Why come to Helsinki in October?
It might look like a weird proposal — come to a cold Finland in October. Surely migratory flocks of polar bears will intercept your plane and eat you. We hope to dispel at least some of the myths about Finland in October (not the last one though).
This blog post aims to show you that it’s not so bad. In addition to Finland not being so awful in October, we actually do have amazing speakers giving great talks and affordable (at least according to some reliable lead developers) workshops.
All photos taken by me, so forgive my horrible everything.
Weather
It’s not going to be freezing, there isn’t going to be snow. If we are lucky, it’s still going to be sunny and you’ll see the majestic Finnish Golden Autumn, where beautiful trees reflect against bodies of water. More realistically it’s going to rain, though. Expect from +10C to +15C during the day.
What to see?
Helsinki is relatively beatiful. According to some architecture history students, it’s one of the best places to look for Nordic Art Nouveau or Jugend style. Visit Kruununhaka, Katajanokka, Punavuori and Eira districts.
Helsinki also has some decent museums. Check out modern art museum at Kiasma or view classic paintings by (mostly) Finnish painters at Ateneum.
Lastly, visit the Senate Square and the Market Square. They are popular and I guess they are traditional must sees, but I’ve been there too many times to appreciate them too much myself.
What to drink and eat?
Helsinki isn’t cheap city, especially if you want to buy alcohol or cigarettes. However, coffee is excellent and it seems that we nowadays have more coffee roasteries than bars in the city. For great coffee visit outstanding Cafe Artisan, Good Life Coffee or Kulma. Johan and Nystrom, even though they are from Sweden, are really good too.
Helsinki has a great selection of good restaurants, both of affordable and non-affordable varieties:
- Most restaurants offer ~€7–15 lunch options during weekdays, it’s usually a great bargain, so use it.
- For cheap options, try Fafas (street food falafel), New Bamboo Center (Chinese).
- If you are looking for something fancier, a Michelin star bearing Grøn is absolutely majestic. Now is probably a good time to book it already.
Generally Helsinki is very accommodating for vegan and/or vegetarian diets. Lactose and gluten free options are also widely available.
There are some decent bars in Helsinki, but due to Finnish long tradition of goverment imposed abstitinence, they are pretty expensive. Try Sori for a gastropub experience. Kaisla is a long time classic, One Pint Pub is a hidden gem and we also have Brewdog bar. For cocktails, try Liberty or Death.
Come to GraphQL Finland!
I hope I dispelled your worst fears about Finland. While there are surely many better cities and countries in Europe, we really ain’t all that bad. In addition, you won’t get a GraphQL conference in all those cities and that’s what should matter, right? Right?!
Buy tickets! Watch out for migrating bears!
