Summer holiday in Finland

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 8:06 pm

Hi.

I am going next summer to Finland for (around) 2 weeks.
I want to drive trought Finland and stay every day in an other city.
Maybe you can help me with finding the best way to see Finland?

The route I was thinking about is:
Helsinki => Lahti => Lappeenranta => Joensuu => Kuopio => Jyvaskyla => Tampere => pori => Turku => Helsinki

Allready thanks for your help!

Thompson · Post by **Thompson** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 10:11 am

Hi,

I'm going to speak throught my own experiences...

I think that is quite good route. In Kuopio you can buy the 'Kalakukko', which is a local traditional food. I recommend to taste it.

In Tampere is Särkänniemi (http://www.sarkanniemi.fi/english/index.php), local adventure park. And 'Biltema' (http://www.biltema.fi/) which sells almous everything (http://www.biltema.fi/osteri/osteri.cgi ... 0564056502)

In Helsinki is 'Tiedekeskus Heureka' (http://www.heureka.fi/portal/englanti/), which is a "science park". And 'Linnanmäki' is Helsinki's adventure park (http://www.linnanmaki.fi/index.php?cid= ... ki&mid=731).

...that was a little introdusion, but hopely it helped you.

tiura · Post by **tiura** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:36 pm

Well, I guess you want to go to Joensuu to get a hit.

Because I don't find any other reason to go there. Off course people who live there, Klazu, Bird and Susyq for example can tell you more. You are arriving by airplane and going to rent a car? I'm guessing so, because you want to start and end your trip to Helsinki. If your going to drive all the way from Netherlands, then you could arrive by ferry from Stockholm to Turku or drive through Sweden and enter Finland in Tornio.

I live in Turku and can tell you more of it, even be your quide here, if I'm in town at the moment. You could tell me more of what interests you, do you want to see all the museums or sit in a restaurant ship by the river. You can also ask giberski what he found interesting here. He stayed one night at my place last summer.

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:51 pm

@Thompson
Thanks for your help!

@Tiura
Not specially for a hit but I thought it is a nice tour from Helsinki that way to Joensuu.
Yes we are going by plane and than rent a car.
Sure I'll visit Turku but at the moment more looking for the route so that we can make the futher plans.

@all
I see in many trips that they visit National Parc Koli. Is that a nice place to visit?
Are there many mosquitos in Finland in summer time?
When you have maybe suggestions to make the route nicer/better you can tell it also

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:55 pm

I don't think there's much to see in Lahti, either. Okay, it's a nice city, but you could find better ones to spend your day in.

I suggest you go to Porvoo instead.
That's the oldest city in Finland and the only one with a medieval city "plan".
It's extremely beautiful and very well on your route. It's really one of the nicest cities in Finland.
Not only is the old wooden city with narrow cobblestone roads extremely beautiful, but also the river going by them and the old fortress hill (with no ruins but the moat left) is also very beautiful and peaceful place to spend a while at.
When Russia took over Finland from the Swedish in 1808 (or was it 1806? Whatever.), Porvoo was the place Czar Alexander I came to negotiate with the Finns (or, to be precise, the Swedes who were left in Finland).

Then.. I think you should make a short detour to Savonlinna. It's an extremely beutiful city (with a castle) in middle of the unbelieavably beautiful lake Saimaa. Very well worth spending a whole day at, I think. You will see Saimaa also in Lappeenranta (Which I, BTW, don't think is as interesting as Savonlinna ;) - although I've never been to Lappeenranta)

The only problem in Savonlinna is that it's rather far away from Porvoo (Or Lahti, if you really want to go there). But anyway, I'd replace either Lappeenranta or Joensuu with Savonlinna. In the other hand, Joensuu might be very slightly more interesting than Lappeenranta.. There are about the same number of EBTers in both cities, Savonlinna is a bit more of a desert.

And then about the places to visit..
Well, Linnanmäki, the amusement park in Helsinki, is rather mild. It's got some special feeling. There is no entry fee, so you can very well visit it just for one ride or so. The wooden rollercoaster is quite cool, but I think that's pretty much the only speciality in Linnanmäki.
However, when in Helsinki, visiting the Suomenlinna sea fortress is a must. It was built by the Swedes for the war that ended in Russia getting Finland. Suomenlinna surrendered without a shot, which caused Sweden to lose and probably changed about everything in the Finnish and Swedish history. Imagine if Sweden still had a border with Russia. It would have had to listen to what Stalin said and the iron supplies to Germany might never have happened. Or, maybe Sweden would have completely allied with the Germans in WWII to protect theirselves against USSR - if WWII would ever even have happened :D
A lot of beautiful old fortifications - almost like a 2km^2 castle - with a lot of history and the only submarine in Finland, open for tourists :)
When in Helsinki, contact me and I will guide you there.

Well, I already explained why Porvoo is a great place in summer.

In Lahti there is a lake and a bit of park around it. You can spend a few hours there. And in eastern Lahti there's a rather cheap and nice place to sleep at.

Lappeenranta has got lake Saimaa. I don't think there's much else there. A steam boat trip is probably quite cool, though. If they have them in Lappeenranta. I don't really know much about the city, it's not very famous for anything.

Savonlinna has the Castle of Olavi (probably Olaf by his original Swedish name :P), which looks very beautiful at least from the outside. Also the road there is magnificent (_much_ nicer than the one you would normally take to Joensuu) and the city itself is quite cool. Being built on a long and narrow island there is water everywhere. And Savonlinna is of course one of the hearts of Savo (the other one being Kuopio). So, the world of talkative Finns and kalakukko can be reacher also from there. Has also nice boat trips (quite likely better than Lappeenranta could have)

Joensuu.. Read what I wrote for Lappeenranta. Sure has no possiblity for a boat trip, though. But there's Saimaa, which is nice. Not really famous for anything else than having had a problem with neonazis in the 1990s. And having currently the highest number of daily hits in EBT.

Kuopio. I'm very shamed to confess I know very little about this city. It's the "official" heart of Savo and everyone says it's a nice place.

Jyväskylä.. It's beautiful, my grandparents live near it (not that it would matter anything in this case), and it's got a very beautiful lake (Päijänne, which is where the people in Helsinki get their drinking water from through a 100km long tunnel - the longest one in the world). Jyväskylä is an university town. I don't think it's very special in any manner, but I like it. They do organize the yearly rally race there.

Tampere is a very nice city to hang at. It's an old worker class town built around the Tampeel cotton factory. Has a lot of beautiful lakeside scenery and the great Särkänniemi amusement park. Särkänniemi is the biggest amusement park in Finland. A lot lot bigger and nicer than Linnanmäki, which is why there are a lot of people visiting it from Helsinki.

Sorry.. I don't know much about Pori.. Is there anything there? Pori is where Karhu - the best Finnish bulk beer - comes from. They've also got the sea and a harbout. And nittax, a fanatic EBTer. But I figure that's pretty much it all. Not very famous for anything.

Turku is the old capital of Finland. A place about which everyone else jokes about. The river Aura is very beautiful, just as about everything there. Also the best pubs in Finland are in Turku. The pub scene in Turku includes "The toilet", "Pharmacy Store", "Old Bank", "School" and "Kindergarden" :D
The castle of Turku is very nice and the Suomen Joutsen sailship is very nice. Also Aboa Vetus is a place to visit. It's an archeological sight. In it's cellar you can see the real archeologic finds from Turku exactly in their original place. They have been dug visible and the tourists may wander around there. I really liked that.

Oh, and then.. Tallinn. If you aren't going to do a tour in the Baltic states, then I suggest you py a visit to Tallinn, too. The ship ride is between 1½h and 3h depending on whether you want to pay 15€ or 30€ per direction.
Tallinn has a very very nice old town. It's feeling is a bit central European than the feeling in Finland. And it's very very cheap. Tallinn is one of my very favourite cities in Europe. You can do a slum-ride in the gigantic beton suburb of Lasnamäe just out of Tallinn or you can enjoy a great meal in a good restaurant for less than 10 euros. Even 5 euros is not very cheap for restaurant food over there. And the food is good :)
But, if you are going to visit the Baltic states some day (At least Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, Pärnu, Tartu and Tallinn are all definitely worth visiting), you can visit Tallinn also then :)

tiura · Post by **tiura** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:27 pm

I don't know where from Dakkus got his information about Porvoo being oldest city in Finland. I have been told all my life, that Turku is the oldest one and wikipedia agrees me. But maybe it's only schools in Turku that teach it that way.

But I agree him in other points. I would also change Lahti to Porvoo. There isn't much to see in Lahti, unless you want to see ski jump towers. I think it is possible to go from Lahti to Jyväskylä by boat, then you could see both towns in one day and beautifull lake Päijänne on the way too.

I think that I have once been in Lappeenranta, but don't remember much of it. Savonlinna is definately nicer place. If you like opera, there is a opera festival at the summer, I think it last for weeks, but I'm not sure about that.

Dakkus didn't have much to say about Pori and I don't have either. You could go to Rauma instead. It's the third oldest city in Finland and also has old, most beautifull wooden city centre area, that is listed in UNESCO world heritage list, among Egyptian pyramids and Suomenlinna fortress that Dakkus already mentioned. One thing there is in Pori, among Nittax of course: one part of the town, Reposaari, played a part of Siberian village in Renny Harlin film "Born American".

I also recommend visiting Tallin while you are in Helsinki. There are many shipping companies that sell daytrips and the ships leave and arrive almost in city centre in both ends. It is also possible to go by boat from Helsinki to Porvoo.

soilian · Post by **soilian** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:25 pm

Everyone is mocking Lahti.

There's nothing wrong with it. Here's a link to Lahti travel website. You can see yourself if it's worth visiting or not.

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:34 am

@Dakkus
Wow thanks for all that info

@tiura
Maybe we want to visit now also Tallinn when we have enough time for the route in Finland self.

alex77r · Post by **alex77r** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:57 am

I was in Finland last summer, if your need something or if your want to know more about my travel, just ask me.

This is the map of my travel, you ca also have a look of the others pictures, but the quality isn't good (now I have a new numeric camera).
http://img384.imageshack.us/img_viewer_ ... our5gn.png

If you want to get some notes there, be careful because all the banks close at 16.00 pm and the week-ends (the trick is to go to change offices)

soilian · Post by **soilian** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:21 pm

alex77r wrote:If you want to get some notes there, be careful because all the banks close at 16.00 pm

Or even at 15:30, like they do in Hartola

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:04 pm

tiura wrote: I also recommend visiting Tallin while you are in Helsinki. There are many shipping companies that sell daytrips and the ships leave and arrive almost in city centre in both ends. It is also possible to go by boat from Helsinki to Porvoo.

You can find the timetables of all Helsinki-Tallinn and Tallinn-Helsinki connections (except the helicopter) here: http://www.estnet.info/linkit2/aikataulut.asp

There is also a museum train connection between Helsinki and Porvoo. They drive railbuses built in the 1970s. A connection with an extremely beautiful ship trip to Porvoo and then back by that kind of train costs 29€/person. You can have your car parked in Helsinki during that trip.
In the other hand, you will probably take a ship ride elsewhere anyway and if you aren't a railway fanatic, you might not appreciate a 30-year-old Finnish train :þ

And Tiura.. Sorry for the mistake with Porvoo's age. I don't know why I thought Porvoo would be older. Probably because as Turku has had the tendency to burning occassionally, Porvoo is the only place with the medieval city plan left. Dunno. Anyway, Porvoo is damn old. There are damner older cities such as Turku, but Porvoo is still damn old :)

tiura · Post by **tiura** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:42 pm

Dakkus wrote:And Tiura.. Sorry for the mistake with Porvoo's age. I don't know why I thought Porvoo would be older. Probably because as Turku has had the tendency to burning occassionally, Porvoo is the only place with the medieval city plan left. Dunno. Anyway, Porvoo is damn old. There are damner older cities such as Turku, but Porvoo is still damn old

Porvoo is the second oldest. One thing making confusion is that it isn't exactly known when city of Turku is founded. No official documents have been found about it. Oldest document where Turku is mentioned is from year 1229 and that is used to count age of the city. And that document isn't very clear. It is assumed, that it is about moving Bishops chair (don't know any better translation to "piispanistuin") from Koroinen to Turku, but archeological findings doesn't support that. Last summer they made some digging around the Turku Cathedral and oldest findings were from late 1200's and 1300's. So later assumptions about the document, that originally is some kind of order letter from the Pope, are that it is about moving the bishops chair from Nousiainen to Koroinen. Koroinen is some way up river from Turku city centre. There is a geocache there, if someone is interested.

Well, there are many great fires in history of Turku. The last big one was 1827, when 75% of buildings were destroyed. After that new cityplan was made by C. L. Engel, same guy who has designed monumental buildings in Helsinki city centre, where we visited last summer with fellow EBTers.

€€F · Post by **€€F** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:09 pm

@Ralf..

Will you be staying in hotels of Ebtels??

Would be nice to have a route from avij to Sport-Mass to Fundamental etc...

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:23 am

@FVS
I am going to hotels and (summer)houses.
It is an holiday and not an ebt trip (as most think I guess).
I want to see the country: city's, nature, lakes etc.
I am not going to make pictures of every bank (outside and inside)

susyq · Post by **susyq** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:31 am

Here you can find some information about Joensuu and rest of North Karelia! http://www.kareliaexpert.com/main.site? ... /view&id=2