Finland

Understand

History

Not much is known about Finland's early history, with archaeologists still debating when and where a tribe of Finno-Ugric speakers cropped up. The earliest certain evidence of human settlement is from 8900 BC. Roman historian Tacitus mentions a primitive and savage hunter tribe called Fenni in 100 AD, though there is no unanimity whether this means Finns or Sami. Even the Vikings chose not to settle, fearing the famed shamans of the area, and instead traded and plundered along the coasts. In the mid-1100s Sweden started out to conquer and Christianise the Finnish pagans in earnest, with Birger jarl extending its rule from Finland Proper to Tavastia in the 13th century. The expansion continued, competing with the Orthodox of Novgorod. While the population was Finnish-speaking, the Swedish kings installed a Swedish-speaking class of clergy and nobles in Finland, and enforced Western Christianity, succeeding in eliminating local animism and to a large part even Russian Orthodoxy. Farmers and fishermen from Sweden settled along the coast. Finland remained an integral part of Sweden until the 19th century, although there was near-constant warfare with Russia on the eastern border and two brief occupations. Sweden converted to Lutheran Protestantism, which marked the end of the Middle Ages, led to widespread literacy in Finnish and still defines many aspects of Finnish culture. After Sweden's final disastrous defeat in the Finnish War of 1808–1809, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy under Russian rule. The Finnish nation was built during the Russian time, while the Swedish heritage provided the political framework. The Finnish language, literature, music and arts developed, with active involvement by the (mostly Swedish speaking) educated class. Russian rule

See

Tourist commonly head for Helsinki, Lapland, the Lakeland or the Archipelago Sea. While it is more easy to find package tours and businesses used to foreigners at those locations, there are many interesting places elsewhere, and you

Getting there

Finland is a member of the Schengen Agreement. See Travelling around the Schengen Area for more information on how the scheme works, what countries are members and what the requirements are for your nationality. In summary:

There are normally no immigration controls between countries that have signed and implemented the treaty; there may be such controls temporarily, such as in connection with important events and various crises. The operators may carry out identity checks before passengers board international flights, ferries or trains, even between Schengen countries. Citizens of the EEA countries and Switzerland do not need visas to travel in the Schengen area, and may stay up to 90 days with no requirements other than having a valid ID card or passport. See European Union#EEA citizens. Normal visas granted by any Schengen member are valid in all countries that have signed and implemented the treaty (with exceptions for some overseas territories). The granting country may offer additional rights (such as longer stays or right to work) that apply only locally. You can read more about the topic on the Finnish Border Guard's website. Visas cannot be applied for on the road, but must be applied for in advance, in person at the Finnish embassy in your country or in another designated place (see instructions); for some countries a commercial entity handles the applications. In some countries, the processing of Finnish visa applications may be delegated to the embassy of another Nordic country. Most of the requirements are common for all the Schengen area, but what funds are regarded sufficient varies between countries. Visa processing times tend to be quite lengthy and the process might be one of the more stringent ones overall. It's not uncommon to wait for a month or mo

Getting around

Finland is a large country and travelling is relatively expensive. Public transportation is well organised and the equipment is always comfortable and often new, and advance bookings are rarely necessary outside the biggest holiday periods, but buying tickets on the net in advance (preferably as soon as you know your plans) may give significantly lower prices. Trains are usually the most comfortable and fastest method of inter-city travel, while bus may be needed for smaller towns and the countryside. There are several route planners available. VR and Matkahuolto provide timetable service nationwide for trains and coaches, respectively, and there are several regional and local planners. As of 2020, Google Maps and Apple Maps have coverage nationally. Opas.matka.fi includes train traffic, domestic flights, local transport of many cities and towns and public service obligation traffic (i.e. services offered on behalf of the government) in the countryside. Matkahuolto Reittiopas is focused on local, regional and long-distance buses and trains. There are deficiencies in most or all of the planners, so try different names (perhaps an intermediate town, or one which should be later on the same coach line) and main stops if you don't get a connection, and do a sanity check when you get one. You might also want to check more than one when services shown are sparse or complicated. Knowing the municipality and the name in both Finnish and Swedish is useful. Sometimes the local connections are unknown to the digital services. "Street addresses" work with many electronic maps also for the countryside. "Street numbers" outside built-up areas are based on the distance from the beginning of the road, in tens of metres, with even numbers on the left hand side: "Metsätie 101" is about a