Great landmark of the city. Took the train from the airport to the city and it is located right in…read morethe downtown. Easy and clean station. Spacious and very well architecturally. Walking distances to hotels, places in downtown. Wishing the station, plenty of quick bite/drink places as well as sit down dinning. Also there are stores and shops too. This is the main station so plenty of destinations to choose. For me, easy place to go and get to. Enjoyed it a lot.

Came into the Helsinki main train station the other week and it was a quick and easy experience…read more The train took me directly from HEL directly into town in ~40 minutes with numerous stops. There are a few eateries inside the main train station. The metro is a couple blocks away and the tram is merely outside the front doors.

IF YOU ARE FROM AMERICA LIKE ME... BUY A TRAM CARD AND TAKE THE TRAM. The trams in Finland are…read morecleaner, happier, easier, and more fun than the monorail at disneyworld. And remember... you're in Finland, so you don't need to worry about getting mugged. PS. I figured out that no one actually scans their cards...no idea what the deal is, but apparently you are judged by the locals if you scan your card. Don't scan your card. It's not cool.

Above ground metro station that is north/east of central Helsinki. It has the usual automated…read moremachines for purchasing a ticket or a scanner for swiping your proximity card. I had a three day pass, so I didn't need to do any of that. The angle of the tracks here is a little confusing. I was not sure which is "inbound" and which is "outbound" which caused my friend and I to miss a train and have to wait for the next one. An entire four minutes wasted! lol This is one of the few stations on the HSL that is a side-platform instead of an island platform. There is a transfer level, one level down from the platform and one level above the street. Kalasataman is between Sörnäinen (toward Ruoholahti) and Kulosaari (toward Mellunmäki/Vuosaari). [Review 10103 overall, 1689 of 2018.]

Three days in Helsinki and I was on/off the HSL network constantly. Sure, Helsinki is a walkable…read morecity but after a while, a 1km walk is a hassle. Why go through that when there's a cheap and easy system to hand? For those considering travel in Helsinki, here's what you need to know: 1. Install HSL app to purchase your day pass. For €9.00 for the first day and then €4.50 for each additional day, you don't have to deal with ticketing machines at all. I did not encounter an inspector, but they do exist. Be ready to launch the app when you're on the trains. 2. The M1/M2 lines are very easy to understand - they just go back and forth. They each split at each end, but the majority of the system is overlapped. 3. The trams are easy! Just wait at a stop, board when it arrives. You do not need to show payment to the driver. The metro stations are handicapped accessible. The ones I visited are all island platforms, so the door opens on the left. When I boarded a train in the wrong direction, my u-turn at the next station was easy. I love cities with smooth and clean metro systems. It makes it so much easier to visit them. In Europe, Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Bilbao, Porto and now, Helsinki. [Review 10051 overall, 1636 of 2018.]