Gather here your useful info regarding Helsinki, BMR III and everything around it

I was there last year aswell and the only thing I could help out with is that it is quite easy and dirt cheap to get from the airport to the central station by bus; 2 or 3€ I think. I stayed in the eurohostel near the port and it was one of the best hostels I ever stayed in. Damn cheap, big rooms, a nice kitchen on every floor which you are free to use and everything was really nice and clean. And it is like a twenty minute walk away from the venue.

Anyway would be curious on some record shops in Helsinki as I only know Record Shop X.

Hopefully atleast some of those stores will be underground-enough for our ritualistic participants. I added two taxi helsinki numbers on the first message for your convenience, and i STRONGLY suggest to save atleast the main taxi number on your phone (right about now perhaps). There's a good chance that you'll need it.

I have only experienced two hotels in the city central and both have been chosen simply because they were close to the Tuska Fest area. Here's what i can remember:

Sokos Hotel Presidentti (2008): Very nice experience overall. Great location, good service, nice rooms. Breakfast was relatively gross, but nothing else bad to say otherwise. There was an ice-cube machine on one of the levels (worked wonders for our drinks) and keys came as expirable keycards.

Hotel Arthur (2010): Somewhat nice experience. Location was SUPERB (but mainly in relation to Tuska Fest), good service, but the rooms weren't so great. It just screamed outdated / old-fashioned here and there, ventilation didn't quite work eather and to mention that you only got ONE KEY for three guys (instead of keycards for all) was quite ass. No sign of ice-cube machines here. However, the breakfast was nice and the relatively low prices they had for served drinks there.

I don't think anybody was even considering those, but there they got mentioned anyways.

Eerikin Pippuri might be decent-enough for all you kebab / meat freaks out there. They're just around the corner from Dante's.

However, i would like know some places for good veggie / lightweight meals (and also if any of them serve also during midnight hours). Thanks!

I booked a room in one of the Omena hostels, so I guess I made a good choice.

I will stay a couple more days for sightseeing or touring Helsinki at least.
Could you recommend me some places of interest please? Metal or non-metal related.
Thanks for the record shops by the way, it's a good start. Also, what are the best bars/pubs in Helsinki?

There's a bus which takes approximately half an hour and costs only 3€ or s.th.. Works perfectly fine!

Bars depend on what you are looking for. Not the closest to Dante, but relatively close by in the centrum:

Kaisla - Vilhonkatu 4 - A beer house with great selection and a nice atmosphere, also sells snacks, not sure if any larger meals though.
Prkl - Kaisaniemenkatu 4 - A fairly nice metal bar, usually plays the classics though mostly of the non-extreme genres. The best part is the restaurant Hiisi that operates alongside the bar and serves fairly normal food, but large portions fairly cheap (in comparison to other places in that neighborhood, around 13 euros a pop). The kitchen is open until two thirty I think.
Morrison's- Ateneuminkuja - Not a bar, but a restaurant, behind the Ateneum-museum, best burgers in town, also serves other stuff, but I've only had the burgers. Most are thirteen, beef steaks and the huge King Kong-burger go up to 16 to 20 euros.
Dubliner - Mannerheimintie 5/Kaivopiha - Fairly nice and comfy Irish bar of sorts. Not a wide selection, but the few beers and ciders there are of good quality. Music nowadays is modern rock, used to be more classic rock with a bend towards the Irish artists.
Caisa - Vilhonkatu 6 - A Kurdish restaurant with a large selection of vegetarian food and vegetarian mezes. If you're only into veggie stuff, it's a good place, but if you like meat as well, the dishes I've tasted weren't very good. It's inside the complex, on top of Gran Casino, at the cultural center Caisa.

Existenzangst said:
can anyone tell me how i get from the airport to the main train station the best? is there a train directly at the airport, or do i have to get a taxi or something ? got my flying tickets today, can't wait!
It's nowadays 4euros I think..but anyway the bus line is 615 (all versions will do). It leaves in front of the arrival hall.

Air Berlin and Easy Jet are fairly cheap and they both fly to Helsinki airport.

MacMoney said:
Bars depend on what you are looking for. [...].
Thanks a lot!

kammio escribió:
It's nowadays 4euros I think..but anyway the bus line is 615 (all versions will do). It leaves in front of the arrival hall..

Yeah, that's right, 4 euros for multiple cities (Vantaa-HKI, Espoo-HKI, Espoo-Vantaa, etc), 2 euros within a city.

That Eurohostel might be cheap considering the price but I was highly satisfied with it last year, especially in comparison to most German, French or British hostels I know. Anyway I'll also stay in Eurohostel with two other maniacs from Wednesday til Sunday.
If you stay there you might be interested in knowing that they have a nice kitchen on each floor so that you can bring your own food and cook there and thus save on restaurants.