I am a Finnish Sami American and just booked my flights from San Francisco, California to Finland for two weeks in June 2013!
I am SO excited to visit the country where my family came from and really connect with my history! Let me tell you, the sauna lives on in America! My partner and I are planning to spend some time in Helsinki touring the city, visiting consignment shops, trying new food, museums + art etc... and then we will travel north to Inari (maybe other places too on the way up north) to enjoy the natural surroundings, relax, see the Sami Parliament and the cultural museum.
I am an artist and we both enjoy great food and history. We are really flexible and open to activities and ways to travel (plane, train, car, bike).
We would be most appreciative of any advice and/or suggestions of interesting places/ activities to make our trip to Finland very special Thank you!
A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special trip
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
In that case you should visit Artikum in Rovaniemi.I am a Finnish Sami American
http://www.visitrovaniemi.fi/In-English/Sights
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Thank you, rinso
This is just the sort of thing we were hoping to be pointed to! I'm looking into Rovaniemi and museum now, per your suggestion. Very exciting!
This is just the sort of thing we were hoping to be pointed to! I'm looking into Rovaniemi and museum now, per your suggestion. Very exciting!
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Check out this post for some useful local services and keywords. It’s a bit Helsinki-centric but if you click on the Finnish words, you could replace “Helsinki” in the search box with a Finnish city of your choice — such as Rovaniemi or any other place you are going to visit.
Every Finnish municipality has an official website. The address is typically of the form “www.cityname.fi”, dropping the possible accents. You could possibly find some tourist/event information by checking out those sites. At least the larger cities often have something on their website in English as well.
Google Streetview is available for Finland so you could explore various places that way, too. VirtualTourist.com might also have some useful information about various Finnish cities.
Just for a taste, here’s some video and photography of Finland.
Every Finnish municipality has an official website. The address is typically of the form “www.cityname.fi”, dropping the possible accents. You could possibly find some tourist/event information by checking out those sites. At least the larger cities often have something on their website in English as well.
Google Streetview is available for Finland so you could explore various places that way, too. VirtualTourist.com might also have some useful information about various Finnish cities.
Just for a taste, here’s some video and photography of Finland.
znark
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
As a cost effective and practical way travel I'd suggest flying to Rovaniemi and taking a rental car from there.baiki wrote:and ways to travel (plane, train, car, bike)
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Midnight Sun Film Festival @ Sodankylä (2013, June 12-16.)
http://www.msfilmfestival.fi/index.php/en/
The atmosphere of the Midnight Sun Film Festival is one of the most unique in the whole world: the most fascinating film directors around the world, up-and-coming talents, the international audience and the inhabitants of Sodankylä meet under the midnight sun in the relaxed and informal "spirit of Sodankylä". Without any formal restraints, the festival is best characterised by its pure love for cinema.
Jutajaiset Folklore Festival @ Rovaniemi (2012 it was held end of June)
http://www.jutajaiset.fi/english
The culture of the north thrives in the midnight sunshine of the Arctic at this unique event. The Jutajaiset provides a stage for traditional and new programme entertainment, educational events, the brightest stars, Lapland artists, Sámi culture, and a host of international special guests.
http://www.msfilmfestival.fi/index.php/en/
The atmosphere of the Midnight Sun Film Festival is one of the most unique in the whole world: the most fascinating film directors around the world, up-and-coming talents, the international audience and the inhabitants of Sodankylä meet under the midnight sun in the relaxed and informal "spirit of Sodankylä". Without any formal restraints, the festival is best characterised by its pure love for cinema.
Jutajaiset Folklore Festival @ Rovaniemi (2012 it was held end of June)
http://www.jutajaiset.fi/english
The culture of the north thrives in the midnight sunshine of the Arctic at this unique event. The Jutajaiset provides a stage for traditional and new programme entertainment, educational events, the brightest stars, Lapland artists, Sámi culture, and a host of international special guests.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Yes, but there are no direct flights from USA to Rovaniemi, Finland. From USA, first fly to Helsinki, and then transfer to a flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi.Rip wrote:As a cost effective and practical way travel I'd suggest flying to Rovaniemi and taking a rental car from there.baiki wrote:and ways to travel (plane, train, car, bike)
However, there is an alternative. A Night Train including sleeping cabins travels between Helsinki and Rovaniemi, a train ride of about 14 hours. But be sure to book a reservation well in advance.
The Night Train: http://www.vr.fi/en/index/palvelut/tiet ... junat.html
And once you get to Rovaniemi, a rental car is your best option, as bus routes in Lapland are very limited.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Sure. Flying is likely the cheaper option though.tuulen wrote: However, there is an alternative. A Night Train including sleeping cabins travels between Helsinki and Rovaniemi, a train ride of about 14 hours. But be sure to book a reservation well in advance.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
Wow! Thank you everyone for sharing! I am looking into the Jutajaiset festival as we speak and it looks really neat!
We are flying into Copenhagen and then to Helsinki. I see that on in Helsinki it will be cheaper to fly north than to take the night train. I wonder, are there any perks to taking the night train? We won't see the countryside if we are sleeping. But traveling by train could be a fun experience on it own. Any thoughts on that?
We are flying into Copenhagen and then to Helsinki. I see that on in Helsinki it will be cheaper to fly north than to take the night train. I wonder, are there any perks to taking the night train? We won't see the countryside if we are sleeping. But traveling by train could be a fun experience on it own. Any thoughts on that?
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
The night train provides both transportation and a night's sleep, whereas a plane provides only transportation. But neither of them will give you much sightseeing experience, as the train travels mostly at night and the plane flies at a very high altitude.
The train brings you directly to Rovaniemi, but the airport is several kilometers north of Rovaniemi.
The train brings you directly to Rovaniemi, but the airport is several kilometers north of Rovaniemi.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
In the night train you probably have to share your cabin with somebody else.
If he snores, you might not get much sleep.
If he snores, you might not get much sleep.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
If I am not badly mistaken, you can get your booked rental car from the airport as well.tuulen wrote: The train brings you directly to Rovaniemi, but the airport is several kilometers north of Rovaniemi.
As for the sleeping carriages, they do seem to offer one a chance to book a cabin for one person (cost?). Depending on your schedule, train may be a reasonable option (especially if you have not done comparable train trip and want the "experience" (you'll sleep mostly, by anyway)) to combination of flight AND a night in a hotel (if those are the options).
Also see the airline policies how do they charge for one-way trip between Rovaniemi-Helsinki, if you do not want to do the train trip twice. Finnair typically sells no reasonably priced one-way tickets, but the competitors may be different. Also you may want to see what the car rental companies say about picking a car from the city centre and returning it to the airport (or vice versa).
See how much information you can find about hiking routes in local national parks and other popular locations.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
I would recommend an airplane as a choice of transportation between HKI-ROI. Eh, that's Helsinki and Rovaniemi. Oh well, wise to use abbrevations.
Though, I've done the trip on a train so many times that I probably have grown weary of the any of the positive sides of it.
The sleeping cabins are exactly that, sleeping cabins. They are not ideal for travel while awake. The time being end of June one can of course enjoy the scenery for most of the trip if one desires so. Then again, it is forest, forest, forest, a lake, forest and occasionally town.
If you're heavy sleeper, the cabins are okay, if not, it is kinda terrible. The newer sleeping coaches are nice but it won't help smoothen the tracks.
If you want to socialize the restaurant coach is for that, but again, most people on the night train are there for one beer and then -> Zzzzzzz. So just pub-touring at Rovaniemi can lead to better experience.
Flying is a bit more hassle but at Rovaniemi end you're gonna need to rent a car anyway, so the hassle is about 3,5 € bus fare per person from the center of Helsinki to Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
You can get to Ivalo relatively easy on public transportation but then going the extra 40 km to Inari to visit Siida (the Sami Museum), stopping before Ivalo at Saariselkä etc. come a lot more easier with a car. And, the road between Rovaniemi and Ivalo is essentially one straight line. So it is nice to be able to travel that as fast possible. Just be aware that there are reindeers. That come to the road, on a moment's notice.
There's lots to be done at each of these cities/towns, starting from nature trails around the city of Rovaniemi to Arktikum, to Rovaniemi Art Museum to the friendly neighbourghood "fell" of Ouninvaara that you can top in around 45 mins starting from any of the city centre's hotels.
Though, I've done the trip on a train so many times that I probably have grown weary of the any of the positive sides of it.
The sleeping cabins are exactly that, sleeping cabins. They are not ideal for travel while awake. The time being end of June one can of course enjoy the scenery for most of the trip if one desires so. Then again, it is forest, forest, forest, a lake, forest and occasionally town.
If you're heavy sleeper, the cabins are okay, if not, it is kinda terrible. The newer sleeping coaches are nice but it won't help smoothen the tracks.
If you want to socialize the restaurant coach is for that, but again, most people on the night train are there for one beer and then -> Zzzzzzz. So just pub-touring at Rovaniemi can lead to better experience.
Flying is a bit more hassle but at Rovaniemi end you're gonna need to rent a car anyway, so the hassle is about 3,5 € bus fare per person from the center of Helsinki to Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
You can get to Ivalo relatively easy on public transportation but then going the extra 40 km to Inari to visit Siida (the Sami Museum), stopping before Ivalo at Saariselkä etc. come a lot more easier with a car. And, the road between Rovaniemi and Ivalo is essentially one straight line. So it is nice to be able to travel that as fast possible. Just be aware that there are reindeers. That come to the road, on a moment's notice.
There's lots to be done at each of these cities/towns, starting from nature trails around the city of Rovaniemi to Arktikum, to Rovaniemi Art Museum to the friendly neighbourghood "fell" of Ouninvaara that you can top in around 45 mins starting from any of the city centre's hotels.
Re: A visit to the motherland - Help planning my special tri
OT:
One of the most succeed bands in Finland uses sami-language in the beginning of their new video:
One of the most succeed bands in Finland uses sami-language in the beginning of their new video: