Kotka?

[niki]

Hello!  We will be in Kotka, Finland with MSC Meraviglia in July.  I don't see anything about Kotka here on the boards. 

 

There is a ship excursion that goes to Helsinki (2 hour bus ride).  We would prefer to go on our own, but not sure how feasible that is from Kotka - we arrive at 7am and there only seems to be 1 car rental (Avis) that opens at 9am and the train looks to be 2 hours and 45 minutes with a connection once we figure out how to get to the station from the port.

 

It looks like the excursion may be our best bet if we want to do Helsinki.... 

 

Looking forward to hearing from anyone on spending the day in Kotka or venturing out!  Thanks!

 

 

 

[hallasm]

Also looking forward to hearing from anyone on spending the day in Kotka. 

Kotka is located 130 km east of Helsinki - actually closer to the Russian border.

Known for a quite big RoRo terminal - more cruise related information.

 

[Danish viking]

Is Helsinki fully booked for that day or are MSC just trying new destinations. 

[Hezu]

I have been in Kotka several times, albeit never on a cruise.

 

In case you want to go to Helsinki, the travel time by road can be closer to 1,5 hours without any stops. And I would say the bus offered by the cruise company is probably the best bet in that case as I presume it avoids any extra stops unless the excursion includes a brief visit for example in Porvoo. There are also regular long-distance busses that run on Kotka<->Helsinki route, but I'm not sure how suitable these would be for a visitor arriving on a cruise (in case you are still interested in bus timetables and prices, see Matkahuolto for more information). Probably only a nod better than the train option since these do not require any changes apart from getting to/from the bus station and the busses might be slightly more comfortable than the local trains which run on the Kotka-Kouvola leg.

 

Now, the second option is of course to stay in Kotka (or nearby regions in Southern Kymenlaakso) and perhaps that is not that bad option either in my opion. Sure, Kotka is far smaller than Helsinki, but Kotka is rather well-known for its parks and there is few other nice sights, the best known ones being Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge, Maretarium aquarium and maritime museum Wellamo. Outside Kotka, at least the neighbouring city of Hamina might be worth a visit as the circular city plan in the old centre and the fortress are rather interesting.

 

And after searching for information about MSC Meraviglia's visit to Kotka from the Internet, I learned that this ship will dock in Kotka at Mussalo, which is little further away from the city centre and primarily a cargo port. On the positive side, the date (June 25th 2019) will be one of the days of Kotkan Meripäivät (Kotka Sea Days) festival, so there should more events around the city than usual.

[Nitemare]

It is posts like Hezu's which is why this is the greatest cruise site on the internet

[niki]

Thank you, Hezu!  This is wonderful information!  Since the excursion lists most Helsinki highlights as drive by viewing, I think we'll spend the day in Kotka.   

 

Any tips on transportation there?  Do you like the bus system?  It looks like they have a tourist train, as well for 5euro -  https://www.visitkotkahamina.fi/en/see-and-do/culture/hedda-stina-road-train-sightseeing-kotka

 

[Hezu]

I am afraid, I have not used the public transportation in Kotka, but as far as I know the local bus routes are not very frequent (at the most frequent times of the day one hour interval between departures) and many of the routes might be more aimed at the needs of the local population. That fake train might be quite useful to move around the Kotkansaari island in case you want to avoid too much walking, although the distances there are fairly manageable - at least for an able-bodied person.

Sadly, unlike Helsinki (and to slightly lesser degree the surrounding cities), in many places in Finland the public transportation is fairly limited, but then usually there wouldn't even be enough population that would need that transportation.

I'm fairly certain there will be also some dedicated transportation for the cruise passangers from Mussalo to elsewhere in the city, at least to/from somewhere in Kotkansaari (=the city centre). Btw, I read that the other cruise ships than MSC Meraviglia which will stop at Kotka this year will be at Kantasatama harbour in the NE corner of Kotkansaari.

[niki]

Just dropped back in to give our experience in Kotka.  We planned a low key day and really enjoyed it.  This was their first time in Kotka, so they had no maps available at the MSC YC desk.  

 

There were 2 shuttle buses -walking is not permitted in the port.  The port shuttle bus was free and took you to the entrance of the port which was quite far from the city.  OR the second shuttle bus took you to this address near the Shell station and supermarket -  Puutarhakatu 16, 48100 Kotka, Finland.  

 

If you chose the city shuttle bus, this shuttle picked you up and returned you to the ship - you did not need to take the shuttle bus to get out of the port.  This was very confusing when we got off the ship - maybe because it was MSC's first time here?

 

This was a fine starting point for spending the day in Kotka.  We walked to the Sapokka water garden, 3 story Pasaati shopping mall which has a super market, several restaurants, many local and international stores and another great park with fountain at the west entrance.  We then walked to the Haukkavuori utsiktstorn Tower (2Euro admission to go up) along the promenade and visited several local second hand stores.  My husband loves to check out the local McD's in every international city so we walked over from the tower before heading back to the meeting point for the bus.  The bus ride was approximately 20 min back to the ship.

 

We had considered going to the beach at Mansikkalahden uimaranta, but did not make it down there - I estimate it to be a 20 min walk or so from the bus drop off location.

 

Overall, a beautiful little town!  We had a lovely day and it was a great change of pace from our busy day in St. Petersburg.

 

[hallasm]

11 minutes ago, niki said:

Overall, a beautiful little town!  We had a lovely day and it was a great change of pace from our busy day in St. Petersburg.

Thank you for your review - very helpful.

Edited July 30, 2019 by hallasm
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