Finland is a land of deep forests, glassy lakes and vast Arctic skies. From the design-forward streets of Helsinki to the snow-covered wilderness of Lapland, it blends Nordic minimalism with raw, untamed nature.
Transport in Finland is clean, efficient and easy to navigate. Trains connect major cities like Helsinki, Tampere and Rovaniemi, while long-distance buses reach more remote areas. Within Helsinki, trams, metro and ferries run seamlessly using a single ticket system. There’s also a frequent two-hour ferry crossing between Helsinki and Tallinn, making it simple to combine Finland with a Baltic city break. You can book your ticket in advance via Direct Ferries.
Finland has a distinctly seasonal climate, with long, dark and snowy winters and surprisingly warm, light-filled summers. In the north, winter temperatures can drop well below freezing, while summer brings the midnight sun. Further south, including Helsinki, winters are cold but manageable and summers are mild, fresh and perfect for exploring lakes and forests.
I always book my accommodation through trusted providers like booking.com and Hostelworld, but always read the reviews carefully.
Finland is part of the Schengen area, so some visitors will not need a visa, but you may need to keep an eye on your Schengen area day count, depending where you’re from.
I always recommend checking the official government advice from your own country of citizenship. For example, I’m from the UK so I use the UK Government’s Foreign travel advice website, and navigate to the “Entry requirements” section of the country I wish to visit. That will show me the most up-to-date advice and the correct links to use to apply for a visa officially, without being scammed. E.g. “Finland: Entry requirements”.
Be aware that if you just google “Finland visa”, you’ll find lots of 3rd party websites offering to do the application for you, which at best will charge you quite a lot of money and at worst may scam you completely.
If you would rather someone else take care of the application for you to save you time and hassle, I can recommend iVisa. iVisa offer an end-to-end visa application service where they take care of the entire application for you. You just need to sign up via their website and fill out the information they need from you for the application. Note that they charge a fee for this service, so it will be more expensive than applying directly yourself.
Here are some of the resources I’ve found particularly useful for travelling in Finland. Download the apps before you go to ensure a smooth and stress-free experience! Check out my Useful Travel Resources page for my complete go-to list of websites and apps.
Currency:
Euro (EUR)
Capital City:
Helsinki
Languages:
Finnish
