HELP: Any northern europe guru can help me...
 

I am going to spend around a week in northern europe from 29/12 before heading to Baltic countries, but we got some very serious problems unsolved even asking many peers/travel agents. Hope I can seek for some help and opinions here...

(1) We plan to visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Rovaniemi in the trip. At the very beginning, we expected to buy a Scand train pass and take trains for most parts of the route. As I will meet my friend in Stockholm, we wanted to go by the following route:

Stockholm > Copenhagen > Stockholm > Helsinki > Rovaniemi > Helsinki > Ship to Tallinn of Estonia to start the Baltic countries.

However, we feel that it's a bit silly to go back and forth Stockholm, so this route doesn't seem very nice. It will be better if we can fly to Helsinki (or even Rovaniemi!) directly, or training thru other locations instead of Stockholm.

I then contacted my local travel agent (in Hong Kong) and wanted to book a flight from Copenhagen to Helsinki, however only Finnair allows us to book overseas from HK, and costed over 200 euro for a single trip.

Anyone can suggest a way to modify our itinery so it looks better? Should or can I put Copenhagen in other order? Can I get a better offer of flight? My friend is in London now, will she get a better rate if she contacts Finnair or any discounted ticket agent there? Or should we give up Rovaniemi???


(2) Is 29 Dec -10 Jan a peak season there? Will it be very difficult for us to get train seat or sleeper if we just reserve after arriving there?

(3) Have heard that we can see northern light in Rovaniemi or Lapland region. Just wonder if we finally cannot make it, will we be able to see northern light in Helsinki? Or it need to be more northern in order to see it?

(4) Have expected that it must be freakingly cold there (esp. Lapland, if we are lucky enough to make it). Do I need to buy all kind of artic clothings (Gore-tex outfit, snow boots, gloves)? Or it will be some tourist companies we can rent a set to use for a day or two?

I know it's really late for me to send a SOS message here... I tried all my effort to look for info but can't find good answer. Feel so desparated now... :(

Can you book yourself a flight from Copenhagen to Helsinki on this airline? You should get e-tickets.

http://www.blue1.com/en/

I can't see why there would be a problem. I don't know your dates so don't know the price, but Blue tends to be a low-cost carrier.

I would have to research more, but I don't think anyone can guarantee whether you will or won't see the Northern Lights. Bill Bryson has an account in his books of waiting for over two weeks in the winter in a small, northern Norway town (Hammerfest) for the lights to finally appear.

I only know about Copenhagen personally, of the places you've listed, and I can't advise on visiting them in winter.

I would want to have warm clothes all the way, though. I don't think one day of rental would be enough. If you plan to be outside in Helsinki, for example, you really couldn't avoid the need to have warm clothes. See http://www.weather.com to get an idea of average winter temperatures. Even if you don't go to Lapland, you'll want something warm!

Hi chic,

try www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights between Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki.

Flights between Nordic capitals tend to be on the expensive side because no budget airlines flies those. Ryanair used to fly between Stockholm and Tampere (Finland) but they stopped, There are just not enough people up here to fill airplanes.

Northern lights are 20 times more frequent in Lapland than in southern Finland. I have seen them only twice this year, and both times it was in the middle of the night (about 4 am). So you´ll be better off in Lapland, but there are no quarantees even there.

I don´t think you would have to reserve a seat in the train before you are in Helsinki, but if you want a sleeper, it would be wise to reserve in advance. If you decide to go, why stop at Rovaniemi? It is just a small town, nothing special. Go further north, to the actual Lapland. There are many centers with hotels and cosy log cabins with fireplaces and saunas. Reindeers, husky sledging, skiing, and so on. And the true polar night with few hours of pink and blue twilight. Check www.laplandfinland.com

You could also fly up there. Söder Airlines (also Finnair, but Söder is cheaper) flies to many places in Lapland (from Helsinki, and also from Turku and Tampere). Their site www.soder.fi is only in Finnish, but by googling Soder Airlines you should find info.

>...Flights between Nordic capitals tend to be on the expensive side because no budget airlines flies those routes....<

www.whichbudget.com shows Copenhagen/Stockholm for 51E.

I am also considering a trip to Lapland...Yllas in Finland for cross country skiing during the first week of January. I have been able to get some good (relatively speaking) from San Francisco to Helsinki...but I can't seem to get a fare quote from Helsinki to Kittila in Lapland...using Finnair's web site. I am told that is because I am inquiring from outside of Finland. For a while I was able to use the Finnair web site and got a price of about 250 Euros round trip. Now when I try I don't get a fare quote at all. I don't think I can go ahead with this trip without a connection to Kittila or a place close to Yllas. There is the overnight train...I wonder if I should consider that. However, when I add all the hours spent traveling...it certainly does take away from skiing. I wonder what I should do. Are there other...closer places in Finland with good snow and cross country ski trails. I also tried the Soder Airlines web site, but it was totally in Finnish.

Hi Eastie,

I just simulated a booking on FinnAir for the first week in January.

Had no trouble.

Soder airlines seems to list schedules only.

Did you simulate a booking from Helsinki to Kittila? That's was the part that didn't work for me. It wouldn't calculate the fare...because as I mentioned in my earlier post I am trying to get the fare from the US. I can book a fare from the US (San Francisco) round trip to Kittila but the fare is very very high. Much higher than getting one fare using a search engine to Helsinki and the other from Helsinki to Kittila. I will try again.

Hi,

Yes, I did Helsinki/Kittila RT Jan 2/7
240E.

I did not give credit card info.

PS, I just did it again.

I just tried and again it came back with a message that the fare couldn't be computed. I called Finnair and they said that the fare could only be purchased in Finland. Very strange. I assume you are trying fromt the US....I would hate to make the trip without a confirmed ticket on to Lapland (Kittila). I will go and try from another computer. But the one from my office didn't work either.

I tried it and I got the Helsinki to Kittila fare to compute. I continued as far as the page where the site asks for passenger information. (Trying from Canada.)

Okay...this is a total mystery. The dates I tried were 4 Jan from Helsinki to Kittila and 12 Jan from Kittila back to Helsinki. I tried other dates too, but they didn't work. When I ask Finnair they will quote about $425 in US dollars...they will sell that fare..but as I said it is too high.

I'll try on my daughters computer...but as I mentioned I tried from work and got the same message.

Hi Eastie,

Your work computer might have a firewall that prevents an exchange of cookies.

I did do this from the US.

No luck....I tried on my daughter's computer and it wouldn't compute the fare. I tried both business and leisure class....I also tried again indicating that I was from Canada. Same message...can't compute fare.

I wonder if this has to do with the frequency of the request. I was able to get various fare quotes when I first started looking, but in the last week something changed and it won't compute the fare. What kind of fares are people who are successful getting with a round trip from Helsinki to Kittila out on 4 Jan...return on 12 Jan?

Hi Eastie,

The problem is that there are only 2 flts and the lowest price fares are gone on the 4th.

For your RT on Jan *5*/12 it is 228E.
For your RT on Jan *4*/12 it is 480E.

You are correct....the reason I couldn't get the fare....was that so few seats were available. It was not the result of being blocked from these fares.....even though Finnair said so. I tried a few odd dates and got some fares to appear.

I said that Söder Airlines is a budget airline. I was wrong, it isn´t. "Hinnat" means prices, and Helsinki-Kittilä-Helsinki is 239 euros. It flies from Wednesday till Sunday daily. "Aikataulut" means timetables, and "yhteystiedot" means contact info. eastie, there is also e-mail adress.

Your other preference was Saariselkä. Finnair would fly you to Ivalo, Soder doesn´t start their flights till February 2nd. I´ll dig up your post and give you a more southern suggestion.

In the past two years I have been in Scandanavia in the summer. There will be very little light during the day but that should not prevent you from having a good time, but plan accordingly.