Second day in Helsinki - Day Trip to Porvoo via OmniBus

On the agenda for my second full day in Helsinki was a day trip to Porvoo. Why Porvoo? Why NOT Porvoo? Some googling will tell you it's Finland's second oldest city, has a population of ~50,000, and it's just about 1 hour away from central Helsinki, aka, easy, comfortable day trip distance. Image searching will show you that it's a beautiful little place with impossibly quaint and colorful wooden houses (note: that's just part of the city, but yes, it's very cool to walk around; more in a future post). It offers some nice shopping and a variety of cafes and restaurants. My take away after visiting is that it is a lovely place to live full time, perhaps an even nicer place to have as your occassional getaway if you're a Helsinki family of means, or, a great day trip that is 100% worth the time if you're spending multiple days in Helsinki like I was. The city has a handy little website for those considering a visit. But again, more on that in the next post. This one is about making the journey to Porvoo via OmniBus, which was quite simple and pleasant all in all.

My bus was leaving at 10:05 and I wanted to build in time to find the right platform, etc., so I was out waiting for the #10 tram nice and early.

The bus leaves from Kammpi station, which, like I saw in my not-so-smooth arrival day transit experience through Mall of Tripla / Pasila station, is a combo shopping/commercial center and transit hub.

Found my way to bus slot 3 --- what do you call bus departure points? not a platform like trains ... whatever, I found it --- and got into my seat. You can choose your seats on the OmniBus website. Very handy little rundown of the different sections and their relative benefits. I paid the extra charge to be in the upper deck front row. I wanted the view. Round trip ticket was about 24 euro.

And we were off and running. Grey skies but still interesting and no regrets paying for my premium seat.

Maybe I'm easily pleased, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a sucker for the fall foilage. It's not something we have in la CDMX so I appreciate it when I experience it.

Once out on the highway we could have been anywhere. Like driving on route 24 somewhere in southeastern Massachusetts.

Snapped some pics of the arrival into downtown Porvoo.

Also captured some shots of the bus 'terminal'. Fairly generic parking lot surrounded by somewhat generic retail, but it turned out to be a good jumping off point to explore what there is to explore in Porvoo. I did not sample the "GOD DAG PERFECT COFFEE" kiosk. But in retrospect, if it was anything like the quality hot chocolate I pulled out of a similar kiosk in Tallinn a few days later, it would not have been a mistake to buy one. I'd be inclined to trust vending machine coffee during future Finland visits.

Net: smooth journey to Porvoo with Omnibus. Also, it was deliciously quiet. Like the quiet car of a commuter rail train. Only people actually abide the quiet. Recommend, 10/10. One note - limited english from the bus drivers I interacted with. Did not impact me given I had no issues with my ticket or anything. But be prepared to break out the translation app if you need to communicate anything beyond simple ticket transaction details.

Next post(s) will hit more on what I did with my 4 hours in Porvoo.