Two bids from Helsinki
Helsinki is, as most of you probably know, the capital of Finland. With approximately 575,000 inhabitants, it's the largest city in the country. Along with neighbour cities Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, Helsinki is part of the capital area, which has more than 1,2 million inhabitants.

A Eurovision Song Contest host city needs to have a proper infrastructure, large hotel capacity and a potential audience to attend the event. First of all, the city has approximately 13,000 hotel beds to offer. The city has several five-star hotels like the Kamp, the Strand Hilton and the Plaza, as well as a wide range of four- and three-star hotels. Through Helsinki-Vaantaa Airport, the capital is easy to reach directly by plane from most European capitals.

Two venues proposed YLE to host the Eurovision Song Contest, one of them is the relatively new Hartwall Areena. With a capacity of around 15,000 people and located about 6 kilometers from the city centre, the venue stands a good chance to host next year's contest.

• The official website of Helsinki
• The official website of the Hartwall Areena
• The Hartwall Areena from the sky (maps.google.com)

It's unknown which other venue did a bid for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. It seems that the Jaahalli, Helsinki's old icehockey stadium, is the only other potential venue in Helsinki. The venue is located close to the Olympia Stadium and can host 8,000 people.

• The Jaahalli from the sky (maps.google.com)
• The Jaahalli website

Turku, the city with potentials
At 1,5 to 2 hours driving from Helsinki, the city of Turku can be found. Turku is considered as the cultural and religious capital of the country. The city has 175,000 inhabitants and is well-known for its great number of festivals, that take place during summer. Although not connected directly with many European cities, daily flights from Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki go to Turku's airport. Limited connections with other European cities are relatively unimportant compared the the amount of available hotel rooms, which is Turku's weak point.

The Elysee Arena (photo), also known as the Turku Halli, is the only potential venue that can host the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. The venue, build in 1990, can host up to 12,000 people.

• The official website of the Elysee Arena
• Turku's tourism portal
• Turku's website

More bid evaluations soon!
Part two of esctoday.com's bid evaluation is on its way! Soon you will read more about Espoo, Tampere, Lahti, Lordi's 'birth city' and capital of Lapland Rovaniemi and the ski resort Levi.