Helsinki Airport Layover Sightseeing Tour

We were on a 7 hour layover, and wanted to spend a few hours seeing the city. 2 days prior to the tour, the opperator contacted us that we were the only ones on it, there was a caveat at booking about canceling. They made me the offer to spend 50E for using public transportation or 150e for a private car. I chose the car. Our flight was scheduled to gate at ~10:15 so i was worried about making it through by 11. We made it through with plenty of time to spare, but with immigration just be aware of how much time you have. We got to the meeting point about 15 minutes early, and our guide arrived 10 minutes after that. The car that we were met with was a Mercedes Van (pretty sure they just had us buy up the minimum to operate the tour - and i was thankful for the opportunity). There were two drivers (I don't think either knew english). We drove for about 20 minutes to the city, saw a few parks, and several churches. The guide (ugh who's name i can't remember) was excellent. He knew a ton of history about the town. There was great flexibility to stay at spots, and or go to different ones. We saw olympic stadium, and then went and walked through a local market that was awesome. Got Coffee and funnel cake type thing that they said they only have the beginning of May. We got back to the Airport at about 3 hours 15 minutes- so the tour was really pretty spot on 3 hours. It was a great experience, very happy we went, and wish i could remember the guides name (he was Spanish - and commented that some people are confused that it's not a Viking meeting them :) ) Be aware of the weather. It was May when we visited, and the temperature started off in the 50's. By the time we were at the last stop it was snowing.

Excellent tour with a friendly and knowledgeable guide. We saw a nice combination of sights from the van and via short walks. It was a great introduction to Helsinki. The driver was also very efficient and safe.