◆ Country guide · Northern Europe

Finland, lakes to the Arctic

City guides

5.7M

People

UNESCO sites

Live destination map

Top 10 guideComing soon

Forest and water for most of its surface, a Baltic capital at one end and the Arctic at the other. Finland is planned by season before it is planned by map, because the same lake district is a swimming trip in July and a frozen road in February.

Finland at a glance

Best months

Jun · Jul · Feb

Ideal length

8–12 days

Budget / day

€110–190

Language

Finnish and Swedish

Getting around

Trains as far as Rovaniemi and Kolari

When to visit Finland

Two good seasons at opposite ends of the year, and three months between them that are nobody’s.

Full month guide →

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Best: February, March, June and August, the two seasons this country is actually built for Peak: July, when the lake towns, the festivals and the prices all fill up at once Good: January, May, September and December, quieter shoulders with one clear reason each Hardest: April, October and November, between the seasons, when there is neither snow nor daylight

Quick answer · where to go in Finland

Pick the season first. Helsinki works all year, with Suomenlinna, the design district and a shoreline sauna in one day, and Porvoo or Turku and the archipelago close by. Summer belongs to the Lakeland: Savonlinna, Kuopio, Tampere and the view from Koli. Winter moves north to Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle, Levi for skiing and Inari for Sámi Finland and the best aurora odds. A week does one half properly, and that is the better trip.

4 Finland city guides

The country layer comes first here. City guides follow it.

Rovaniemi

Finland · 10 picks

Turku

Finland · 10 picks

Tampere

Finland · 10 picks

Porvoo

Finland · 10 picks

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

UNESCO listed Finnish sauna culture as intangible heritage in 2020. The nomination counted roughly 3.3 million saunas for a population a little under 5.7 million, close to one per household, which puts saunas in apartment basements, offices and Lapland cabins alike.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to behave once you land.

"Finland is Lapland, and Lapland is one trip."

The realityLapland is a third of the country and the part almost nobody sees in summer, when the rest of Finland is at its best. The lakes, the archipelago and Helsinki are a different holiday in a different season, and doing Lapland and the lakes in one week means spending it moving.

"It is dark all winter and light all summer, everywhere."

The realityOnly above the Arctic Circle, home to a small fraction of Finns. Utsjoki, the northernmost municipality, has roughly fifty days of polar night and more than seventy of midnight sun. Helsinki, over eight hundred kilometres south, gets grey December afternoons and blue June nights.

"Finland is Scandinavian."

The realityIt is Nordic, the wider group. Finnish is not Germanic and is unrelated to Swedish, Norwegian or Danish. Finland was ruled from Stockholm for six centuries and Saint Petersburg for one, declared independence in 1917, and kept Swedish as a second official language.

"The sauna is a spa treatment you book."

The realityIt is a room, and there are roughly 3.3 million of them for 5.7 million people, in apartment blocks, offices and every lakeside cabin. Families and colleagues talk there, naked and single sex among strangers, and it comes free with your hotel. Treat it as a room you use.

Coffee at any hourSalty liquoriceQueues with a metre between peopleEveryone off to the summer cabinComfortable silenceWorld championships for absurd things

How to behave

Take your shoes off inside a home, always. Nobody will ask, and nobody will need to.
Sauna is normally naked and single sex when strangers are present. Sit on a towel, and go out and cool off whenever you want to.
Silence is not a problem to solve. Finns leave gaps in conversation and do not read them as awkward, so let them sit.
Say what you mean. Politeness here is accuracy, and an overstated compliment lands as insincere.
Punctuality is literal. Ten minutes late to something arranged is late, and it will be noticed.
Take a number ticket at pharmacies, bakeries and public offices, and do not stand close to anyone in the queue.
Wine and spirits above eight per cent are sold only at Alko, so plan drinks around its opening hours.

Famous Finnish faces

The names behind Finnish music, design, writing, screen, sport, science and politics. Pick a field.

Jean Sibelius

Seven symphonies, a violin concerto and Finlandia (1899). His home at Ainola is open.

Alvar Aalto

Made modernism warm in wood and brick. Paimio Sanatorium, Finlandia Hall, the Savoy vase.

Paavo Nurmi

The first Flying Finn: nine Olympic golds in the 1920s, run to a stopwatch in his hand.

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Led the army through the Winter and Continuation Wars, then served as sixth president.

Kimi Räikkönen

2007 Formula One world champion, the Iceman, and at retirement the most-started driver.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Painted the Kalevala, from the Aino triptych to the Defence of the Sampo.

Armi Ratia

Co-founded Marimekko in 1951 and made big prints on plain cotton a national language.

Eero Saarinen

Kirkkonummi-born designer of the Gateway Arch, the TWA Flight Center and the Tulip chair.

Frans Eemil Sillanpää

Nobel Prize in Literature in 1939, still the only Finnish literature laureate.

Väinö Linna

Wrote The Unknown Soldier (1954). Its film is broadcast every Independence Day.

Kaija Saariaho

Composer of L’Amour de loin, which reached the Metropolitan Opera in 2016.

Aki Kaurismäki

Deadpan director of The Man Without a Past, Grand Prix at Cannes in 2002.

Renny Harlin

Finnish director who went to Hollywood and made Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger.

Lasse Virén

Won the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at Munich in 1972 and again at Montreal in 1976.

Mika Häkkinen

Formula One world champion in 1998 and 1999, Michael Schumacher’s great rival.

Teemu Selänne

Scored 76 goals as an NHL rookie in 1992 and 1993, a record that still stands.

Jari Litmanen

Playmaker of the Ajax side that won the 1995 Champions League. Finland’s best footballer.

Artturi Ilmari Virtanen

Chemistry Nobel in 1945 for preserving fodder, so Nordic herds could eat through winter.

Bengt Holmström

Shared the 2016 economics Nobel for contract theory. Teaches at MIT.

Martti Ahtisaari

President 1994 to 2000, then a mediator from Namibia to Aceh. Nobel Peace Prize, 2008.

Tarja Halonen

Finland’s first woman president, elected in 2000 and serving two terms.

Sanna Marin

Prime minister at 34 in 2019, through the pandemic and the NATO application, until 2023.

Tove Jansson

Created the Moomins from 1945, and wrote some of the best short stories in Swedish.

Elias Lönnrot

Country doctor who collected Karelian oral poetry into the Kalevala, published in 1835.

Linus Torvalds

Wrote the first Linux kernel as a Helsinki student in 1991, and later wrote Git.

Minna Canth

Kuopio playwright on poverty and women’s rights, the first Finnish woman with a flag day.

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Conductor and composer, seventeen years at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Lordi

Won Eurovision in 2006 in monster costume, Finland’s first win after four decades.

Ragnar Granit

Shared the 1967 Nobel in medicine for work on how the eye turns light into signals.

Must-try Finnish food

Rye, lake fish, forest berries and a great deal of coffee. Pick a category.

Ruisleipä

Sour, dense, dark rye, usually a flat ring with a hole. Finns abroad have it posted.

Karjalanpaisti

Beef, pork and often lamb with onion, allspice and bay, left for hours in a low oven.

Hernekeitto ja pannukakku

Pea and pork soup with mustard, then oven pancake and jam. Thursday food nationwide.

Lihapullat

Meatballs in cream gravy with mash and lingonberry. Not the Swedish ones, Finns insist.

Mustamakkara

Tampere blood sausage with lingonberry jam and cold milk, sold at its market hall.

Lohikeitto

Salmon, potato, leek and dill in a creamy broth. The lakeside cafe lunch.

Kalakukko

Vendace and pork baked in a sealed rye loaf until the bones dissolve. Kuopio’s own.

Runebergintorttu

Almond-rum cake with raspberry jam, sold only before Runeberg’s day on 5 February.

Laskiaispulla

Cardamom bun filled with whipped cream and jam or almond paste. Finns take sides.

Lonkero

Gin and grapefruit soda, made for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The name means long drink.

Sahti

Farmhouse ale strained through juniper, brewed in Häme. Stronger than it tastes.

Karjalanpiirakka

Thin rye crust around rice porridge, eaten warm under egg butter. Every Finn eats them.

Graavilohi

Salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill, sliced thin on rye with mustard sauce.

Silakka

Herring, fried in rye flour or pickled. Helsinki holds a herring fair every October.

Muikku

Tiny vendace fried whole in rye flour, head and all, with garlic mayonnaise.

Poronkäristys

Shaved reindeer fried in butter, on mash with lingonberry. The dish Lapland is built on.

Leipäjuusto ja lakka

Squeaky baked cheese from the north, warmed, with cloudberry jam from the bogs.

Korvasienimuhennos

Creamed false morels, poisonous raw and safe only after parboiling twice.

Sienisalaatti

Funnel chanterelles or milk caps with cream and onion. Foraged by right, cooked at home.

Korvapuusti

Cinnamon and cardamom bun cut on the slant. The name means slapped ear.

Mustikkapiirakka

Bilberry pie on a soft base, sometimes over quark. Forest berries, and they stain.

Mämmi

Baked rye and malt pudding eaten cold with cream at Easter. Black, unpromising and good.

Kahvi

Light-roast filter coffee. Finns drink more per person than anyone, at any hour.

Sima

Lemon mead brewed at home for Vappu, the first of May, with a raisin in every bottle.

Salmiakki

Ammonium chloride liquorice, sold as sweets and spirit. It divides Finns from everyone.

Know before you go

The essentials for planning a Finland trip, entry and the cost of it first.

Entry

EU and Schengen, with biometric registration at the border

Finland is in the EU and Schengen. UK, US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand visitors need no visa for 90 days in any 180. Since 10 April 2026 the Entry/Exit System takes fingerprints and a photo.

Currency

Euro, and very little cash

The only Nordic country on the euro, and close to cashless. Cards work on buses, in market halls and in rural cafes. Carry a little cash for berry stalls, and always pay in euros at a terminal.

Languages

Finnish and Swedish, plus three Sámi languages

Finnish and Swedish are both official, so road signs carry two names. Swedish leads in Åland and parts of the coast. Three Sámi languages are recognised in the far north. English is near universal.

Getting around

Trains south and central, buses and a car in the north

Trains run well to Rovaniemi and Kolari. The overnight sleeper to Lapland carries cars and books out early for winter. Fly to Ivalo or Kittilä and hire a car for the fells. Winter tyres are mandatory.

Roaming outdoors

Everyman’s rights: walk, swim, pick and camp

Everyman’s rights let anyone walk, swim, forage and camp a night on private land, away from homes and fields, leaving nothing behind. National parks are free. Fires need permission or a marked pit.

Alcohol

Up to eight per cent in shops, stronger only at Alko

Supermarkets sell drinks up to 8.0 per cent. Wine and spirits come from Alko, the state monopoly, which may open daily from nine to nine. The drinking age is 18 for beer and wine, 20 for spirits.

Sauna

Included, not extra, and normally naked

Almost every hotel, campsite and cottage has one, included in the price. Public saunas are mixed, with swimwear. Private ones are single sex and naked. Sit on a towel, add steam, cool off outside.

Tipping

Not expected anywhere

Service is included by law and staff earn a full wage. Rounding up is a compliment, leaving nothing is normal, and card terminals never prompt.

Tap water

Among the best anywhere, everywhere

Soft, cold and closely monitored, so skip bottled water. Lapland streams are normally drinkable too, and park huts flag the exceptions.

Winter kit

Layers, real boots and something for the wind

Inland Lapland falls well below minus twenty, and damp Baltic wind makes the south feel colder than it reads. Pack thermals, an insulated jacket and boots with grip. Aurora operators lend oversuits.

Finland travel FAQ

Do you need a visa for Finland?+

Finland is in the European Union and the Schengen area, so citizens of the EU and the EEA travel on free movement and there is no border check arriving from another Schengen country. Visitors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand need no visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180. Since 10 April 2026 the EU Entry/Exit System has been fully operational, so non-EU travellers are registered with fingerprints and a facial image at the external border, and passports are no longer stamped. ETIAS, the pre-travel authorisation that will sit alongside it, is not yet in force and its start date has moved more than once, so check the current position before booking.

When is the best time to visit Finland?+

There are two good seasons and they are opposite halves of the year, so the honest answer depends on which country you want. June to August is the summer one: white nights, warm lake water, the archipelago open, festivals every weekend, and Lapland green. February and March are the winter one: deep, reliable snow, daylight back after the polar night, groomed ski trails and the best combination of aurora and usable hours. April, October and November are the months to avoid, because they fall between the two and offer neither snow nor light.

Where are the best odds for the northern lights?+

The further north the better, and the further from town lights. The Finnish Meteorological Institute puts aurora on the majority of clear nights in the far north around Utsjoki and Kilpisjärvi, with Rovaniemi and the Arctic Circle belt seeing them considerably less often. The season runs from roughly late August to early April, because you need real darkness and there is none of it in a Lapland summer. Give yourself several nights, stay somewhere you can walk away from lighting, and treat any single-night tour as a coin flip.

Is Finland expensive?+

It is Nordic, so yes by most standards, but it is the cheapest of the Nordic countries and noticeably less punishing than Norway or Iceland. Restaurants and alcohol are where the money goes, and both are heavily taxed. Almost everything else is reasonable: trains and buses are fairly priced and cheapest booked early, museums are modest, tap water is excellent, saunas are included where you are staying, and hiking, swimming, foraging and wild camping are free by law. A trip built on supermarkets, public transport and the outdoors costs a fraction of one built on restaurants and guided activities.

How many days do you need in Finland?+

A week does one half of the country properly. In summer that means Helsinki plus a lake base, or Helsinki plus Turku and the archipelago; in winter it means Helsinki plus one Lapland base, with three or four nights in the north to give the aurora a fair chance. Ten to twelve days is what it takes to do both a city and a real week somewhere else without spending the trip in transit. Trying to fit the Lakeland and Lapland into one week is the mistake most itineraries make, because the distances are Nordic and the seasons pull in opposite directions.

Do you need to speak Finnish?+

No. English is spoken close to universally under retirement age and is used freely in shops, restaurants, museums and on public transport, and staff will switch to it without being asked. Signage is bilingual in Finnish and Swedish and often carries English as well. Finnish is unrelated to any language you are likely to know, so nobody expects a visitor to attempt it, though kiitos for thank you is always welcome.

Finland by theme

Themed Top 10s that pass through Finland.

All themes →

№01→

Northern lights

Planning a Finnish trip?

Subscribe to the Wimup newsletter for new guides, travel news and more.