When the whole family was traveling to London say, a great way to get from Heathrow to London was the train... but then we'd need to grab a cab to get to the hotel. And cabs tend to be more expensive than other means. Some folks like Lyft and Uber, but some places don't have those services, or they still may be a bit more than other options.
So we started experimenting with sights such as AirportTransfers or HolidayTaxi or Blacklane to get us from the airport to our hotel. Still cheaper than a cab, and kind of cool to have someone waiting outside of customs to whisk you to your hotel. Until we started bumping into occasions where the guy was NOT at customs waiting for us. We have had several experiences where we waiting an hour or more... or had to call the company to 'remind' the local service about the reservation we had booked though an outside service.
So, the next logical step was to consider the train from the airport to town, then mass transit from the train station to the hotel. Just so you know, hauling luggage onto a metro is no fun even when you just travel with just carry ons, as we do. Boston and Paris in particular had some stations that were not luggage friendly.
So, on our last couple of trips, we threw in 'none-of-the-above.' We wound up using a shared ride service.
While there is a great airport train in Barcelona, it did not stop near our hotel. We would have had to switch to the metro, changed lines a few times, then schlep our luggage from the metro to the hotel. It made since to use a private transfer, and the shared ride option was a great option price wise... but the service in Barcelona was less than stellar on both ends of the trip. Email me if you want to know what company to avoid.
So, what about Helsinki? While there is a great airport train in Helsinki, and the train station is right next to our tram line, and the tram line literally stops at the Hotel... our return trip to the airport requires us to leave at 4:00 in the morning, and the service does not run that early. Back to plan B.
Top tip, don't just rely on your list of known airport transfer companies... On the Helsinki airport web site we learned about Yellow Line Shared rides, (https://www.finavia.fi/en/helsinki-airport/services/parking-and-traffic/airport-taxi-yellow-line/); and after a bit of research,that is what we decided would be a great option for us.
So, as usual, our advice is to b
e flexible, do some digging, and you'll find a decent way to get to and from your hotel.