Other Destinations in Finland > Finland Experience

Advantages: Magical place
Disadvantages: Insufficient time

...taking my grand-daughter on the Lapland Exravaganza day trip with Canterbury Travel. It can only be described as magical. 5-6 hours of sheer joy in the snow, rides through dreamlike forests and of course seeing the great man himself. Because of the experience, the rest of the family decided they wanted to go so last year we booked again for 4 children and four adults. Unfortunately in November we were informed that there were insufficient booking ...
...offered the Lapland Dream Trip from Manchester instead, which we accepted. How different this was - We arrived at Kittila Airport at 1pm, however because there were so many people (obviously 2 groups from Liverpool amalgamated plus a group from Birmingham) we did not leave the airport until well after 2.30. No trip through the forest on a sleigh as last time, but on a coach along the normal highway. We arrived at the village at about 3.30 to be ... Read review

Advantages: Superb bars, laid back, friendly
Disadvantages: Fewer things open in off season, not for lazy visitors

Situated in south west Finland, Turku is the closest major city to Sweden, and as such is often regarded with some suspicion by residents of other parts of the country; in particular it is the focus for some considerable rivalry with the city of Tampere some two hours or so north (which seems to me just too far to have any kind of point). Turku is a seaport and it is used by many holiday makers a as base for exploring what is known as the south ...
...available all year round. Turku was capital of Finland until Helsinki took the title in 1812; sadly, few of the medieval buildings still exist and this makes it visually less appealing than some of the other Baltic cities such as Tallinn or Helsinki. This does mean that Turku is a place where you have to work a little for your entertainment; there are attractive places to wander or to sit and people watch but on the whole you do have to make a bit ... Read review

Advantages: Small heart in big city
Disadvantages: (road to Turku !)

...oon tampereelt naas" ("I'm from Tampere, you see") Some famous people (don't know who but..) has said that "you go to Tampere to born and after that you conquer whole world" Well I want to see myself like that, I born in Tampere and now after many years I live in UK.First 9 year in my life I live in Hervanta, what was due that time new suburban area, with young families, now its full of criminals, even only police school of Finland is locate in there ...
...side of Tampere, I grow up in very safe and children friendly area, that what is still. I went my school in city central and spend later many nights partying in clubs and bars in Tampere. Tampere is well known as University City. Tampere got two universities, University of Tampere (UTA) and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) last on located in Hervanta. Each university has over 10,000 students. In Tampere you also got opportune to study music ... Read review

Advantages: cheaper, more flexible
Disadvantages: None

I took my daughter to what I can only describe as the most magical and fun holiday of a lifetime, Lapland, in December 2001. After looking at the few tour operators (canterbury being one of them) that do this holiday and thinking we would never afford it because of their over inflated prices (they wanted at least £1600 for 4 days for 2 people), I decided to arrange everything myself. I booked a 4* hotel direct and booked flights with the finish guild ...
...only costs £18 per year and you can save up to 50% on flight prices - I then booked my excursions once I arrived there - one nights snowmobiling where we went up to the mountins and cooked sausages over a camp fire and drank coffee whilst sitting cosily on a reindeer skin watching the stars, one days snowmobiling to santa village where my daughter met the 'real' santa claus and elves - this tour included lunch, and half a day skiing tution which ... Read review

Advantages: Limestone mines, Opus K pub, the lake, walking trails
Disadvantages: Very frightening people, nowhere to eat on Sundays

On the final leg of our Estonia/Finland travels in September 2007 we needed to find somewhere to spend our final two nights travelling before we arrived back in Helsinki prior to our return home. We wanted somewhere roughly midway between Turku and Helsinki with a bed and breakfast or hotel, somewhere to eat and something interesting to do or see. Only one of the places we identified on our map as being likely also appeared in our Lonely Planet guide ...
...the town soaking wet on Saturday lunchtime and squelched our way to Matkakoti Linnakangas, described in Lonely Planet as a 'comfortable and well-equipped guesthouse' with 'a variety of homely rooms with fridge, TV and toilet'. After a minute or two standing on the doorstep absorbing more rain, the proprietor appeared and in what seemed an unnecessarily long period of time, gave us a twin room with en suite bathroom. I certainly wouldn't describe ... Read review