Seoul, South Korea to Helsinki, Finland from $472

🌍 About helsinki

Helsinki is more sea than city — it spreads across a granite-and-island coastline, and the one thing to do is take the 15-minute ferry to Suomenlinna, an 18th-century sea fortress strung across six islands, with grass ramparts, tunnels and a beached WWII submarine you can climb into. Eat a karjalanpiirakka: a thin rye crust folded around rice porridge, topped with egg butter — sold at the Old Market Hall for pocket change. Skip the pricey reindeer plates and do that instead. The city is genuinely expensive, so a cheap fare matters more here than most places. Come June to August: long warm days, near-midnight light, and ferries running full schedules. Avoid November to February unless you want it for the dark and the snow — it's frozen and the sun barely clears the rooftops.