Useful Finnish passport

Did you know that the Finnish passport is one of the best to have worldwide? In a study of the British immigration lawyers Henley and Partners the Finnish passport ranks as the third best one in the world.

It allows entering 175 countries without a visa. Only the German (177 countries) and Swedish (176) are better. 

For more information read the full story on Yle News.

Discover the world at Messukeskus

Do you have travel plans for this year already? If you are not quite sure where to go and want to get a good overview of different options, you should pay a visit to Messukeskus this weekend.

Today at 12 the Travelfair Matka opens its doors for all visitors. Countries, resorts, tour providers, airlines and ferry companies present was they have to offer. A stroll through hall should give you lots of inspiration where to travel next. Maybe you can catch a good deal right there or even win a free trip.

Good luck with picking your next travel destination!

Check out Finterest

Do you want to know what is going on not only in Helsinki but in the whole country? Maybe you are looking for cultural sights or events, festivals, kids or sports activities. In all those cases you can now check out Finterest.

The rather new website is a perfect website to find information on what is going on around Finland. All activities and events are sorted by area and accessable through a map. You can also easily ad all your favorites to your own list called "my travel plan".

Give it a try and find out what Finland has to offer.

Where the whole world meets

Today Helsinki's Matkamessut starts again. Traveldestinations from Finland and around the world will present themselves and present visitors their most exciting, relaxing and interesting sights.

As every year many Finnish and international travel blogger are joining and covering the event again. Find some of them listed on the Nordic Bloggers' Experience website and check them out.

Tickets to the event cost 30 €. The event takes place at Helsinki Messukeskus in Pasila and is open until Sunday.

The train to Santa

Everyone knows that Santa Claus lives in Lapland in the northern part of Finland. But did you know that there is a train that gets you straight to Santa's home?

The so called Santa Claus Express starts in Helsinki and brings you all the way up north where you can meet Santa in person. This night train travels through Tampere and Oulu and after 15 hours brings you to Rovaniemi. Here you can pay a visit to Santa in his Santa village.

By the way the train operates not just during Christmas time but the whole year around and is also a good option if you want to visit Lapland during the summer time.

Are you up for the ride?

Two weeks traveling for free

What would you say if you could get a travel card for the whole capital region for two weeks for free? Well, HSL is actually giving them away right now. You just have to be a permanent resident of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava or Sipoo and be at least 18 years old to apply for your own free travel card online.

It will be send to you by mail and can be used on bus, metro and tram in the whole HSL area. To get one of them just fill in the form on the HSL website till Sunday. It's as easy as that. The card is worth 79.50 €.

Finland by bus

There are lots of interesting cities and towns to visit in Finland. If you don’t have a car and find the train tickets a bit too pricy check out the bus connections.

One possibility is Onnibus. The company connects all mayor cities in Southern Finland and even operates connections to Oulu. You can buy the tickets from the driver or if you want to save some money buy your ticket online in advance. The price is based on the demand but can be as low as 3€ for each connection.

During the summer you can buy discount gift cards giving you a lot more value for your money (see picture). So if you are interested keep your eyes open in the center next to the Stockmann clock.

What do I push?

You have one of those traveling cards for the capital area. If you load it with some money you will have to hold it against the card reader and press a button whenever you want to travel somewhere. But what button is needed when?

1: For travelling within the zone you are in. That could either be Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, Kirkkonummi or Kerava-Sipoo.

2: For travelling between several zones. The ticket is valid in Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa.

3: For travelling in the whole region. With this ticket you can travel in all zones (Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava, Sipoo and Kirkkonummi).

0 (just on trams): This ticket is only valid in trams within Helsinki.

L (just on busses): Extend your region and buy tickets that are valid in Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava, Sipoo and Kirkkonummi.

Find more detailed information on the HSL website.

Hyvää matka!

How to order a taxi

Helsinki’s public transport is one of the best in the world. Still there might be occasions where you have to get from one place to another faster or just want to travel more comfortably. Then your choice will be the taxi. And ordering one in Helsinki is as easy as it gets.

Just send a text with you location (City [space] Address) to the number 13170 and the closest available taxi will come there as fast as possible. As soon as it is on its way you will get a text with the number of the taxi. This is especially convenient for foreigners that have difficulties pronouncing the street they are in over the phone.

So don’t forget saving this number to your phone!

Easy travelling

The public transport in Helsinki works perfectly. It is even ranked as one of the best in the whole world. Both for locals and visitors it provides the better and cheaper alternative to using a car in the city.

To make your travelling as easy as possible you should not buy single tickets from the machine or the driver every time but rather get your own Travel Card. With this electronic card you don’t need to carry around cash with you all the time and travelling becomes even cheaper. Especially if you are registered in the capital area tickets become noticeably cheaper. You can either upload time or value onto your card. Then just hold it against the card reader when you enter the bus and that’s it.

You can get a Travel Card on your name from the HSL service center at the main station underneath Elielinaukio. To find more information on prices for travelling in the capital area and to find out how much you can save using the Travel Card check the official website of HSL.

Hyvää matka!

One day in Stockholm

A really nice trip at any time of the year is to go to Stockholm via ferry. There are two carriers operating between Helsinki and Stockholm: Viking Line and Silja Line. They offer more or less the same trip.

You board the ferry either at Katajanokan Terminaali or at Olympiaterminaali (both really close to Kauppatori) before the ferries both leave at around 5 pm. They drive the night through with a short stop at Mariehamn (Åland) and both arrive at around 9 in the morning at Stockholm. The really convenient thing is that you keep your cabin and can leave all your stuff there during your stay in Stockholm. So no bags to carry around and no second check-in when you come back to the ferry. The ferry leaves back to Helsinki at 4.30/5 pm. That leaves you enough time in Stockholm to get a first good glance at the city and soak in its nice Scandinavian atmosphere.

You should make your decision on which ferry company to use based on the price. The trips don’t really differ that much. At Silja Line the boat is a bit nicer which makes it the first choice of lots of people. But Viking Line is not bad either and has the advantage that the port in Stockholm is much closer to the center then the Silja port.

One important tip though: Never buy the regular price! The two companies have a pretty vivid competition and that’s why you will always find special offers.

If you are really spontaneous you should check out Silja’s recent offer for one day in Stockholm (two nights in a cabin on board) for as low as 10 €. The offer just applies for a few specific days during the next few weeks and since you always pay a whole cabin you should find three friends to join you to really get that price.

Enjoy your trip!