Finland is our third international trip that we planned ourselves and loved every moment of it! When we started sharing with our friends and family about our upcoming Finland trip, few questions and comments we received were “are you not scared to plan on your own?”, “what if you find yourselves in any problem?”, “you guys are pretty daring”.
Let me tell you it is not that difficult at all to plan your own international trip if you do a fair share of research, in fact it is quite rewarding, and you get to customize and tweak your trip based on your preferences. In this article you will get to know how we planned and few pointers to keep in mind for your next self-planned international trip to Finland.
Why to Choose Finland
‘Magic’ & ‘Wonder’, these two adjectives come to my mind when I think about Finland. Few points why you should choose Finland for your next destination.
1. To witness the magic of Aurora Borealis/Northern lights.
2. If you love cold climate (you will not be disappointed! :P ).
3. Snow activities.
4. If you love huskies.
5. To meet the real Santa Claus in North Pole.
6. If you love snow and lots of it.
7. If you still believe in fairytales.
Why not to Choose Finland
As much as we can vouch for the beauty of Finland, there are few practical things to keep in mind before planning.
1. Finland is expensive!! It is one of the expensive countries in Europe with a cost of living index of 81.70 (source: https://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-countries-to-live-in-ranked#18-finland-8). So, choose how many cities you want to visit based on your budget. We kept it to two cities only.
2. If you are not a fan of cold weather. Temperature remains constantly around or below freezing. In Lapland it can drop to -20 degC/ -4 degF in some places.
3. Packing lots of winter clothes. We have found that if you don’t take proper winter clothing when you are visiting such places in winter, you have to stay back in your room. Key is to plan well and pack smart.
Before the trip To-Dos
We always prepare a checklist of things we need before traveling domestic or international. A well chalked out plan and to-do list saves us from hassle and keeps us prepared for ad-hoc situations.
1. Finland Visa. Check https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/finland-visa/ for Finland Visa application, requirement and guidelines.
2. Bring out or buy some nice winter garments and winter shoes. Quick tip: buy touchscreen friendly gloves, you can thank us later ;)
3. Pack your medicines.
4. Since we prefer to travel on budget, we packed some instant noodles, soup packets, peanuts, snacks etc. You will find K-Market almost in every cities of Finland. You can buy anything you need from there. We occasionally indulged in gourmet Finnish food from nice restaurants. Why not! :)
5. Pack your camera(s), batteries, tripod etc. Quick tip: wrap some cotton over extra batteries, helps in slow charge drainage.
6. Bring 1 or 2 power banks for sure. In that extreme weather your mobile charge will drain very very fast. Both of our Samsung Mobiles performed way better than we expected. But on a single charge our mobile lasted for 5 hours in Lapland (took photos, vids, used Google maps in -10 degC).
7. We also packed few items like Dynamo torch from Quechua, Swiss army knife.
8. If you want to bring your favourite brand of liquor, pack those in bubble wrap and newspapers. Keep them in your checked in luggage ;).
9. We also bought 2 plastic cover for our mobile just in case for those snow activity days, but we rarely used it.
How to Reach
There are multiple flights to Helsinki, Finland. You can either take connecting flights to Helsinki from Delhi or Mumbai which will have layover in Stockholm, Moscow etc. (cheaper options) or to save time you can opt for a direct flight. We traveled from Bengaluru to Delhi and from Delhi we took a direct flight to Helsinki, Finland by Finnair.
We stayed for 3 nights 4 days in Helsinki in Hotel Hellsten Parliament Helsinki. We swear by Booking.com and Airbnb when it comes to finding reasonable stays. We also prefer to stay in a convenient location in the cities so that we can save cost of transportation and just enjoy the city and its surrounding by walking. It gives us joy and so much of insight about the people, culture, food and a way to burn some calories from the hot chocolates, cakes, food we enjoy along the way. During our 3 nights stay we walked around 12 kms on an average per day. Some of our most memorable walks together!
1. We took Lähitaksi from Helsinki Vantaa Airport to our Stay (shorturl.at/eKMVX). You will find different types of taxi/cab services there. Compare the fees and hop in.
2. Keep the map of Helsinki handy. You can collect it from your stay, they will have leaflets, brochures of the sightseeing and activities around. Ask for one if you don’t find it in the room.
3. We like to plan our day the night before. If you are like us just take a piece of paper, pen, open google map and keep the tour leaflet next to you. Now chalk out what are the places of interest you can visit at one shot based on their location, distance and what they have to offer. We visited all the popular places along our way to the Ferry (Senate Square, Market Square, Upenski Cathedral etc.) as we wanted to see the Suomenlinna Sveaborg as our last destination for the day.
4. On the second day we covered another part of the city including Temppeliaukio church, Sibelius monument etc. We kept the next day at leisure so that we can just indulge in casual exploration, tasting some Finnish dishes and shopping some souvenirs for our family and friends. We always like to keep some time for leisure in every destination just to stop, enjoy the moment and be thankful for what we have.
Brace yourself because now comes the magic, Rovaniemi. I will probably go on and write 100 more sentences just to express how magical and mesmerizing Rovaniemi was, so let me just stop here and give you few pointers if you are keeping this in your list of cities to visit in Finland. Well you must!
1. We traveled from Helsinki to Rovaniemi by Norwegian Air. Note: Norwegian Air tickets are only for Carry-on, make sure you check that and add check-in baggage if you need (extra charge).
2. Rovaniemi is magical for so many reasons. i) It is the home of the real Santa Claus, ii) you are going to cross Arctic Circle (wait what!!), iii) Huskies and husky rides, iv) Reindeers, v) Snow and if you have luck then vi) NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!! We installed My Aurora Forecast App to get notifications on Northern lights.
3. If you are interested in Snow-activities like Snowmobile, husky & reindeer safaris etc., you can pre-book it online. We booked our activities via Viator.com and we absolutely loved their service and it was cheaper online. We booked these 2 packages-Aurora Hunt + Barbecue + Photos and Family Day: Snowmobile, Arctic Animals and Santa’s Village. Viator will take the address of your stay beforehand. They sent us SMS with driver and cab details 30 mins prior to our pickup time.
4. Rovaniemi’s stay was literally our dream home. We booked the apartment from booking.com and it was exactly if not more beautiful than the pictures provided. We fell in love with the apartment while searching online and hence decided to cut some from Helsinki’s budget. Totally worth it! The is one of the best parts of planning trips on your own… you get to steer the wheel; you get the decide what you love and where you want to spend your hard earned bucks.
5. Public transport like buses can be tricky in Rovaniemi initially so make sure your apartment is closer to a bus route, otherwise you may have to book taxis for your sightseeing all the time like us. Eek! learning.
6. You will find K-mart and other shops for groceries everywhere you go in Finland, so no need to carry too much food items with you. Most of the stays will have some grains, condiments, crockeries and cookware. We found there was a fresh pack of Basmati rice in our apartment. We bought an instant chicken curry marinade pack from K-mart, cooked the chicken and rice and enjoyed our lunch above Arctic Circle while imbibing the beautiful snow-clad nature through our wide living room window. It is so wonderful how we can find happiness in small things which we tend to ignore.
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Drop a note at sujankrsen@gmail.com if you want to know more about our Finland trip plan.
Travel or not never stop creating memories~
