Helsinki bound! Sailing out of Stockholm past all the islands on the cruise ferry to Helsinki... Courtesy of Michael Herbert & Bernadette Hyland |
UK to Finland without flying...
It's easy to travel from London to Helsinki by train and ferry, a wonderful 3-day 2-night journey across Scandinavia with a lot to see on the way. It's a great alternative to an unnecessary flight. On this page you'll find a step-by-step guide to planning, booking & making a journey from the UK to Finland by train or ferry, with train & ferry timetables, approximate fares, and the best way to buy tickets.
Train times, fares & how to buy tickets...
Which route should you choose?
London to Helsinki by train to Stockholm then ferry to Finland
London to Helsinki by train to Hamburg then ferry from Travemünde to Finland
Train travel within Finland - the Night Train to Lapland...
Trains & ferries from Helsinki to other European cities
Trains & ferries to Helsinki from other European cities
Helsinki to St Petersburg & Moscow by train
Sponsored links...
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Useful country information
Which route should you choose?There are several good options for reaching Finland in comfort without flying:
London to Helsinki via Copenhagen & StockholmThis is the fastest option, with daily departures. You travel from London to Hamburg by Eurostar & onward trains on day 1 from just €59, stay overnight in Hamburg, then travel from Hamburg to Stockholm on day 2 from as little as €39. Take a bottle of wine and a good book, and enjoy a 2-day train ride across Europe on modern & comfortable trains with not an airport security queue in sight. Stay overnight in Stockholm and take the daytime ferry+train service to Helsinki next day, for as little as €39.50. Or spend the day in Stockholm and take the overnight cruise ferry to Helsinki with a comfortable en suite cabin reserved. What's the journey like? Note that the Cologne to Copenhagen sleeper train was discontinued from November 2014. London ► Helsinki
Helsinki ► London
How much does it cost?
How to buy tickets online...
How to buy tickets by phone...
Custom-made train travel + hotel arrangements...
What's the journey like?...London to Cologne by Eurostar & ICE: Watch the video guide....Cologne to Hamburg by InterCity train.
...Hamburg to Copenhagen by ICE.
...Copenhagen to Stockholm by SJ2000.
...Stockholm to Turku by cruise ferry & train to Helsinki.
...or Stockholm to Helsinki by direct overnight cruise ferry.
London to Helsinki by ferry from Travemünde
This leisurely option runs every day and takes 3 nights outward to Helsinki, just 2 nights inward back to London. In the outward direction it includes a day at leisure exploring Hamburg, too. Take a morning Eurostar to Brussels and onward trains to Hamburg, and stay overnight. After a day exploring Hamburg, transfer by local train to Travemünde on Germany's Baltic coast, then take the daily Finnlines ferry from Travemünde to Helsinki, a 2-night cruise. This route is shown on the route map above in red between London & Hamburg and in dark blue between Hamburg & Helsinki. London ► Helsinki
Day 2 evening, transfer from Hamburg to 'Lübeck Travemünde
Skandinavienkai Terminal' by local train and bus. You take a local train
from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof to Lübeck which runs every 30 minutes throughout the
day, hourly in the evening, journey time 42-43 minutes. At Lübeck, leave
the station and follow the signs to the ZOB bus station.
Lübeck is a good place for an early dinner, there are plenty
of bars and restaurants in the old town just 5 minutes walk
from the bus station. Now take a bus from Lübeck bus
station to 'Travemünde Skandinavienkai Terminal' (note
that this is not the same stop as 'Travemünde
Skandinavienkai'), the bus ride takes 28 minutes and the
last bus goes around 21:00. You can check journey times from
Hamburg to Travemünde Skandinavienkai Terminal at the German
Railways website,
just use this link to bahn.de as it has the bus times in
its database as well as the trains, or you can find bus
information at
www.xn--sv-lbeck-95a.de. At the terminal,
walk into the unassuming building next to the bus stop for check
in. You're looking for a large building marked
HafenHaus and with a green neon 'Check in' sign by the front
door. After check-in, you go downstairs to a large
waiting hall, with a bar/cafe open until 10pm, toilets and a
large supermarket open until 01:30 selling alcohol and
chocolate.
Day 2-3, sail from Travemünde to Helsinki on the daily
Finnlines ferry, see
www.finnlines.com. The ship boards from 22:30 to
24:00 (day 2), foot passengers are driven onto the car deck
in a minibus. The ship sails at 03:00 (day 3), arriving at
Helsinki Vuosaari ferry terminal outside Helsinki at 08:00
on day 4. The ship may not be quite as glamorous as
some other cruise ferries on the Baltic, but it has all the
essentials: Comfortable cabins with private shower &
toilet and free internet access (but not WiFi, so bring a
network cable), restaurant, shop, bar, sundeck, and
(naturally, being Finnish) a sauna. It's a very
civilised way to travel. Day 4, transfer from the Vuosaari terminal to central
Helsinki. Helsinki's new Hansa Ferry Terminal in the
Vuosaari Harbour is 16km east of central Helsinki.
There is a bus connection (bus 90B) between Vuosaari harbour
and Vuosaari metro station. Take the metro from
Vuosaari into central Helsinki, journey time 25 minutes.
Map of Helsinki showing Vuosaari. Day 1,
transfer from Helsinki to the Vuosaari ferry terminal,
some 16 km east of Helsinki. You can take the
metro from anywhere in central Helsinki to Vuosaari
station, then bus 90B from Vuosaari metro station to the
Vuosaari's Hansa ferry terminal.
Map of Helsinki showing Vuosaari. Day 1, sail
from Helsinki to Travemünde on the daily Finnlines
ferry, see
www.finnlines.com. Check in is between 13:30
and 16:30. The ship sails at 17:30 (15:00 Sundays) and arrives at
Travemünde at 21:00 the next day (day 2). The ship
is has all the essentials: Comfortable cabins with
private shower & toilet and free internet access (but
not WiFi, so bring a network cable), restaurant, shop,
bar, sundeck, and sauna. Day 2,
transfer by bus and local train to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.
Buses link the ferry terminal (Travemünde
Skandinavienkai Terminal) with Lübeck ZOB bus station,
it's a short walk to Lübeck station, then local trains
run every 30-60 minutes to Hamburg Hbf. Spend the
night in a hotel in Hamburg. Starting with the cheapest, suggested
hotels next to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof with good reviews include the
Hotel Continental Novum,
Hotel Furst Bismarck,
Hotel Europaischer Hof,
Hotel Atlantic Kempinski. If you're on a budget, private rooms with en
suite shower & toilet in the A&O Hotel near Hamburg Hauptbahnhof start at around
£33 for one person or £49 for two people booked at
www.hostelbookers.com. Alternatively, you
could spend the night in Travemünde or Lübeck if you
prefer, and transfer into Hamburg next morning. Day 3,
travel from Hamburg to London using any of the
options shown on the Germany page. For
example, the 06:46 InterCity from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof,
change at Cologne for an ICE train to Brussels, change
at Brussels for the Eurostar to London, will get you to
London St Pancras at 16:05. Or have a leisurely breakfast
and take the 11:46 from Hamburg, change at Cologne and
Brussels, arriving London at 21:03. London to Hamburg by train starts from €59
(£46) with a Sparpreis London fare at
www.bahn.de,
though the price varies. Hamburg to
Travemünde by local train and bus costs only a few
euros. Travemünde to
Helsinki by Finnlines ferry costs between €120 and €155 (£95-£120) each way in a reclining seat depending on
the day and season. However, I recommend a cabin.
The fare including a bed in a 3-bed shared inside cabin is
between €200 and €287 each way. The fare including
a bed in a 2-bed outside cabin is between €279 and €413 each way. Children under 6 go free, and
there are reduced fares for children 6 to 12 and youth fares
for children 13-17. See the fares at
www.finnlines.com. Hamburg to
London by daytime trains starts at just €49 (£46)
with a Sparpreis London fare, if one is available, though the
price varies. It takes several websites so it's best to try a dry-run on all of them first to check prices and availability before booking for real. Here's how it's done:
How to buy tickets by phone...
How to check train times & buy tickets for Finland...It's easy to check Finnish train times and buy tickets online at the Finnish Railways site www.vr.fi, English button top right. Bookings open several months in advance, and note that it goes offline 01:30 to 04:00 Finnish time. If you book more than 7 days but less than 60 days in advance, you can buy lower-priced Advance fares, so pre-booking usually saves money. You can choose to print your own ticket, collect it from the self-service machines or staffed ticket counter at any main VR station, or in some cases an e-ticket can be sent to your mobile phone. Helsinki station...Designed by famous Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, at Helsinki station you'll find the usual range of services: Ticket counters, left luggage, food stores, newsagents, restaurants and cafes. Photos courtesy of Michael Banbrook The night train to Lapland...There are daytime trains from Helsinki to Oulu, Kemi, Rovaniemi & Kemijärvi, or you can use one of the time-effective sleeper trains, now equipped with air-conditioned double-deck sleeping-cars, all sleepers with cosy duvets, washbasin, soap & towels provided. Some deluxe compartments have a private toilet & shower. You can buy sleeper tickets to Lapland at www.vr.fi and print out your own ticket.
Recommended guidebooksYou should take a good guidebook. For the independent traveller, I think this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. I personally prefer the layout of the Lonely Planet, but others prefer the Rough Guide. Both guidebooks provide the same excellent level of practical information and historical background. You won't regret buying one! My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based on this website called "The Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008, and is available from Amazon with shipping worldwide. Click the images to buy at Amazon.co.uk...Or buy direct at the Lonely Planet website, shipping worldwide. The European Rail Timetable & mapsThe European Rail Timetable (formerly the Thomas Cook European Timetable) has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency & climate information. It is essential for regular European train travellers and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Published since 1873, it had just celebrated 140 years of publication when Thomas Cook decided to pull the plug on their entire publishing department, but the dedicated ex-Thomas Cook team have set up a private venture and published the first edition of a reborn European Rail Timetable in March 2014. You can buy it online with worldwide shipping at either www.stanfords.co.uk or www.europeanrailtimetable.eu. More information on what the European Rail Timetable contains. A Traveller's Railway Map of Europe covers the whole of Europe from Portugal in the west to Moscow & Istanbul in the east, Finland in the north to Sicily & Athens in the south. On the back are detailed maps of Switzerland, Benelux & Germany, plus city plans showing stations in major cities. Scenic & high-speed routes highlighted. Buy it online for £14.50 + postage worldwide (UK addresses £2.80) at www.stanfords.co.uk/Continents/Europe-A-Travellers-Railway-Map_9789077899090.htm or (in the Netherlands) for €13 + €5.50 postage from www.treinreiswinkel.nl. Find hotels in Helsinki & Scandinavia...
Backpacker hostels: www.hostelbookers.com...
Travel insurance & health card...Take out decent travel insurance, it's essential...Never travel without proper travel insurance from a reliable insurer with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of cash & belongings (up to a limit), and trip cancellation. An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year - I have an annual policy myself. However, don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here. Here are some suggested insurers, Seat61 gets a little commission if you buy through these links, and feedback from using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. In the UK, use www.confused.com to compare prices & policy features across major insurance companies.
If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over 65, see www.JustTravelCover.com - 10% discount with code seat61. If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try Columbus Direct's other websites. If you live in the USA try Travel Guard USA. Get an EU health card, it's free...If you're a UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx. It doesn't remove the need for travel insurance, though. Carry a spare credit card, designed for travel with no currency exchange loading & low/no ATM feesTaking out an extra credit card costs nothing, but if you keep it in a different part of your luggage you won't be left stranded if your wallet gets stolen. In addition, some credit cards are better for overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which UK credit cards have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when you use an ATM abroad.
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