Good Subrubs In Helsinki??

snyder3000 · Post by **snyder3000** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:01 pm

Hey guys
I just returned back home to Australia, 5 weeks ago after visiting my Girlfriend in Finland.

She is a kokkola girl and is moving to Helsinki in September, and i am moving from Australia to be with her.

Does anyone have any info as to what is a reasonable suburb in Helsinki.
Price wise and community wise.

Cheap is good, but we dont mind having to pay a few extra Euro's to be living in a good area.

Cheers
Mark

**Sponsor:**

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:46 pm

YMMV "reasonable"
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3744
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37828
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2532
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5404

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:54 pm

Do you want to be close to the city center or are you prepared to live in the suburbs?
I'm Australian too and i have lived in Viikki, Tapanila and now live near Tikkurila.
All are nice but perhaps Viikki would be my pick if we were able to move back.
Having moved over to Vantaa means that our Helsinki passports have expired and we are no longer welcome back over the 'border'.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:20 am

IMO the best thing to do is figure out where you are going to work/study and how you are going to travel around before you decide where to live.

Some of the public transport routes are pretty quick (eg: Länsiväylä, west highway) so if you want to live in "the nature" and still be close to the city, this is possible. But if you want cinemas, cafés, restaurants etc on your doorstep or a sea view etc then the choice is more limited.

What do you mean by "community-wise"?

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:24 am

Avoid red/yellow/purple areas.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:17 am

The red areas *are* the "ghetto hoods"... so in essence that means "avoid areas with foreigners"

Bubba Elvis XIV · Post by **Bubba Elvis XIV** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:29 am

"straight outta Kontula"...

luckykitty · Post by **luckykitty** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:33 am

onkko wrote:Avoid red/yellow/purple areas.

Lol, how could Pasila be worse than Sörnainen?
Foreign language speakers... didn't know so many lived in Pasila, I guess students.

So anyway don't go by the map when choosing. Depends what you want. If you want to be close to the centre, there is the map. If you want to avoid drunk people, avoid Kallio/sörnainen area (and sex shops). If you want to avoid 'foreigners', which would be kinda ironic since we are all kinda foreigners here, and people of different origin, thats what the colour map kinda shows. Though I tend to think in Ruoholahti its so close to the city its a more expensive area. The other red/yellow areas kinda symbolise 'we ended up here because it was so hard to find a place to rent and its cheaper to rent a bigger apartment here' kinda area. And if u want easy shopping u can live near a big shopping centre, which is basically itakeskus, or maybe vuosaari. Surprised the vuosaari is just greyed out, a lot of people move there because its cheaper and newer i think.

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:00 pm

luckykitty wrote:Surprised the vuosaari is just greyed out, a lot of people move there because its cheaper and newer i think.

No, it's there on the map - in red/light blue... the name Vuosaari is placed somewhat misleadingly (i.e. Vuosaari and Rastila areas are not 'under' the name but to the left of it).

biscayne · Post by **biscayne** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:05 pm

Mmmm, yeah, I'd be careful of the map too. It's not just about "foreign speakers", but about what kind of foreign speakers. Eira is on the map has having a higher proportion of them than some other places, but Eira is one of the most expensive addresses in the city, the foreign speakers there are mainly ambassadors and diplomatic staff............ But in general, stay away from East-Helsinki. West is best.

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:22 pm

East / West - depends. But one word of general advice - if possible, try and avoid areas close to the commuter train / Metro stations; even if at first it may seem like a good idea (hey it's only a stone's throw to the station!) you may have second thoughts when the local alkies etc. start using your stairwell as a toilet, or something like that. Station areas tend to be somewhat restless.

Mark I. · Post by **Mark I.** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:46 pm

Helsinki ranking http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Helsinki+ranking/1643/

Mark I. · Post by **Mark I.** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:21 pm

BTW Onkko,

we here in Ullanlinna (that idiotic map you presented is a lot too course; your "Eira" consists of Ullanlinna, Kaartinkaupunki, Punavuori, Kamppi, Etu-Töölö, Taka-Töölö...

) must have one of the highest percentage of foreign population in Helsinki.

And we're happy about it.

Don't loose your sleep over it.

Finland Forum

Find information about moving to, living in and life in Finland