How to save 3.10€ on the trip Rovaniemi airport-Rovaniemi city

Every year about 400.000 people are coming by plane to visit the city of Santa Claus and Lordi. The airport is the fifth busiest Finnish airport (2012), and looks like a countryside airport. Some mini vans are waiting for the passengers to drive them to the main hotels in the city center located at 5 km. The single ticket costs 7€.

But there is a way to save money. Just wait (if it's not too long) for the city bus number 8 that goes to the Santa Claus village and Santa Park. The trip lasts 30 minutes to the railway station that is the end station, but only costs 3.90€ (2€ for children). The bus will drive through residential area and it is a good way to look where local people live.

Usually, you should be 2 hours before the take-off at the airport. What is true for an international airport, is not necessarily for a domestic airport. You just have to be there 30 minutes in advance.

Timetable of the bus number 8

The second Starbucks coffee shop is opening soon in Helsinki center

A new international giant is coming to Finland. After McDonald's, H&M and Ikea, Starbucks is finally opening a café in the city center of Finland's capital. The first café of the brand from Seattle opened in spring 2012 at the international Helsinki-Vantaa airport. This second shop will open in automn 2013, and is located in the Stockmann bookshop Akateeminen at the crossing of the Pohjois-Esplanadi and Keskuskatu where previously the magazines were sold. The American coffee shop will bring some international atmosphere in the building designed by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in 1969. At the second floor of the largest bookshop of Scandinavia is established the café Aalto. The manager told that he do not think that the café will suffer of the new competitor under the same roof.

Starbucks is the largest coffee chain in the world which was created in 1971, and has 17.000 coffee shops in 60 countries.

Updated on November 13th: The coffee is open!

21st century technology in the Finnish trains

Travelling in Finland by train might take a few hours as the average time is of 2 hours between the big cities, and the country is huge (the longest trip is 1000km long from Helsinki to Kemijärvi). What to do during that time? Some people are looking at the landscape, some are having a coffee in the restaurant car, some are reading a book or listening to music, some are sleeping and others might watch a movie on their computer. The problem of the IT gadgets is that the battery won't last for more than 2 hours in most of the cases. Luckily, VR has equiped all its long-distance trains with electric plugs to all seats. It is very convenient as you do not need to pay for the first class or rush to get the only available seats with a plug as it is the case in many countries.

Nowadays, most of the people have a smartphone or travel with a laptop. These devices seem quite useless without an Internet connection. Here again, VR is providing a free wi-fi service. The coverage is pretty good eventhough the reception is sometimes slow when the train is in the middle of nowhere, or if too many passengers are using the service. Nevertheless, the service is improving regularly.

Have a nice trip, and share your emotions and pictures live with your friends!

The tall ships are in Helsinki (17-20.07.2013)

After racing during 7 days on the Baltic sea, the tall ships are arrived in Helsinki (the last ones are expected today at 10am). Some of the most impressive sailing boats of the world (Russia, Brazil, Nederlands, Germany, Oman, Finland, Poland, Sweden, Norway,...) are welcoming the visitors from today to Friday in Hietalahti bay. It is possible to come onboard of the A and B class according to the opening hours of each ship. Alltogether, 113 ships are participating to the event.

Fryderyk Chopin (Poland) is the winner of the A class

Many events are organized such as free concerts on three different stages in Heitalahti and Jätkäsaari, and activities for children including face painting and circus workshops. On Thursday at 9pm, Paula Koivuniemi will perform on the main stage. On Friday at 9pm, do not miss the daylight fireworks! It will be the first time that this kind of smoke fireworks will be used in Finland. On Saturday between 13:30 and 17:00, the ships will leave Helsinki in a parade and continue the race in direction of Riga, Latvia.

Check the full program here!

Living with the midnight sun

Midnight sun in Rovaniemi (25.06.2013 at 23:13)

In summer in Finland the sun sets very late in the South and never in the North. For example, in Rovaniemi, there is no night for 32 days. At the extrem North of Finland, the sun doesn't set for 60 days! When not used to it, it can be quite disturbing, especially while trying to fall asleep. One option is to use a sleep mask if the curtains are not efficient enough.

Living with the midnight sun has many advantages. The first one is of course that we can do more things during the "day" than usually. The best is probably to end the day by having a barbecue in Nature with friends or family. Another activity that Finns love is fishing. But being in Nature also means suffering from mosquitoes. They are particulary numerous and annoying near the water areas, in the forests and in the countryside. At the pharmacy you can purchase a bug repellent. If you are visiting Lapland, there are other sprays more efficient than for the rest of Finland. Even if Finland is a Northern country, do not forget to put sun lotion. You can get bad sun burn, especially on boats!

The other problem is knowing when is it the night and when is it the day. Everybody has his own technique: some people keep looking at their watch or mobile phone clock, some are looking at the birds or some are just waiting to be tired. But Santa Claus knows the best tip: "Try to open the door of the nightclub. If it's open, it means that it is very late." Santa assures that he is not visiting this kind of places but is only reporting what his elves told him.

Enjoy the midnight sun!

Panorama pictures

On the Facebook page of AmazingFinland, you will find a photo album with panorama pictures taken since April 2013 in various places. Feel free to like them and leave comments which are always appreciated.

Suomenlinna at the end of June

Link to the photo album
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Suonenjoki, Finnish strawberry capital

Suonenjoki is a small town of 7546 inhabitants in the Savo region (Central-East Finland) between Mikkeli, Jyväskylä and Kuopio. It is well-known as the Finnish strawberry capital. Since 1970, the Strawberry Carnival which is one of the oldest festivals in Finland, happens each year except in 1984 and 2003. People from the whole country as well as tourists are visiting the place mid-July (12th-14th in 2013) to buy delicious berries but also to pick some themselves in the huge fields. The starwberry farmer of the year will be elected during the event.

But you don't need to go to Suonenjoki to eat the berries. They are on sale on most of the markets and in the shops. But do you know that you can also buy small boxes in the long-distance trains? If you are traveling between Mikkeli and Kuopio in July and August, you will be able to purchase some freshly picked starwberries for just 2€.

 

Link to the Suonenjoki Strawberry Carnival

It's time to pick up berries

Summer is the perfect moment to go to the forests for a relaxing walk, hiking, camping, birdwatching or barbecuing. But is it also the right moment to pick up juicy wild strawberry and blueberries. Take a basket, good shoes and explore Finnish Nature. There are so many berries growing than less than a third is picked each year. Ususally Finnish people collect a huge amount of berries. A small part is baked (pies, muffins and other delicacies), and the rest is frozen for winter use. Blueberries can look small but it doesn't mean that they are not ready. Take the berry delicately between your fingers and pull gently. If the berry resists, it means that it is not ready. As cities have many green areas, you can also pick up berries in parks. But try to avoid plants that are too close from roads. Don't put your berries in plastic bags. They will sweat and turn bad very fast, especially if it's a hot day. Have a lot of fun!

Blueberries are growing under the leaves of the plants.

Small but juicy

Let's play a game: who will have the heaviest basket at the end of the collect?

My tip: when you pick berries, take a bit of time to take only the berries, and not the leaves and branches. You will save a lot of time at home!