Arriving from Emeral Princess on Aug 17 @ 10:00 - any advice

Hi,

We are a group of 4 possibly 8 arriving in Helsinki from a cruise ship Emerald Princess on August 17 at 10:00AM We will only be in port til 6:00PM,

What do you recommend is the best to see in that short amount of time and should we use the ship tours or local tours?

Thanks for your help?

Paulette

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Your ship will dock in Hernesaari quay LHC, no 1 in the map portofhelsinki.fi/content/…risteilykartta.jpg .

The most time effective way would be to take a sightseeing tour from the ship. They usually last 1.5 - 2 hours and have a living authorised guide aboard the bus. Afterwards you can stay in the centre and stroll through the Esplanadi park, check the Kauppatori Market Place, maybe Uspenski Cathedral and Lutheran Cathedrals, or (and if the weather is favourable) pay a visit to the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, a 20 min boat trip from the Kauppatori/Market Place quay.

http://www.suomenlinna.fi/index.php?lang=eng

Local tours are listed at http://www.helsinkiexpert.fi/sightseeing/ . There%26#39;s also a Hop On Hop Off -tour with prerecorded guiding ( stromma.se/en/… ). But for all the local tours you%26#39;d have to get to downtown first.

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The map link got broken, the correct one is portofhelsinki.fi/content/…risteilykartta.jpg

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I would add that any tour you take should include a visit to the Rock Church. This afternoon we visited there, and my wife, who usually is not enthralled with either museums or architecture, sat, well, enthralled, for more than an hour, while I went around taking pictures. That it was an overcast, rainy, windy day probably helped, but she just doesn%26#39;t normally do that.

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Practically all city sightseeing tours in Helsinki stop at the Rock Church (whose official name is actually Temppeliaukio Church).