Beer Circles

« If only all the Helsinki city trams featured a bar, curtains, a loo and inlaid wooden benches like Spårakoff. »

Every big city has some attraction that the locals eschew as a tourist trap and, if I had to think of one for Helsinki, Spårakoff would likely be it. Boston has the duck tours but Spårakoff doesn't feature an annoyingly perky tour guide spewing useless trivia about Helsinki that you won't remember as you whiz by at 50mph while wishing that you had a beer. No, Spårakoff rolls quietly around the city in a loop [~160kb map] while you look out the window and enjoy a beer or two along with the scenery. The tram only runs from May through August which seems wrong since the times you'd want to ride on a cozy tram drinking beer would likely be more during the cold and dark months rather than the warm and sunny months, but unsurprisingly tourists don't flock to Helsinki during the dark times. There's very little mention of the tram on the net in English and so I suppose that it's something the natives want to ride on but only do when they have a visitor to take along as an excuse for being such a tourist. :)

I had always wanted to take a ride on it since first seeing the red tram, but it's not really something you make time for when you live here, ride the regular trams, have seen the sights and don't feel like parting with 7€ for admission and 5€ for a beer just for a 40-60 minute ride around town. A short ferry ride to Tallinn, a few cases of Koff, and back costs only a few euros more. It's a beautiful old tram appointed with a bar, polished wood seats, carpet and velvet curtains which gives the air of being both modern and vintage at the same time. The tables even have built-in cup holders to keep spillage down to a minimum. The tram was originally built in 1959 for Helsinki City Transport, who still operate the tram, and it has been a pub tram serving Koff beer and cider since 1995. The brochure mentions that it has a capacity for 24 people sitting, 6 people standing and, 1 seat in the WC. :) Koff still delivers kegs of beer to local pubs via a wagon pulled by draft horses driven by 2 gentlemen, too, so I think they have a penchant for nostalgia.