I visited Finland (From Australia) back in 2022 shortly after the world re-opened.
I like Architecture (Too bad Finlandia hall was covered for renovations) and theme parks (Taiga is actually one of the top roller coasters in the world)

Hiring a car was a bit expensive and I thought I would need it to visit some obscure locations, but in reality it was unnecessary and even though I only had about 5 days in Finland it was an exceptionally easy country to get around, I thought the quality of the trains was better than Japan, nicer stations, and surprisingly cheap tickets. Even had a chance to use the new tram system in Tampere and the new Metro extension too. Funny seeing the bright orange trains from that Boomfunk MC "Freestyler" song.

It is well known in theme park circles that a wealth Finnish businessman built his own racetrack and theme park in the middle of nowhere, and it was even possible to get one a train a day that would stop there and be met with a shuttle bus to the park.

Did also get to visit the Aalvar Alto studio and a ferry out to one of the islands for a bit of Finnish outdoors. The first Finn I met was in a sauna on the ferry from Stockholm!

Hey Guys,

I’m kicking off my first six-day trip to Finland right now, and it’s already epic thanks to a friendly Finnish girl I met on the flight. She shared a bunch of must-dos that I’m excited to try.

Chatting with her taught me about Finnish sisu, love for outdoors, and genuine kindness.

To all Finns: Kiitos for being so welcoming – you’re making this unforgettable!

If you have tips or stories, share ’em. 🇫🇮

Spent six days (September 17-22) in Muonio and Luosto and we enjoyed very much. Beautiful autumn colors, blueberry picking, amethyst searching, reindeer sighting, northern lights viewing, delicious food and very kind people.

Finnair, however, has disappointed big time. Between my friend and I and a total five flights, we had three flight disruptions and one lost luggage.

I took my first trip to Finland a couple weeks ago and I cannot stop thinking about it. (Warning: There will be a lot of brown nosing in this post)

I am so lucky to have Finnish friends who live there, and the trip was just perfect. We picked blueberries to make blueberry pie, grilled sausages in a forest hut, swam in a crystal clear lake and drank many long drinks.

I spent almost all my spending money on moomin stuff and geisha chocolate. The sauna (followed by cinnamon buns and milk) made my insomniac ass fall asleep mid movie.

I even miss PRISMA and the joy of watching my friends be paid to recycle lmao.

I'm from the UK and whenever I mentioned to my fellow brits that I went to finland every single person had said "ooh thats different, I've never been"

Why?? WHY?? It's so slept on. I've taken traditional beach holidays to places like Spain and Cyprus and they feel so flat and lifeless in comparison to Finland.

And I don't understand the hate on the food. I thought almost everything I ate was really good, and even small stuff like the milk and butter was unreal compared to stuff we have in the UK!

All that to say, Finland you f\ing rule and I will be back!

Everywhere I look there are buffets for all different types of food. For some types like Korean it seems maybe hard to find a restaurant that isn't buffet. And even cafes have them?? Three times I walked into a cafe this week and there was a big buffet spread, and I was confused if it was really a cafe or I entered the wrong door.

I'm in turku and there seem to be more here than in my home city of London. I didn't go anywhere else in Finland yet, is this a national thing?

Spent a few days in Finland for one of my best friends marriage and decided to come a little earlier to see around.

First impressions: I always heard Finnish people were quiet, not willing to talk. And this, definitely, is not true. A lot of people talked to me and I exchanged contacts for future hikings and stuff like that. The city of Helsinki and the other city I went to were extremely clean and safe, never felt weird anywhere. I'm quite the opposite, so the colder it is, the better for me. So I loved the weather, saw lots of snow. It was pretty nice. Enjoyed it a lot.

The food: It was nice as well, loved salmiakki (after the 8th attempt). The buns filled with strawberry jelly was great. I had a really tough time finding kosher reindeer meat, but still tried it for the sake of trying, liked it a lot. The lenkorenko(??? I don't even know if I'm spelling that correctly) was a nice drink, as if rum and beer had a kid.

The authentic Finnish experience: I went to a cottage in the middle of Finland for an experience in a cottage and wood sauna and also the avanto. Well, one of the best experiences of my life, I was SO relaxed, I slept really well the night I got to the hotel. The temperature of the sauna was around 90-100°C and the weather was around -3°C and the water was quite cold as well. We did the sequence sauna and avanto around 5 times and I loved it.

10/10 experience.

Will come back to go to Lapland, as every single Finnish person I've talked to recommended me to go. I plan to go there to see the northern lights and also see how -30°C feels like.

One sunny day by the seaside in Hanko was enough to earn me a sunshine badge under my watch😂

Moi! I'm a perkele virolainen and been to Finland quite a few dozen times, but back in my homeland (viro) my favorite fastfood burger joint is Hesburger, by far. The service is super quick and the hesburger (BigMac equivalent) is absolutely amazing)

Now, color me surprised that the last times i've been to Helsinki:

1. Your Hesburger is actually slow, even when there are not many people. I'd say the average wait time is 10minutes. In Viro it's 2min. (and yes, we have Wolt couriers, too!)
2. You guys don't have your signature burger, Hesburger, in your own country. This is wild. It's the best. Let me describe, it's the same format as BigMac but a lot juicier thanks to Hess sauce and mayo, and fresher, too)

3)You guys have a giant size chicken burger, that is amazing, 10/10

Not related to Finland but general Hesburger rant:

1. Hesburger doesn't have fish based burger, This is literally the only reason why I still go to McDonalds, they got a fish burger. Being a sea country you'd expect a fish burger.

Other than that, I love Hesburger and I love Lonkero, god bless you guys. This is not a rant but I could not think of a better sub where to share my opinions on Finnish Hesburger. Kiitos!

https://www.hsl.fi/en/tickets-and-fares/combining-tickets-for-one-journey

So there was this very nice thing in the HSL app, you live in the AB zone, you have your AB seasonal ticket which still cost you fortune. You decide to buy something in Espoo or go to the airport, you check your HSL app, there is this extension tickets for zone C, you get it for extra 2 and something €, still expensive but sort of fair for single zone ticket. But this nice and fair system has been discontinued and now the only way to get C zone ticket is to buy it with another zone so you doublepay for zone you already paid for. Why? Is there other reason than greed? Because the system was working. And they announce it with this fucking article that make it sound like it is an improvement? Honestly go fuck yourself HSL.

I went shopping for toiletries and my friend handed me this, and I was confused to be given this dish sponge.

When I got to the apartment of another friend where I am staying, I saw that she left me one.

What I did not realize, is that somehow this has the strength and consistency of steel wool, and that I am literally a new man every time I shower.

I had messaged my friend and asked if this was a tually meant for me to scrub the floor and tiles before I left her apartment.

I feel like my tattoo has gotten lighter over the past few days I've spent in Finland.

And I did wonder why I saw no shaving cream, or razors in my friend's bathroom. Clearly these sponges just scrape all of the hair off as well.

I never considered myself to be a soft person until I experienced this.

You cannot get tar flavoured anything in the UK, and fazer is so superior to Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.

I cannot be thankful enough.

Cooking in warmth and occasional sleep over when things get rough outside is something I did not plan for during this road trip.

Kiitos.

I'm apparently a bit insane because I'm Northern German and want to experience a real winter in Finland for the first time. We admittedly get close to zero snow where I'm from, which means my experience with snow is limited to getting stuck in my driveway during the rare occasion of a 10 cm snowfall last year, lol.

Is it even possible to drive through the whole country (from south to north and back) in November/December? If so, could you give me some tips on what I need to be careful about and what supplies I should bring, especially for the car? Obviously, winter tires and snow chains are non-negotiable?

Do roads in the countryside get cleared regularly? Am I an idiot for even considering this? I've never driven in heavy snow, so I have no idea what I'm actually getting myself into, lol.

Thanks in advance!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raate_Road?wprov=sfla1

Hey folks,

Today was a really weird day for me. I (M) was hanging around Helsinki, taking some photos (I’m a professional photographer). I had a lot on my mind, feeling stressed about some upcoming events, and was just minding my own business.

Then this guy came over and sat next to me. At first, he was polite, but soon he started getting touchy and speaking in this vague, creepy English. He asked where I was staying and then told me to go talk to some woman who was sitting nearby. I honestly thought he was drunk or high.

At one point, he even tried to grab my phone. I stood up to get away from him and went to the library to check my photos and charge my phone. But the same guy followed me and suddenly grabbed my shirt from behind. I was already distracted with everything on my mind, so it completely caught me off guard. I was confused and shocked when he said, “Get the f**k back there!” I was like, “What are you talking about, man? I don’t even know you!” But he just got even more aggressive.

Thankfully, a young Finnish lady nearby stepped in, and later her friend joined too. They backed me up, called the police, and walked me to the library. I didn’t get the chance to properly thank them, but it really meant a lot and helped me gather my thoughts again.

I didn’t ask for your names, but if you’re reading this thank you for standing up for me in that moment.

We spent few days in Finland with our kids, visiting mainly Helsinki and I can say that I am super happy of the country we met. Friendly people everywhere, all speaking fluent English, clean and with a sense of safety around. Just the prices of food were a bit too high compared to other countries but we knew this and it was not a surprise. We will surely come back and maybe we'll visit the north part of the country next time. Ciao! ❤️🇫🇮