Living in helsinki and working in tampere?

infusia · Post by **infusia** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:50 am

this might sound really daft, but i have a job offer in tampere.

and tampere to me, seems really like a town that is perfect for families but not for single party girl like me. i'm still very much enjoy the bustle and hustle of city life.

hence, im really considering in renting an apartment in helsinki and travel by train to tampere for work.

is this advisable or too much trouble? how much more expensive are apartments in helsinki compared to tampere.

thanks in advance.

**Sponsor:**

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:53 am

In case you didn't know, Helsinki is "dead" as well.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:59 am

You'd be travelling 4-5 hours a day

It would be cheaper to take a hotel in Helsinki every weekend, and you'd have to have a really good salary to afford that.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:03 am

Well, if you party long enough you just have to wait a few hours for the first morning train back

enk · Post by **enk** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:47 am

I don't recommend it at all. I used to live in Tampere and commute
to Helsinki for work. In the end, I ended up sleeping on a couch at work
during the week, taking showers at work or at the gym and going
home on weekends. It sucked rocks. It is only rivalled by living in
Espoo and studying in Kouvola.

Do remember to factor in the time it will take you to get to and from the
train stations in Helsinki and Tampere.

-enk

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:41 am

I commuted 2 out of every 3 weekends from Pori - Hki for 3.5 years, it sucked.

A daily train commute from Hki to Tampere would depend heavily on how far from the stations you live and work (as Enk was suggesting). A cursory glance at the VR website http://www.vr.fi/ shows that there is a Pendolino service to Kuopio leaving 06:33 Helsinki 07:56 Tampere with a travel time of 1 hour 23. On the return journey there is 16:02 Tampere 17:27 Helsinki Pendolino 52 Ei vaihtoja Kesto: 1:25

So you are looking at 2hrs 50 per day on trains, if your workplace is very close to Tampere station you could just squeeze in an 8 hour working day. There are plenty of other trains but they take 1hr 45 or longer, so perhaps the journey home would have to start later some days of the week to make sure you cover your 40 hours.

I would consider a commute of 3 hours per day by car to be a drag, but by train if you can work or sleep then it would not be so bad.

All this is however 1) surely expensive - unless you are married / have kids then it could be tax deducatable and 2) totally inflexible... when it comes to public transport I am utterly rubbish and have to make sure I leave well in advance or I know I'll miss my train. I know I couldn't do it.

I'd cost it up - the downtown Hki apartment + train travel vs. Tampere apartment + weekends in a nice Helsinki hotel (as Richard suggested).

Desundial · Post by **Desundial** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:14 pm

sinikala wrote: ... to make sure you cover your 40 hours.

Since when is the work week in finland 40 hours? I thought it was 37.5 or something.

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:20 pm

Desundial wrote:
sinikala wrote: ... to make sure you cover your 40 hours.
Since when is the work week in finland 40 hours? I thought it was 37.5 or something.

True, 37.5 hours is how much you are paid for... most still have to be in the workplace for 8 hours per day.

Our union negotiated 40 paid hours and we are expected to be in the workplace 42.5 hours (8.5 hours per day with 30 minutes unpaid breaks).

infusia · Post by **infusia** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:24 am

thanks for all the useful advice.

guess, tampere it is.

does anyone has any cheap accomodation to reccomend in helsinki for weekend trips as per suggested?

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:03 am

infusia wrote:thanks for all the useful advice.

guess, Tampere it is.

does anyone has any cheap accommodation to recommend in Helsinki for weekend trips as per suggested?

How cheap is cheap?

Do you have a Stockmann card? Hilton Kalastajtorppa is doing nights for €99 (2 people inc. breakfast), it's hard to beat.

cressers · Post by **cressers** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:38 pm

Salary in Tampere is likely not going to cover a helsinki apartment and a lot of train travel...

Tampere is a great city, I have lived in quite a few places, and Helsinki hardly counts as a rocking city.... tampere has a lot of bars and clubs for a town of its size!

Let me know if you want a tour

I am always happy to help;)

tampereblue · Post by **tampereblue** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:33 pm

cressers wrote:Salary in Tampere is likely not going to cover a helsinki apartment and a lot of train travel...

Tampere is a great city, I have lived in quite a few places, and Helsinki hardly counts as a rocking city.... tampere has a lot of bars and clubs for a town of its size!

Let me know if you want a tour I am always happy to help;)

Following Cressers' thinly disguised attempt at a request for a date

I can back him up and say that leaving Helsinki is not the end of the world. Tampere is a city, and a reasonable sized one at that. There is plenty going on for most people, party animals or otherwise. Certainly enough to warrant not paying to return to Helsinki every weekend, at least in my opinion anyway!

enk · Post by **enk** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:34 pm

And for foreigners, there's a heck of a lot more going on than in HKI!

-enk

zam · Post by **zam** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:37 pm

A 30 day train ticket for Pendolinos between Helsinki and Tampere would cost 426 EUR... A yearly ticket 10 times that = 4260 EUR. So count from there how many times you could spend a weekend and party in Helsinki with that kind of money. Not to speak about how much higher the rents are in Helsinki

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