Getting There

Despite its remoteness from the heartland of Europe, Helsinki is an international city easily reached via air, land, and sea. Ferries from Tallinn and Stockholm frequent its harbours, trains arrive daily from Saint Petersburg, and the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport receives over 160 international landings a day.

From some points in Europe it may be cheaper to fly with Ryanair to Tampere (2 hours and 35 euros away by train), or even Tallinn, but you are far more likely to touch down at the compact, modern and airy airport of Helsinki-Vantaa, located 20 kilometers north of the city center. It has two adjacent terminals, connected by a short walkway:

• T1: All Star Alliance airlines, Air France, KLM, and some others
• T2: Finnair, oneworld partners, and most other airlines (see all)

From the airport, regular taxis to downtown Helsinki cost around 30–40 euros, while shared Airport Taxi mini-vans start from €27 for two. A railway connection to the airport is under construction, but will not be completed until 2014 or so. Public transport options include:

• Regional bus 615/615T (€4, every 15 min), about 40 min to the Central Railway Station in the heart of Helsinki. The price includes onward transfers to tram, bus, metro, etc.
• Finnair City Bus (€5.90, every 20 min), about 35 min to Central Railway Station via Scandic Continental Hotel. Credit cards accepted, slightly faster and uses luxury coaches, but no further connections included in the ticket price.
• Regional bus 519/520 to Itäkeskus (€4, every 30 min), for convenient connections to the metro and eastern Helsinki.

For more information, we suggest visiting the Helsinki travel guide on Wikitravel or the city official tourism website.