I was determined to make sure my short Helsinki stay was to be much cheaper than my stay in Stockholm. The reason I was so confident as I had finally scored my first couchsurfing hosts and while I only had one night with them it sure saved me a packet overall.
It’s weird but I was also glad to be back on the Euro in Helsinki. I’m not sure if it was because I could understand how much things cost with it compared to the currencies in Denmark and Sweden or if it was just an easier currency to comprehend. I mean when you are counting your daily spent in 100’s it sure seemed strange to me.
| Day | Transport | Hostel | Attractions | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Misc | Total EU | Total $AU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | 20 | – | – | 5.85 | – | 10.5 | 36.35 | 53.45 |
| 2 | 29.6 | – | – | 6 | 5 | – | 15.5 | 56.10 | 82.50 |
Transport
Transport was almost non-existant for me. I did skip paying for the tram to my hostel after arriving at 7am but hey I was almost a zombie and very very much hung over. Overall there was no need for transport costs in Helsinki as you can just walked everywhere. The only times i couldn’t walk were for the ferry out to Suomenlinna (£3.60) and to get to Tallin by ferry (£26).
Hostel
My original goal was to couchsurf for two nights in Helsinki and maybe book a hostel for another 1-2 nights if I liked it there. As it turns out I double booked the only hostel night I could get with my couchsurfing hosts. When looking for hostels I found it really hard to find many in town but again I booked a couple of days before leaving Stockholm so that might have been the problem.
As I arrived in Helsinki very tired and very hungover it was a bit of a blessing to be able to crawl into a bed at the hostel on arrival and catch 40 winks. Had I couchsurfed that first night I’m sure it would have been a long long first day.
Attractions
The first city ever where I haven’t spent a cent on seeing the sights. The church’s I visited were free, as was strolling around Suomenlinna. Even the couple of museums I visited were free but that was helped by the fact it was national free museum day or something like that (a tip from my CS hosts).
Food
I covered the cost of my lunch and a couple of snacks but otherwise I was looked after by my amazing couchsurfing hosts for both nights even thought I only stayed with them for the one. Having little to no food costs really is a godsend as that’s where I’ve been spending a lot of my money.
Miscellaneous
Introduced to the alcoholic joys of cider and a souvenir for my collection where my main misc costs for Helsinki. Alcohol is overly expensive here like in Sweden but with such warm weather I had to try out my cider drinking skills, especially as the first night I relaxed in a park with new friends.
Total Cost for Helsinki
Two days in Helsinki came in at a total of 92.45 Euro’s or 135.95 AUD (at an exchange rate of 0.68 Euro = 1 AUD). An average of 46 euros a day which after you exclude the ferry ticket to Tallinn becomes a very cheap stop off.
To compare the costs to today’s exchange rate, leaving Australia now (November 2014) it would cost you $132.14 AUD. It’s really not much considering I spent 2 nights and the best part of 3 days looking around Helsinki.
A combination of couchsurfing and luck really made my short stay here extremely cheap which just proves why as a backpacker you should include couchsurfing in your travel plans. Not only do you meet amazing people and learn new things about a city that you otherwise may not have but you also save your money.
It does require some additional pre-planning as you need to request a couchsurfing host and hope they get back to you and say yes before you arrive. All of which isn’t well suited for fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel but if you want to make your money last as long as possible you’d be a fool to ignore it as an option.
Next stop on my tour around Europe was Estonia and from everything I’d heard so far I was going have plenty of money left over for beers.
Glad the couch surfing worked out well for you, mate.
Thanks Lauren, the couch surfing worked out really well and made my short time in Helsinki worthwhile.
Couchsurfing really is a great way to meet amazing people and save money.
Completely agree Ayngelina and I’m hoping to do more of it this year.
I find strange comfort in the Euro. Almost so much as to adopt it as my home currency. I find myself trading 1 to 1 in my mind from US to Euros. Which I know isn’t true, but I still do it.
haha Abbey I found myself thinking 1 for 1 at some points and well it was very much an un-doing on my bank account. It’s so easy to forget at times.
Great way to save money AND meet cool locals eh? Well needed after your Stockholm trip! I surved in Oslo with these two great guys who I continue to keep up with today – and this was years ago! We drank soooo much the night we went out – must have cost us 100E, bloody expensive that place!
Matt sounds like a good night out and you wouldn’t be the first to spend 100E in a single night.
Yes after Stockholm I managed to keep a lot more money in my pocket thanks to the fun in the Baltic.
Nice account of a day in Helsinki.
Actually that was quite reasonable
One further suggestion is to frequent forumks like http://finlandlive.info
You may well have got a meeting and a room to sleep for free + brekki
Then Finnish people are extremely helpful like this
Best Regards
Greg