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Finland
Santa obviously gave gifts to his homeland first – the ethereal aurora borealis dancing across indigo skies, midnight sun to hike under, stylish cities for hectic fun and pristine wilderness for quiet contemplation. Unlock the secrets of this northern nation with our inspiring and insightful guide.Explore – kayak, hike and bike with our practical activities chapterBe Inspired – color highlights and tailored itineraries help you make the most of your tripStay In Style – discerning sleeping options for all budgets, from waterside wooden cottages to sleek boutique hotelsImmerse Yourself – the Kalevala to Kaurismäki, folk festivals to urban design – incisive arts and culture coverage gets you under the skinSpeak Up – be understood with our user-friendly language chapter and pronunciation guide
384 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 8, 2017
Finnished.
October 31, 2008
Having moved to Helsinki last August and traveled around a bit, I've used the 5th edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Finland for several months now, mainly in the south of the country. I found the guide useful, but certain aspects of it invite comment.
LONELY PLANET FINLAND does cover all of the standard sightseeing objectives in the country, including museums and natural areas outside of the largest cities. And while maps are often problematic in Lonely Planet guides, I found no errors at all in this one. The activities recommended in cities like Helsinki are spot-on, free of kitsch routes and putting travelers in good contact with the locals. The author clearly thinks that most people will be in the south of Finland in the summer, since visiting places like Suomenlinna wouldn't be all that interesting in the cold and dark time of the year, but this I suppose is a reasonable assumption. And since the guide was written by a single person, Andy Symington, it is more coherent in its rating of destinations and activities than the often self-contradictory guidance of collaborative Lonely Planet efforts.
But while the book is a good companion once one has settled in at one's destination, quite objectionable is its guidance on lodging and travel, with so much inexplicably geared towards wealthy travelers. Finland has a high cost of living, true, but it can be a very cheap destination for the backpacker. You know, that demographic that Lonely Planet has historically targeted. The inclusion of hotels that charge 200 euro/night or more is simply ridiculous; travelers that would fork over that much are much more likely to buy the simpler Berlitz, Fodor's, or Frommer's guides. Even recommendation of so many hostels and guesthouses in each locale seems unnecessary. Basically the entire country is now covered by free Internet hospitality services like Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing, so there's no need to pay for lodging and tours when chances are some kind local will give it to you all in exchange for just interesting conversation and cultural exchange. Similarly, coverage of the north of the country seems excessively concerned with expensive guided tours and safaris.
The preference for expensive lodging is mirrored by the exclusive attention paid to Finland's notoriously pricely train and bus systems. I was happy to see that the Directory of the Finland guide lacks the scary "hitchhiking is never entirely safe and we don't recommend it" text the publisher favours, and in fact the author is fairly positive about it. Unfortunately, this kind look towards hitchhiking doesn't actually translate into giving tips on it. Cutting out the luxury hotel listings that no one will use anyway would free up space for simple advice like "In Tampere, the most popular place to hitchhike towards Helsinki among local students is Viinikka crossroads, a ten-minute walk south from the bus station."
If you are going to Finland to visit just a couple of cities and have already secured lodging and know how to travel cheaply, you should have no problem printing out some information about basic sightseeing from freely available resources on the Web. I found Lonely Planet Finland a decent investment, but only because I've gone out to see many places around the country.
LONELY PLANET FINLAND does cover all of the standard sightseeing objectives in the country, including museums and natural areas outside of the largest cities. And while maps are often problematic in Lonely Planet guides, I found no errors at all in this one. The activities recommended in cities like Helsinki are spot-on, free of kitsch routes and putting travelers in good contact with the locals. The author clearly thinks that most people will be in the south of Finland in the summer, since visiting places like Suomenlinna wouldn't be all that interesting in the cold and dark time of the year, but this I suppose is a reasonable assumption. And since the guide was written by a single person, Andy Symington, it is more coherent in its rating of destinations and activities than the often self-contradictory guidance of collaborative Lonely Planet efforts.
But while the book is a good companion once one has settled in at one's destination, quite objectionable is its guidance on lodging and travel, with so much inexplicably geared towards wealthy travelers. Finland has a high cost of living, true, but it can be a very cheap destination for the backpacker. You know, that demographic that Lonely Planet has historically targeted. The inclusion of hotels that charge 200 euro/night or more is simply ridiculous; travelers that would fork over that much are much more likely to buy the simpler Berlitz, Fodor's, or Frommer's guides. Even recommendation of so many hostels and guesthouses in each locale seems unnecessary. Basically the entire country is now covered by free Internet hospitality services like Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing, so there's no need to pay for lodging and tours when chances are some kind local will give it to you all in exchange for just interesting conversation and cultural exchange. Similarly, coverage of the north of the country seems excessively concerned with expensive guided tours and safaris.
The preference for expensive lodging is mirrored by the exclusive attention paid to Finland's notoriously pricely train and bus systems. I was happy to see that the Directory of the Finland guide lacks the scary "hitchhiking is never entirely safe and we don't recommend it" text the publisher favours, and in fact the author is fairly positive about it. Unfortunately, this kind look towards hitchhiking doesn't actually translate into giving tips on it. Cutting out the luxury hotel listings that no one will use anyway would free up space for simple advice like "In Tampere, the most popular place to hitchhike towards Helsinki among local students is Viinikka crossroads, a ten-minute walk south from the bus station."
If you are going to Finland to visit just a couple of cities and have already secured lodging and know how to travel cheaply, you should have no problem printing out some information about basic sightseeing from freely available resources on the Web. I found Lonely Planet Finland a decent investment, but only because I've gone out to see many places around the country.
June 18, 2015
Da consultare.
January 1, 2019
I’m not sure how or why these Lonely Planet books are popular. I thought I’d borrow this book from Overdrive for my upcoming trip. I guess it was a good start as I could google or YouTube information briefly brought up in the book.
December 4, 2017
Did not use this guide as much as I might have. There was a lot of information on Finland, but I stayed mostly in Helsinki, so that was wasted on me.
April 5, 2018
It was helpful while I was in Finland, especially the maps.
March 31, 2022
very helpful for someone wanting to travel in Finland but personally there should be more pictures
February 12, 2025
Short, but gives a good general idea of places
October 6, 2016
Somewhat helpful, but I hoped for more historical informations.
August 29, 2014
Got this on Kindle because I thought it would be a good idea not to have to haul several books around - and it was, making packing and travelling much easier.
Plenty of useful tips and good advice about restaurants and places to go, and most of the information on trains etc were still up to date. As often the case, I appreciated the Lonely Planet cultural details on history and what the recent situation in the country has been to help me put things into context.
The maps were a big let down in the Kindle format though - in the book quite unreadable due to being too small and then unclear when blown up. I downloaded a couple of PDFs of the more important maps from the LP website before I left, and those were much more readable - but unfortunately did not have a key, so you had to keep flipping back and forth between the PDF and the book to find out what you were looking at, or looking for. Also the index use in the book was inadequate and I had to keep bookmarking pages which I wanted to come back to, but due to the current software with Kindle it is not always easy to distinguish one bookmark from another, so navigating around the book was somewhat slow.
I only used this for Helsinki, so perhaps not as useful as it could have been, but it helped enhance my trip - generally a useful guide, though the Kindle format had its disadvantages to counter the advantages.
Plenty of useful tips and good advice about restaurants and places to go, and most of the information on trains etc were still up to date. As often the case, I appreciated the Lonely Planet cultural details on history and what the recent situation in the country has been to help me put things into context.
The maps were a big let down in the Kindle format though - in the book quite unreadable due to being too small and then unclear when blown up. I downloaded a couple of PDFs of the more important maps from the LP website before I left, and those were much more readable - but unfortunately did not have a key, so you had to keep flipping back and forth between the PDF and the book to find out what you were looking at, or looking for. Also the index use in the book was inadequate and I had to keep bookmarking pages which I wanted to come back to, but due to the current software with Kindle it is not always easy to distinguish one bookmark from another, so navigating around the book was somewhat slow.
I only used this for Helsinki, so perhaps not as useful as it could have been, but it helped enhance my trip - generally a useful guide, though the Kindle format had its disadvantages to counter the advantages.
August 23, 2013
This book was invaluable, partly I suspect because the authors loved Finland so much and it helps that a lot of their interests are similar to mine. They are good enough authors also, to be able to give analytical evaluations of their opinions, in case you do not share their enthusiasms.
I totally fell, stars-in-the-eyes in love with Finland and this guide eased my way to doing so, by giving useful information about the country, the people, the language and available activities; cheers guys.
The reviews of market squares and market halls, intrigued me enough to go looking for them even where they were not easy to find, and I am so glad I did.
The getting there & away sections worked exceptionally well for me as did the getting around segments.
My only negative feedback in this guide is the same negative feedback I have had for every LP guide for several years; what is with the disproportionate space wasted everywhere on the idiotic 3-4 star hotel ratings? I guess they make money on it somehow.
I'm hanging on to this guide as I fervently hope to get back to Finland some day.
I totally fell, stars-in-the-eyes in love with Finland and this guide eased my way to doing so, by giving useful information about the country, the people, the language and available activities; cheers guys.
The reviews of market squares and market halls, intrigued me enough to go looking for them even where they were not easy to find, and I am so glad I did.
The getting there & away sections worked exceptionally well for me as did the getting around segments.
My only negative feedback in this guide is the same negative feedback I have had for every LP guide for several years; what is with the disproportionate space wasted everywhere on the idiotic 3-4 star hotel ratings? I guess they make money on it somehow.
I'm hanging on to this guide as I fervently hope to get back to Finland some day.
September 23, 2013
I grabbed this book at a bazaar because it was only 5 Euro. It´s a great book, which really tries to look behind the first glimpse of Finland. The country is shown as I have experienced it as well, during the 6 years I was so fortunate to live there. I will go back to finland in one week and this was a perfect book to get me in the mood. I miss it more than I like to admit. Finland is so original, so different, so unknown.. how I would love to have time to explore more of it!! I especially loved to recognize places I have been to myself. For me, this book is mostly not a guide, but a book of memories :)
August 7, 2025
This well-rounded guide is the most comprehensive Lonely Planet has on Finland, blending practical planning info with elements of cultural immersion. You'll find itineraries, insider tips, and maps across every region—from the Åland Islands to Lapland. A useful companion for newcomers and regular visitors alike (I'm in the latter category).
April 19, 2007
The most useful book I read in 2006! Our 3 week trip last June was amazing thanks to this book (and because we bought a cell phone when we landed. Both were definite necessities.
December 16, 2007
B Gave me some good ideas but ultimately I want to go to Costa Rica to practise my Spanish, especially since the Northern Lights are more in Feb or Mar. Mah
November 14, 2013
Helpful when I eventually visit Finland - home of my ancestry.
August 12, 2024
Includes a section on Lapland!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews