Virtual tourist guide for people visiting Finland

[avij]

AVA will probably be just fine. As other have pointed out, it's not exactly in the city centre, but the public transport has excellent connections to that location. The 7A/7B tram line passes your hotel, and there are quite a lot of buses that leave from the central railway station (in the city centre) and pass your hotel.

Speaking of public transport, I think I haven't seen Reittiopas (Journey Planner) mentioned yet in this topic. It's an excellent tool for figuring out which methods of public transport you can use for travelling from point A to point B. For example, try the search Airport -> Karstulantie 6 and you'll see which bus you should take from the airport to reach your hotel.

[Dakkus]

AVA will probably be just fine. As other have pointed out, it's not exactly in the city centre, but the public transport has excellent connections to that location. The 7A/7B tram line passes your hotel, and there are quite a lot of buses that leave from the central railway station (in the city centre) and pass your hotel.

Speaking of public transport, I think I haven't seen Reittiopas (Journey Planner) mentioned yet in this topic. It's an excellent tool for figuring out which methods of public transport you can use for travelling from point A to point B. For example, try the search Airport -> Karstulantie 6 and you'll see which bus you should take from the airport to reach your hotel.

Actually this link is better for the foreigners.
I also made a easier to remember address for it:
http://journeyplanner.tk/

[Speukes]

At first, Prisje & I were thinking about a(n expensive) trip through Finland. We would take the plane to Rovaniemi, rent a car and drive to Helsinki in 3 days.

Plans changed since we've bought a house last week!

Now Germanwings has to take us to Helsinki, and we'll stay there (besides a trip to Tallinn). Probably 5 nights in Helsinki.

Aargh... sacrifices...

[Craft]

First of all: congratulations for your new home!

Driving from Rovaniemi to Helsinki in 3 days would indeed take some money because of the accommodation for the nights.

But if you are satisfied with simpler quality than a hotel room (or if you actually wish something different) and take the route that follows the coastline of the sea you'll be able to use summer cottages at camping sites. They are not at all too expensive but better than sleeping in a tent. A cottage costs typically 20-35 eur a night, and usually there are no bathrooms in such cottages, but sometimes there are (the price might be somewhat higher then, but not necessarily). If there is no individual bathroom, there is always a building with common bathrooms (of course separate rooms for ladies and gentlemen ).

I have travelled several times in Finland in summertime using only cottages, and I like it. It's kinda more natural in summer than using somewhat dull hotel rooms, and the cottage sites are almost always very comfortable and calm, no problems with security. In most cases about half or more of the guests are foreigners (German, Dutch, Italian, Austrian, Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian), judging from their car and motorcycle licence plates.

There are even more cottages to the north of Rovaniemi, but that's not the way you planned to go

Of course, renting the car for that distance will be expensive, I guess.

[Mr Euro]

Don't know if this is the right place for these questions, but let's try

I'm thinking about staying for 7-14 days and travel around a bit through finland. Besides EBT, I have another "strange" hobby. I like to visit themeparks and animal zoos. Are there any recommandables in Finland? Which ones? Where are they located? URL?

Another question:
I would like to visit the "Noordkaap" (Northcape?). Is there any good connection from Helsinki?

Thanks y'all!

[Craft]

First the zoos and other nature themed places:

Helsinki zoo on Korkeasaari island:
http://www.korkeasaari.fi/index_eng.html

Zoolandia in Lieto (south-western Finland, near Turku):
http://www.zoolandia.fi/indexeng.html

Ähtäri zoo (about 4 hours from Helsinki by car):
http://www.ahtarinelainpuisto.fi/309256.aspx

Ranua zoo (more to the north):
http://www.ranuazoo.com/?deptid=6689

Escurial in Liminka (also rather north):
http://www.kukka-jaelainpuistoescurial.fi/

National parks (and other nature protection areas) in Finland:
http://www.metsa.fi/natural/index.htm


Theme parks: I don't know much, maybe someone else could help better...

Nordkapp: Airis informed a couple of posts earlier that there is a daily bus connection from Rovaniemi to Nordkapp, please see page 6 in this thread! It is easy to get from Helsinki to Rovaniemi by train (it takes one day or night).

[Dakkus]

Ähtäri and Ranua are not typical zoos. While for example in Korkeasaari (the one in Helsinki) the animals are in cages, in Ähtäri and Ranua they are in _very_ big fenced areas. In those the animals can live almost exactly like they would live if they were free.
So, at least one of those two could be interesting to visit.

[Speukes]

First of all: congratulations for your new home!

Thanks!

Driving from Rovaniemi to Helsinki in 3 days would indeed take some money because of the accommodation for the nights.

Accommodation is the least of our problems...
Airplane Brussels-Rovaniemi and back (Finnair): 430 € / person
Rental car: approx. 400 €

It seems no cheap airline flies to Rovaniemi. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Cheap airlines DO fly to Stockholm and Helsinki. We may fly to Stockholm first with Ryanair, stay a few days, take the ferry to Helsinki and fly back after a few days with German Wings or Blue1. At this way, we would have an holiday with a lot of variation (certainly if we would take a boat to Tallinn for a day)

My next question is: which ferry is the most convient and -most important- the cheapest?

[airis]

Airplane Brussels-Rovaniemi and back (Finnair): 430 € / person
Rental car: approx. 400 €

It seems no cheap airline flies to Rovaniemi. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Just few days ago Blue1 started to fly to Rovaniemi .
http://www.blue1.com/en/news_helsinki_t ... niemi.html

[Craft]

Accommodation is the least of our problems...

Yes, of course. I should have thought more about it. (I have a somewhat biased viewpoint to travelling costs for certain reasons, that's why I always seem to think about the accommodation costs first, and undervalue the other factors.)

[Speukes]

Problem: when I try to book at the website of Eurohostel, the site keeps asking me to enter the arrival date, even when I entered it. What am I doing wrong?

[Craft]

Problem: when I try to book at the website of Eurohostel, the site keeps asking me to enter the arrival date, even when I entered it. What am I doing wrong?

You are not doing anything wrong, but the system seems to accept dates only up to 9.8.2005. Any day after that creates an error. Today it is 10.2.2005, so maybe the system accepts reservations only 6 months ahead at most.

[Speukes]

Hello!

I´m sorry to inform you that Eurohostel is fully booked at the requested period of time.
Please check the availability in other hostels in Helsinki listed below;

HOSTEL LÖNNROT, Lönnrotinkatu 16 D 00120 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-693-2590 Fax +358-9-693-2482
Website www.hostellonnrot.com
E-mail: hostel@saunalahti.fi
* Situated in downtown

HEO HOSTEL, Kirstinkatu 1, 00530 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-774 2240
Website www.heohostel.net
E-mail: heohostel@heo.fi
* Open 24.5. - 25.8.

HOSTEL ACADEMICA, Hietaniemenkatu 14, 00100 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-1311 4334 Facsimile +358-9-441 201
Website www.hostelacademica.fi
E-mail: hostel.academica@hyy.fi
* Open 1.6. - 1.9., 1 km from downtown

HOSTEL EROTTAJANPUISTO, Uudenmaankatu 9, 00120 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-642 169 Facsimile +358-9-680 2757
Website www.erottajanpuisto.com
E-mail: booking@erottajanpuisto.com
* Situated in downtown

HOSTEL STADION, Pohjoinen Stadiontie 3 B, 00250 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-477 8480 Facsimile +358-9-4778 4811
Website www.stadionhostel.com
E-mail: stadion@hostel.inet.fi
* Mostly large dormitory rooms, 3 km from downtown
* Open on a winter time 7 a.m. - 2 a.m., summer time 7 a.m. - 3 a.m.

HOSTEL SUOMENLINNA, Suomenlinna C 9, 00190 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-684 7471 Facsimile +358-9-794 481
Website www.leirikoulut.com/hostel.htm#english
E-mail: leirikoulu@pp.inet.fi
* located on Suomenlinna Island Fortress (ferry connection).

HOSTEL SATAKUNTATALO, Lapinrinne 1 A, 00180 HELSINKI
Telephone +358-9-6958 5231 Facsimile +358-9-6895 4245
Website www.srmnet.org/esittelyt/englsatakunta.html
E-mail: ravintola.satakunta@sodexho.fi
* Open 1.6. - 31.8., 1 km from downtown

[coastal]

Does anyone know about Russian visas (to visit St Petersburg)?
I won't be able to get one in advance because it takes too long to process and I need my passport to travel every couple of days. I have read on forums that in Tallinn for example it is possible for certain travel agents to get you a visa the same day (obviously paying more). Does anyone know about this? Might this also be possible in Helsinki if I'm doing the trip the other way round?

[Dakkus]

Does anyone know about Russian visas (to visit St Petersburg)?
I won't be able to get one in advance because it takes too long to process and I need my passport to travel every couple of days. I have read on forums that in Tallinn for example it is possible for certain travel agents to get you a visa the same day (obviously paying more). Does anyone know about this? Might this also be possible in Helsinki if I'm doing the trip the other way round?

I know nothing about this, but I'd suggest you just contact the closest Russian embassy by email or phone and ask them.