods, making our way towards the main square which has the Helsinki Cathedral and a few other important government buildings.

And nearby was the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, which is on its own little island neighborhood near the market square.

We didn’t do or see a ton much else (Old Market Hall had closed by now, so had to save that for another day), but we were out for a couple hours just wandering and popping into some shops.

We grabbed dinner at this Lappish restaurant near the hotel. The interior was heavily themed, including traditional outfits for the staff, but the food was genuinely really great.

Short day to kick it off, but we’ll get to some parks soon.

 

[Hixee]

Finland trip report? So basic.

Looking forward to reading your report on these parks, will be interested to see your take on them.

 

[Hutch]

Day 2 - Linnanmäki

After a horrible sleep, it was time to do more stuff. The weather was miserable out, so we started with staying indoors at the Kiasma, one of the contemporary art museums nearby. I don’t think I have any photos of the stuff inside, but some of the exhibits were weirdly disturbing or just plain odd. Decent way to kill a couple hours though. And a nice glimpse of today's park:

Next up was the Temppeliakio Church, or “Rock Church,” which, as one might guess, was a Lutheran Church embedded into this big surface rock. It was 8 euros to get in, which I’d say is a little pricey considering that, once you get over the fact that you're inside a rock, it is “just another church” with not much to see. It was nice though, and honestly it was another good way to have shelter from the rain.

We found a nearby cafe for lunch, with the intention that we’d continue north to Sibelius Park, which had some outdoor sculpture thing, but we were getting sick of the weather at this point, so we just went back to the hotel for a bit. It was supposed to clear up in a couple hours, so we spent some time in the hotel spa for a cold plunge and sauna, which felt AMAZING and was a good turning point for the day.

The rain had finally broken away, so we took the easy tram up to Linnanmäki, arriving at around 4 PM. There’s a stop further up the hill by the park’s main entrance, but we got off earlier at the “back entrance” that faces south.

Grabbed our wristbands and queued up for the nearest ride we saw, which “happened” to be this:

Taiga was obviously a big draw for this trip, and given the effort to make it out here, we HAD to make sure we got on it.

It’s obviously a remarkable layout, but as per usual with hyped up rides, you need a few of goes to really get a feel for it. It was only on one train, but got on in ten minutes (no need for multi-train ops given the weather/lack of crowds). So we put that in the back of our minds and moved on with the cred run.

I wasn’t quite ready for Kirnu to ruin my day, but the queue was empty (well, one side had a couple train’s worth, but no-one paid attention to the other side), so I got it out of the way.

Honestly I had the best ride anyone could’ve hoped for. There’s always a risk of disgusting skull-crushing on these free spinners, but I just had one relatively harmless flip and landed safely on my ass while hitting the brakes.

The woodie Vuoristorata was such a delight to get on. This was my first experience with a brakemanned coaster (with another coming up later in the trip), and it’s just so funny to see these things roll. Clearly the park loves it, so much that they highlight the staff that run it in the queue. Two train ops were cool to see as well.

Ride was pretty fun too, and I was surprised by the very quick cable lift. Most of the layout isn’t too wild, bar a couple of good airtime pops on the double downs.

But the real highlight, and honestly might be the highlight of the trip, was when the train ahead of us stalled on one of the turnarounds.

I’m not sure if it was a truly balanced stall, or the young brakeman felt it starting to roll back, but clearly he must’ve trimmed it too much on the previous turnaround. It seemed like he was in training, as we saw a senior operator ride in the seat in front of him for a couple goes while waiting in line. This was hilarious to witness, and great to have a clear view from our train in the station.

So once the train stalled, the brakeman pulled an obnoxiously loud horn from the train to signal help. Some of the staff on the platform seemed annoyed, but they took no time to walk up there (easy access from the platform). Jokingly, I said “Oh they gotta give him a push.”

…”oh no way they’re actually going to!”

In a never-in-America moment, the staff on the platform and a couple of nearby workers hiked up the hill, grabbed ahold of the train, and slowly sent the damn thing through the rest of the layout!

And once that train got going, the emergency staff just casually walked back down the track, all while an active vehicle is running the course (obviously downstream of them).

This was just hilarious, but also brilliant to have a clear view to witness this, considering the rare model, the chance of it stalling, and the odds of us seeing it from the train behind. Such a fun memory.

Anyway, how do we top that moment?

Not another one of these. Ukko was disgusting. At least the Madrid one had a pretty good layout after it, but this was just the gross stock model. Even the back and forthness of this, which Abismo doesn’t do, wasn’t fun.

Think next up was their observation tower, Panoraama. Nice views, but pictures don’t come out great with the rainy windows.

Next we found the indoor coaster Linnunrata eXtra, which I actually really enjoyed, mostly because I knew nothing about it. I knew the park had some sort of indoor cred, but didn’t realize it was in the old water tower. I honestly enjoyed the layout too, as it had some tight turns and laterals.

Apparently there was a VR option? I never noticed it and didn’t realize it was a thing until after we left the park.

I think the Mack E-motion coaster was next? I can see why they didn’t make any more of these. Other than some jankiness, Tulireki wasn’t all that bad… it just didn’t really do much and had such a short layout. It did have a decent drop midway through, but it’s all really just a poor version of the Gerst bobsleds.

The mine train Pikajuna was also one of the weaker ones I’ve done, thanks time some jankiness and a basic/short layout (with three cycles trying to make up for that as opposed to two). The cliffside setting was very nice though, and the most interesting aspect was this thing right above you:

The spinner had a bit of a queue, so it was back for more Taiga to let the Mauer quiet down a bit.

And it's getting better now… still needed that last +1, but "one more ride first" kept occurring.

It got good enough to the point where it's earned a ranking. I convinced myself to rate it favorably to similar era Intamins (Kondaa, Taron, Pantheon), as Taiga’s layout is filled with consistently great elements, and not many dead spots. But I still prefer the likes of Maverick and Piraten, the slightly older and grittier Intamins that have a bit more bite to them.

What’s here is really excellent though. My favorite moments were the sharp airtime moments, including the bunny hill before the Immelmann. That one has surprise ejector; unlike the RMC ones you find after the first drop (e.g. Steel Vengeance) which are much gentler. There’re a few twisted airtime hills as well which are also fantastic, especially in the front. The zero g winder was also better in the front, with the shaping kicking you out of your seat.

The top hat is weak on airtime, but it’s way better in the back. The downtown view was great though, and was especially cool when rain clouds started to roll in.

The terrain design is also awesome to see. There’s clear inspiration from Helix, the other Scandinavian terrain multi-launch coaster, but Taiga is the clear winner.

Finally grabbed the spinner, Salama, which was pretty good.

And obviously had to get a spin on the Ferris wheel Rinkeli for some familiar shots.

Couple more rides on Taiga before the rain rolled in again, which closed the park a couple hours early (which the park had kindly announced an hour in advance).

So that was a nice way to kick off the cred portion of the trip. Obviously Taiga is the draw, but Linnanmäki turned out to be a charming little park. I love the location up on the hillside, as it offers great views looking down to the city and great views looking up from downtown. And it’s just cool to have a legit park, with eight coasters, all within the city (still not used to city parks, being from the US and all).

It was a fun cred run too. Only Ukko was genuinely bad, and Kirnu behaved itself, but the rest were decent to run through, with the woodie and Taiga of course being the highlights.

Another dinner at a nice restaurant near the hotel, and a quick "nighttime" stroll before calling it a day.

 

[Boodangy]

Next we found the indoor coaster Linnunrata eXtra, which I actually really enjoyed, mostly because I knew nothing about it. I knew the park had some sort of indoor cred, but didn’t realize it was in the old water tower. I honestly enjoyed the layout too, as it had some tight turns and laterals.

Apparently there was a VR option? I never noticed it and didn’t realize it was a thing until after we left the park.

They weren't running VR that day (if they were there would be a ton of VR headsets hanging on those hooks on the wall and they'd offer you one when you sit down) which is why you didn't notice it. There's three VR movie options for it, but I prefer riding without cause VR makes me nauseous and I like the old fashion space scenery, but yeah, for whatever reason they often don't run VR if it's a cold and rainy day, I have no idea why. Maybe because people's jacket hoods would be wet and they don't want that on the headsets? I don't know.

Couple more rides on Taiga before the rain rolled in again, which closed the park a couple hours early (which the park had kindly announced an hour in advance).

I've gone there who knows how many times in my life including 45+ times just last year (usually at the end of the day too), and I had no idea they did that?! That's so strange. Last year there were a couple days in the Autumn where there were tree breaking winds and unrelenting torrential downpour and yet they were running all the rides that don't get closed by rain. But for somewhat normal rain they'd close the park early? Huh. I had no idea they even could close the park early without an emergency.

 

[Hutch]

I've gone there who knows how many times in my life including 45+ times just last year (usually at the end of the day too), and I had no idea they did that?! That's so strange. Last year there were a couple days in the Autumn where there were tree breaking winds and unrelenting torrential downpour and yet they were running all the rides that don't get closed by rain. But for somewhat normal rain they'd close the park early? Huh. I had no idea they even could close the park early without an emergency.

Since it was gross all morning and in the middle of the day, barely anyone made it into the park to begin with for the afternoon break from the weather. If the evening rain is going to clear out what little people you have in the park anyway, why bother staying open? Save on operating costs, send your staff home early, and give everyone a heads up. Makes sense to me.

I heard the same thing happened to a friend who was there a couple weeks before I was.

 

[Hutch]

Day 3 - Suomenlinna & Tampere

No creds today. Today was spent doing a bit more sightseeing in Helsinki before taking a train up to Tampere, where we’d spend the next couple nights.

First up was Suomenlinna, an old Sedwish-turned-Russian-turned-Finnish sea fortress. It’s a short ferry ride from the marketplace of Helsinki, with frequent departures throughout the day. It was a good way to walk around for an hour and a half or so. Most of the fortress grounds are now waking trails, but some of the island is now a small neighborhood with a couple of cafes, museum, and an old church.

Back on the mainland, we got lunch at the Old Market Hall.

We somehow forgot about the National Library of Finland the other day, which is directly next to the Cathedral, so we poked our heads in there for a bit.

By then it was time to catch one of the trains to Tampere, so we grabbed our luggage from the hotel and wandered on over to the station (not too far from where we were staying).

Helsinki was nice, and perhaps one of the better capital cities I’ve been too. It doesn’t have the most exciting stuff when it comes to sightseeing, but it’s just a nice, clean city to be in. Relatively, there wasn’t a ton of tourism either (though there was a decent amount of tour buses and day trippers from cruise ships this day) so nothing was overwhelming or swamped.

In the early stages of planning this trip I had gone back and forth on whether it was worth doing all three Finnish parks or just Linnanmaki and remain in the Helsinki area. Well, Tampere and Sarkaniemmi would’ve been an easy day trip from Helsinki, but Powerpark always seemed like such a trek up north. And for what, some Gerstlauers?

Even if we were to rent a car, it’s still a 3.5 hour drive from Tampere, a bit much for a day trip from me. There’s a direct train line from Helsinki for a similar travel time, but that’d still be a grueling day trip.

Not having “country completion” (barring the couple random +1’s further north) would’ve been annoying though. Ok, so how long is the train ride from Tampere? Oh it’s only 1.5 hours? Guess we’ll stay in Tampere for a couple nights then.

Upon a bit more research, I was pleased to see that Tampere is well regarded by locals. Not too overwhelming and not much international tourism, so it was nice to have some time in another decently major city (well, it is the second biggest in Finland) as opposed to passing through for the creds.

Anyway, we arrived at Tampere early in the evening, checked into our hotel (conveniently close to the train station) and had a wander into town for some dinner. We decided to eat dinner sooner and spend time walking around afterward, taking advantage of the late sundowns. With so much daylight left into the evening, it seems like a waste to not take advantage of it (despite having packed and exhausting days so far).

Preview of what’s to come in the next couple of days:

It was also very windy out, with the lake and some of the canals looking quite treacherous.

Having that evening stroll was good to “get out of the way” as we had saved that time for later in the week, thus opening up some time for other things.

 

[Flash Shift]

Man there's so much of Helsinki I missed because I was kind of not well when I went, I'd planned to do the fortress and everything and it looks amazing! I kind of just wandered around the city and down to the coast and a big park down there as that was all I could manage in a very limited amount of time anyway.

Tampere looks nicer than I expected - perhaps if I ever go back to Finland I'll do the other parks as opposed to just Linnanmaki. Looks like a great trip!

 

[Boodangy]

Glad you enjoyed the views! Funnily enough I've never really seen those parts of Tampere, even though I've been there plenty of times. I've just somehow been there for completely other reasons or wandered around different parts, even though I've missed a lot of the prettiest bits. I personally would probably not recommend Särkänniemi to ppl in it's current state otherwise, but it is sort of on the way to Powerpark like you said, so might as well.

Also also; if you asked me and probably most Finns, Tampere is the second largest city in Finland like you said but officially it's Espoo with a population of ~322k people to Tampere's ~260k. However for all intents and purposes most of Espoo is simply a collection of suburbs for the purposes of commuting to Helsinki and tax tomfoolery that I don't understand. There's no single "centre" of Espoo, there officially is one but it's one of the smallest population centres in Espoo actually lol.