Quick Reads: If you’re planning for Finland holidays, consider these 5 useful travel tips by experienced travellers to hopefully improve your own travel experience!
Traveling is always such a nice way to experience new things and learn more about the different culture.
But what comes along the way in our journey, are also the tricky and unforeseen situations popping up.
Every country works differently and figuring them out becomes part of the adventure. But not everyone likes to deal with them.
To me, transportation to move from one place to another, is the biggest problem when planning for a trip.
It’s the single connecting joint in every trip, to enable you to explore the country in the shortest time possible, saving precious holiday time for greater experience.
In this note, I hope to provide those crucial tips that may ease your journey to Finland in future.
And if you’ve never been to Finland before, what you’re going to read below will help you big time!
Helsinki Airport has very strict and meticulous custom controls
To start it off, I will begin at its airport. Landing and coming to Finland, it’s easy and simple.
But it’s the going out that’s difficult. Or at least, it’s the only thing that really ticked me off in the entire country.
So what is it really?
When departing from Helsinki airport, the custom does a really thorough check on your bags.
Most common detailed checks would have you removing your shoes, taking out sensitive items like laptops, phones and the likes, separately for scanning.
But at Helsinki, it’s more than that. It’s everything that they’d indicated when you’re checking in.
That includes power banks, rechargeable batteries, liquids (even if it’s within 100ml), right down to even electronics that are powered by rechargeable batteries (such as hand warmer for winter trips).
Sounds normal and reasonable? Yeah it is, now that you think it through. But you wouldn’t when you’re on a holiday.
I mean, for one you would realise that your liquid should be at 100ml maximum. Sure, did that and checked.
But you wouldn’t have thought you’re expected to zip lock it would you?
And those battery-powered hand warmers you brought for your winter trip, you clearly remembered not to place such things in your luggage. Again, did that and checked.
Now it’s in your hand carry bag. But you wouldn’t have, instinctively, declare it out for scanning would you?
Neither would you have expected them to rummage through your bag to thoroughly check what’s inside and swipe for drug tests.
And they would stop you at any intervention. Even if you’re just trying to help unzip the bag. Yes they will.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I respect the details. And that’s precisely why I love this country a lot. It feels good knowing that they’re so thorough about it.
But I’m bringing all these up, just so you’re aware. So how are you suppose to try clear the custom in one go? Easy.
All those things that you’re aware of already, do it still but do it one better.
Every possible electronics you had in your bag, placed them in a convenient slot that you can just empty out at custom.
All those liquids you had? Pre-pack them in separate zip locks before departing from hotel.
And everything else that is more than just a piece of clothes, pack it and place it in an area that you can reach easily before custom.
Oh, you also got to remove your down coat and second layer too. Just don’t bother wearing hat, gloves, scarf and the likes, and save yourself the trouble by dumping them all into the bag. Because you will have to remove all anyway, when you cross the custom.
Basically, you should only have a single layer of clothes on you, and nothing else. Literally. The remaining should all be on the belt for a scan.
Now, you’re good to go. You should be able to clear this easily. Unless…
Taking the right subway trains to get to Helsinki Centre, from the Airport
Ok, that got a little lengthy. But I think it’s necessary to dive a little deeper into the details, so that you can have a smooth ride out.
But phew, thankfully that’s only if you’re departing from Helsinki. If you’re coming, like I mentioned earlier, it’s easy and it’s made convenient for you.
Right off the bat, the walkway to the subway is connected to the airport. So you won’t be heading outside, and you can get to the waiting platform straight.
Of course, if you’re driving or decided to take their buses, you will be taking a different exit and might have to suit up too.
But I think that transportation through their subway trains are probably the easiest and most convenient.
Generally speaking, there are two connecting lines that will send you from the airport to the City Centre if you’re taking the HSL trains – the P and the I lines.
It’s really easy to spot (I would recall that there’s only these two lines, but I could be wrong too) and their intervals are between every 5 to 10 minutes.
Check this out: Helsinki HSL timetable
While I haven’t experienced encountering any other lines coming into the airport station, but it’s still best to keep an eye out for it before boarding.
Both lines stop at Helsinki City Centre’s railway station, so you don’t have to worry about which one to take.
You can either purchase your HSL tickets at the RKioski or through their App, which I’ve linked below.
Buy your HSL tickets through the app: iPhone users, Android users
Once you reach Helsinki City Centre and alight from the train, walk all the way straight in and you’ll enter it’s main Railway station.
Which if you exit through its main doors, this would be the view you get.
There, you’re in the heart of Helsinki’s City Centre!
The streets can be busy at times, and while generally there’re no major concerns, you should still be careful of your own belongings.
Which brings me to the next point.
There are pickpockets on the streets, but it’s very uncommon
Back in 2016/2017, I almost never heard of such incidents. And unlike other parts of Europe, Northern Europe is generally safer as well.
Similar to Singapore, it’s not to say there isn’t any crimes, but just much lower. Low crime doesn’t no crime.
In 2020, I traveled to Finland once again.
What I heard next almost seems unreal to me – There have been an increased number of pickpockets on the streets.
While I didn’t encounter any of that during my 14 days there, I’ve heard from tour guides who had encountered twice, within a span of 20 minutes.
Of course, it could’ve been a matter of luck. And it could also be due to the fact that they stand out as tourists in a tour group.
How do you spot them? Apparently, there’s a way. Though it certainly isn’t always applicable, but it could serve as a reference.
Hint: These pickpockets may carry an umbrella of sort, and would have a partner-in-crime. It’s usually the second one who would commit the act when you’re distracted. One type seems a bit more prevalent than the other – They would ask you for help (in terms of money or something else) and the other takes action.
But if you’re to ask me, regardless of where you go and what you’re doing, you should always be careful and exercise more common sense while traveling.
After all, you’re in a foreign land. Culture, people, laws and behaviours are wildly unfamiliar to you. Even if you’ve been to a place umpteen times, it doesn’t make you a local living there everyday and shouldn’t allow you to be complacence on your safety.
Tip: As much as belonging goes, really, it’s very safe in Finland. Or in fact, most parts of Scandinavia. Make sure you store them safely in most hotels’ luggage area (usually locked away in a room). But what I would say, exercise the usual precaution and never flaunt anything out in the open. The Finns are by and large well-mannered, cultural and sensible people. But there’re always a few bad ones around us.
Also worth noting: https://travelscams.org/europe/finland/pickpockets-in-finland/
Taking the Airport bus to/fro Rovaniemi Airport to City Centre
Over the years, Rovaniemi has seen some changes to its transportation system.
Especially to and from the airport to the City Centre.
In my earlier note, I’ve mentioned a couple of tips on how to get to the City Centre, but at that point I was aware that some things have changed.
While the note remains largely relevant, it’s also worth to check out on this additional section.
And in my opinion, after my trip there earlier this year, the change happened for good intention.
Now, there’re multiple connection serving to and from Rovaniemi Airport to the City Centre, at your convenience.
- The blue bus route, SantaClaus
- The Airport bus reservation
- Santa Express (old route connecting to Santa Village)
All 3 bus services run at a slightly different timing, and honestly there isn’t really a preference here.
I’ve personally taken all 3 so far, and I did notice that the blue bus seems to be more of a “private” operating service as compared to the other two.
What that means is, in a couple of occasion I’ve witnessed the bus going rounds trying to pick more passengers before departing on that “station”.
In other words, a 20 minutes ride could accidentally prolong to 30 minutes or so. If time isn’t a great concern to you, the blue bus is perfect.
Tip: It’s perfect because the driver would offer a deal to you. If you buy a round-trip ticket with him, he can give you a better price than the other two bus services (It’s about 1 to 2 euro difference).
Taking Levi buses from Rovaniemi City Centre
One of the most popular ski resort in Finland, many tourists would make a short trip up the mountains for some skiing attempts.
And depending where you’re coming from, Levi does provide shuttle buses to bring you there.
In my case, I head up the Levi Ski Resort directly from Rovaniemi City Centre.
The Levi shuttle buses do make multiple stops within the City Centre, and anyone can flag to board the bus (of course you gotta pay).
Tip: You certainly can just wait at one of the stop to board the bus up to Levi Ski Resort, but honestly, it’s just much easier to get yourself a nice cozy seat right from the beginning of the bus route if you reserve a seat from its starting point directly.
At Rovaniemi City Centre, the Levi buses have two convenient pick-up points: Bus Station or Railway.
Tip: You’re better off booking the tickets from starting point as the price would be the same (approx. SGD50 per pax) even if you board the bus at any other stops within Rovaniemi.
And which would be better for you really depends on where you stay. For myself, we’re pretty centralised between the two and with the bus station approximately 200 to 300 metres closer.
If you’re staying in the central, the railway station is probably going to be the furthest for you too.
Tip: On your way to the bus station, you may wish to check out their impressive Cultural Museum, Korundi!
The bus ride to Levi Ski Resort will take approximately two and a half hours or so, but fear not for those who are hungry after the ride!
You will find yourself right outside of the larger Burger King outlet for a quick food grab before checking into your resort.
Once you’re there, oh my, it’s gorgeous – With the ski slopes just right in front of you and the ambience in this town is insanely good!
If you haven’t already visited Levi for an awesome skiing experience, you have to. Go get yourself booked for a trip there next winter!
Book your ski pass today: https://www.levi.fi/en/enjoy-levi/skiing-snowboarding/ski-passes.html
Alright, that’s all the 5 quick tips I can share with you for now! I hope you enjoyed and find these simple tips useful for your next holiday in Finland.
There are countless of things to learn and share every time we travel. If you think you would like to know something more specific, post your comments below and it shall be considered!
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