Helsinki this week

Did you know that there is a free magazine on things happening in Helsinki every week?

It is called Helsiki This Week and gives you a whole lot of useful information and interesting articles.

You can find it at the tourist information, museums and hotels. Or you can also just check out their online version providing the same information and many useful links.

Food Helsinki? HEL YEAH!

Helsinki is probably one of the most exciting food cities in the world. With its wide variety of outstanding restaurants it provides something for every taste and every budget. Helsinki can easily compete even with cities like Paris and New York.

The guys from HEL YEAH! have now made it easier to find all those great restaurants, cafés, bakeries, markets and street food places with their brochure Food Helsinki? HEL YEAH! They have devided the city into five districts, maped all the places you should check out and put them in price cathegories.

Check out this excellent guide and start exploring the amazing food szene of the Finnish capital.

HELYEAH

VisitHelsinki, the tourist board of the city, has launched its new service HELYEAH. It is a pretty cool website with a great design and layout that gives you a great opportunity to explore Helsinki.

HELYEAH doesn't just have general information about the city but you can also find out what is going on at the moment. Maybe there is a cool free concert tonight that you shouldn't miss. Or there is a big event coming up you haven't heard about so far.

HELYEAH is also full of nice pictures and well made videos about the city. And it is well integrated with several social media channels which gives you the chance to interact with others and find out what people are talking about.

Check it out!

A ride to the past of Helsinki

Amongst others the Korjaamo Culture Factory is also home to Helsinki’s Tram Museum.

On the first glance this tiny museum doesn’t seem to be impressive at all. Three old tram cars are lined up for the museum’s visitors. But the small screens next to each of the exhibits bring the trams back to life. Amongst lots of interesting information on those machines pictures of old Helsinki and the trams in action are shown. After clicking through the slides and reading about their history you will see the trams with different eyes, pay closer attention to small details and can easily imagine how it would feel traveling through the city on them.

The entrance to the museum is for free and it is open daily from 11 to 17:00.

How to get a doctor’s appointment in Helsinki

In case you have to visit a doctor in Finland you should know a few things. It works a bit different here than in most other countries.

In Finland you don’t have a family doctor that you go to every time and that knows you. Finnish doctors are arranged in so called Terveysasemat (health stations) similar to a hospital. You will most likely meet a different doctor every time you go there. But don’t worry they all of course have access to your medical history.

If you need an appointment, look up the number of the health station closest to you. You can find their number and lot of other useful information online on the website of the city of Helsinki. Don’t forget to have your Finnish social security number ready if you have one. 

Should you need any general medical information and advice over the phone you can call the local service number (09) 10023 around the clock.

Stay healthy!

Visit Finland!

The tourist season slowly starts again in Finland. And for a good reason. The dark days are finally over and the sun is back to provide perfect weather conditions to explore this beautiful country.

Should you also be planning to spend your holidays here in Finland first of all congratulations! You made a great decision! On this blog you will find more on what you can do in and around Helsinki. Should you have any further questions just send a message.

But of course you also want to find out some more about the rest of the country. For that you should definitely take a look at Visit Finland. Here you find lots of information on the different regions, top attractions, accommodations, events and much more. Also don’t forget to pick up your free copy of the Finland Holiday Guide 2013 as soon as you arrive. You can find it at the reception of your hotel or hostel, at most museums and of course at the tourist information.

Have a great time in Finland!

This is Finland

If you read this blog you are post probably interested in getting to know more about Finland. In that case you should definitely also check out thisisFINLAND.fi.

This informative and well structured page of the Finnish Foreign Ministry gives you a broad overview over what is going on in Finland. Following their motto they tell you thing you should and shouldn’t know about this beautiful country.

ThisisFINLAND is available in seven different languages. Take a look! It’s just one click away.  

Finland in English

Do you want to read more about Finland and want to get more information on events, society, art and Finnish everyday life? Then look for SixDegrees. It’s a Finnish lifestyle magazine in English language. Published monthly by Dreamcatcher which also brings out the Helsinki times it is the only free English magazine in Finland.

You can find it not just in Helsinki but also in other bigger cities around Finland. For more information on the magazine itself and where to find it check their website.

Coming to work in Finland

Lots of you will already have faces some difficulties registering here in Finland. For foreigners that is not such an easy thing to do. You need to go to several different offices to visit, lots of paper to hand in and lots of forms to fill. 

At least when it comes to taxation and social security there is one place in Helsinki where you can get good support and helpful tips to make the whole process a bit easier and faster. Kela and Vero together run the INTO Finland at Kamppi. Here they specify on people that just recently moved to Finland and provide useful information. The stuff is friendly and well informed. They can also help you with other questions concerning registration in Finland.

The office is open on weekdays from 9.00 to 16.00. Waiting times are normally quite short here since they never have too many people visiting. You find INTO Finland in Salmonkatu 17 just above the Kela office. Use doorway A and go up to the second floor.

Good luck and success with getting settled in Finland!