Finland (1 Viewer)

[Germanshepherd]

Hello I think I may have introduced myself in the wrong section. Any this is all new to me, I have been campervanning in central Europe for some years. My wife and me would like to drive from Sussex to Finland at the end of August with our dog. We hope to have a new Vw t5 pop top soon.
We are retired so time is aplenty .
All advice/tips would be greatly welcome.
Best route/ferry to Finland.
Is it best to take provisions to save on costs.
Thanks.

 

[Coolbeanz]

:welcomefunster: welcome to the FUN and someone is bound to be along shortly who will be able to give you good advice on your impending trip. :thumb:

 

[Dawn B]

HI & :welcomefunster:

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[poki]

:welcomefunster:

 

[Onderweg]

Hi GermanShepard

Sundowners wrote a great item about his trip to Scandinavia made in 2013 (click here)

He is very good in describing things so i am sure you will find some nice ideas in his thread

We also made a few entries about traveling in Scandinavia and this one might be of interest to you too (its dated 2009 so prices have changed, but the general idea didnt of course) Click here

Hope this is a good starter for you

Paul and Ineke

 

[DBK]

I used to work with a company in Finland. It is big, flat and has LOTS of trees. Find time to look up the old quarter of Porvoo, the countries' second oldest town.

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[f6c]

Welcome

Welcome aboard

 

[Sundowners]

Onderweg beat us to it, wrote this post out before I had seen his post - so apologies if anything repeated:


We spent some time there in 2013 - we travelled north through the centre of Sweden, up to Kiruna and went into Norway to Narvik, then travelled up to the North Cape and across the top of Norway then down into Finland, then back through Sweden. Finland and Sweden are about the same cost of living wise, Norway EXPENSIVE, when we needed supplies in Norway, we would pop over the border into either Sweden or Finland and top up with groceries and fuel, then back into Norway again.

We were there in June and July. Mosquitos we rife in the north of Finland at that time - we are hoping to go back this year, but it will be August and September, so you have the time of year right. We have been told that the mosquitos are worse in the north.

We travelled from Dover to Calais and drove through Germany to the ferry port at Travemunde and took a 9 hour crossing to Malmo, Sweden through Finnlines. This was by far the most economical route, we bought a Key Camping Europe card which gave us 15% discount, it also gives discounts for campsites, but we did not use any as you can wild camp anywhere, as long as it is not within 90 metres of a house. You obviously need to be self sufficient, if you have a solar panel, it works well as it is daylight night and day. Water is easy to come by and dumping is not a problem either. If you have time and feel like a read look at our thread on our trip here Broken Link Removed

As far as getting over to Finland, we have heard one of the best places to get the ferry is from Stockholm to Turku, we only went to the north of Finland, so can't comment on south.

If you want to go direct to Finland, there are ferries that do this, can't help with those I'm afraid.

If we can be of any more help just let us know. We are travelling in Portugal at the moment and internet might be a bit hit and miss. Happy travels in whatever you decide.
We can't praise Sweden enough, we love it so much we are planning our second trip out.

Nigel and Pamala

 

[Onderweg]

Nigel

Could not catch up with you in Sweden, but did it now

Paul

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[Zains Pops]

Hi went through Finland a few years back whilst on a Scandinavian road trip. We arrived in the very far north after a visit to North Cape in Norway. We then drove down the length of Finland and left through Helsinki on a ferry to Tallinn in Estonia. Then we came through Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania,Poland, Germany Holland and home on the ferry from Hook van Holland to Harwich. It was an interesting run, Finland was frozen over when we went through in April. If you have a thing about trees and lakes it's your place to visit, it was not as expensive as The other Scandinavian countries, Norway won that prize.
The fastest way to go would be Harwich To esjberg Denmark then drive to Stockholm and catch the ferry to Turku (Finland). You pays your money and take your choice.

 

[Soaringman]

Used to be a sales manager for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, selling high tech printing equipment, great memories
When I went to Finland, my favourite route was by ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. 24 hours, wonderful scenery and a mini cruise. Finland is a huge country, be careful not to hit a moose
Have fun:thumb:

 

[Germanshepherd]

Hi GermanShepard

Sundowners wrote a great item about his trip to Scandinavia made in 2013 (click here)

He is very good in describing things so i am sure you will find some nice ideas in his thread

We also made a few entries about traveling in Scandinavia and this one might be of interest to you too (its dated 2009 so prices have changed, but the general idea didnt of course) Click here

Hope this is a good starter for you

Paul and Ineke

Hello thank you for your reply I have a read, thanks again

David

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[Germanshepherd]

Used to be a sales manager for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, selling high tech printing equipment, great memories
When I went to Finland, my favourite route was by ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. 24 hours, wonderful scenery and a mini cruise. Finland is a huge country, be careful not to hit a moose
Have fun:thumb:

Hello thanks for your reply, the only thing about ferries are that with a dog the journey time can only be 2-3 hours

 

[Germanshepherd]

Hi went through Finland a few years back whilst on a Scandinavian road trip. We arrived in the very far north after a visit to North Cape in Norway. We then drove down the length of Finland and left through Helsinki on a ferry to Tallinn in Estonia. Then we came through Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania,Poland, Germany Holland and home on the ferry from Hook van Holland to Harwich. It was an interesting run, Finland was frozen over when we went through in April. If you have a thing about trees and lakes it's your place to visit, it was not as expensive as The other Scandinavian countries, Norway won that prize.
The fastest way to go would be Harwich To esjberg Denmark then drive to Stockholm and catch the ferry to Turku (Finland). You pays your money and take your choice.

Hi thanks for the information. Im a bit limited taking a ferry because we travel with our German Shepherd so any sailing more than 2-3 hours would be a problem. However doing your return route in reverse might be easier.

 

[Zains Pops]

Hi thanks for the information. Im a bit limited taking a ferry because we travel with our German Shepherd so any sailing more than 2-3 hours would be a problem. However doing your return route in reverse might be easier.

Hi yes, if you use Dover Calais followed up with Tallinn Helsinki you can keep the ferry trips to 90 minutes each no problem.
Take any booze you require into Finland as it's a bit pricy, there were loads of Finnish booze cruisers on the ferry with us visiting Estonia to restock.
The countries of the former East are an interesting experience, and patience is a valuable asset as some of their roads are slow going due to traffic. The locals as usual are very friendly and welcome visitors. Enjoy the trip.

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[SteveandSue]

Hi - why would you think of going to Finland? Try France - much better
No Mozzies - Less trees - less Lakes - and they don't speak Finnish!
If you really think its a good idea there are a couple of other travel options that you could think about to get there - Will send you a PM
Steve & Sue

 

[MR. FUSION]

I MH'd the length of Finland in may/June last year, via Tallin to Helsinki ferry. If you want an adventure go via the Baltics the only place I encountered hassle was Tallin, you have to be careful there even in the official MH park.

Being a fan of Harry Palmer and Billion Dollar Brain film Helsinki was great and I visited most of the film locations :thumb:

Finland is OK expense wise, Diesel is not much more than the UK. There are plenty of reasonably priced supermarkets including Aldi. (I used the Europe by camper maps for shops and parking places amoungst others) The southern lakes are nice and wild camping is OK. I wild camped in a zoo car park and some parks and lots of other interesting places. I stayed for free at Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Lapland, ate reindeer burger and stood across the arctic circle. I also camped at a few service stations where they usually just charge you about 5 euros a day for EHU. If you go when I went its 24 hours daylight so you can drive when you want and park when you want in daylight.

If you go further north Finland becomes a proper serious wilderness, 100's of miles of it, you won't see another vehicle for hours, but you will see clean lakes rivers and trees (less as you get into tundra) . And when I say clean I mean clean. I got driving fever and just kept on going north and ended up at Nordkapp, as it happened on the longest day, so watched the midnight sun with lots of other MH'ers.

Enjoy if you go. :thumb:

 

[Kryten]

Hi there David!

:welcomefunster:

I'm new to this game and only very recently joined this place. I'm looking to get a motorhome soon. :thumb:

Enjoy your trip to Finland!

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