Rail travel in Finland Voyage Tips and guide

Trains are the primary means of long-distance and intercity travel in Finland.

All trains, as of the 2020s, are operated by the state-owned VR.

Trains are usually the most comfortable and fastest method of inter-city travel. From Helsinki to Tampere, Turku and Lahti, there are departures more or less every hour in daytime. The trains from the south up to Lapland run overnight, with two-berth cabins and wagons for cars, freeing people from a day of driving to Rovaniemi, Kolari or Kemijärvi.

Minor stations have been losing service since the 1990s, and rail doesn't extend to northern Lapland, so you may need bus for the last leg of your journey.

As Finland was part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, when rail was introduced, Finland has the same gauge as Russia (with a minor 4 mm difference), different from the standard gauge of most of Europe. While there are double-gauge arrangements across the Swedish border, these don't reach far, and no passenger trains use them. On the other hand, there were services to Vyborg, Saint Petersburg and Moscow in Russia – until the Russian war on Ukraine.

VR's main page allows for buying tickets between specific stations on specific dates. The site also presents train types and services, and offers PDF timetables, which together with a railway map may be better if you haven't settled on route or dates.

The sleeper trains to Lapland at Christmas, the winter holidays and Easter tend to more or less sell out, when tickets become available or at least several weeks in advance.

Generally, the trains are most crowded at the beginning and end of the weekend, i.e. Friday and Sunday evening. Shortly before and at the end of major holidays like Christmas/New Year and Easter, trains are usually very busy, with car-and-sleeper tickets for the most popular services sold out immediately when booking opens. If you try booking for these days at a late time, you may find the seat you reserve to be among the least desirable, such as without recline – and many services sold out altogether.

While VR's trains may be slick, delayed trains are not uncommon. As much of the network is single-track, delays tend to become compounded as oncoming trains have to wait in the passing loop. If you are trying to catch a transfer connection, talk to the conductor (while they need to be understanding only if you reserved enough transfer time, they tend to be also otherwise). For severe delays, the EU rules apply. Trains can be followed on a VR page. Whether or not delays are told about in the loudspeakers seems to vary according to the whims of conductors.

While differences between train types aren't that crucial – if you need specific facilities you should check anyway – rules for regional trains (about pets, bikes and tickets) may differ from those on the long-distance trains, and some regional trains travel quite far.

The main train types are the Pendolino, the Intercity and Intercity 2 trains, old "ordinary" express trains (pikajuna/snabbtåg) and regional trains (of a few different types). The tilting Pendelinos were intended to be fast and futuristic, but don't differ too much from the IC trains in terms of comfort. The two-storey IC2 trains have a family carriage, with space for prams and wheelchairs, accessible toilet with features for babies and toddlers, and a playing corner upstairs. The age of the 1970s near-extinction express trains shows, but they may provide nostalgic value. The types can be distinguished in the timetables by the prefix S, IC, IC2 and P for the long-distance service numbers.

Details of the regional trains, mostly serving the capital region on behalf of HRT, are not handled in this article.

The long-distance services (including most intercity ones) are generally very comfortable. They have standard power sockets (although power quality is variable), free Wi-Fi, toilets and mostly an ambulating snack trolley (with snacks and drinks) or a restaurant car with also simple meals. The free Wi-Fi requires you to click "agree" before it becomes functional and it may be congested on some services, mostly those where many work on the train.

First class, labelled "extra", gets you more spacious seating and free coffee. The ordinary first-class compartment is a silent area, so if you want to splurge and talk, reserve a seat upstairs in the restaurant carriage, if available.

Most trains are equipped for transporting (unfolded) bikes and have a compartment for those with pets. Also children and the mobility impaired are catered for.

Some trains (at least the IC2s) have "phone booths" for you to talk on your mobile phone, to spare others from your conversation. Talking with fellow passengers is no issue, as long as you don't get too loud.

Formally two large pieces of luggage (80×60×40 cm) are allowed for free in the Finnish trains, in addition to small hand luggage, and pram or wheelchair if applicable. Also a ski bag can be taken into your cabin for free. In practice, no one will check the allowance unless you cause trouble. For skis (max 30×30×220 cm), snowboards and other additional luggage (max 60×54×195 cm) transported in the luggage compartment, €5/piece is charged.

Overnight sleepers are available for long-haul routes and very good value. Pillows, sheets and blankets are provided. The modern sleeper cars to Lapland have 2-berth cabins, some of which can be combined as a pair for a family. There are en suite showers in the upstairs cabins in the modern overnight trains, the base-floor cabins use shared showers. In the 3-berth cabins in the old "blue" sleeper cars there are no showers, only a small sink in the cabin; these cars are nowadays mostly used as supplement in the "P" trains in the busiest holiday periods. In each modern Finnish sleeper car, one cabin is for a disabled person and his or her assistant. An overnight journey from Helsinki to Lapland in a sleeper cabin costs about €150–250 for two people (as of 2022; you always book all the cabin). Children younger than 10 years travel for free in sleeper cabins if they share a bed with somebody else (bed width 75 cm, safety nets can be ordered, using a travel bed is allowed if it fits nicely)

The restaurant cars mostly serve snacks, coffee and beer. Shorter intercity routes usually just have a trolley with a similar assortment. On some routes (such as those to Lapland) you can get simple real meals (€10–13.50). Drinking alcoholic beverages you brought yourselves is not allowed. Own food at your seat should be no problem as long as you don't make a mess or spectacle out of it; bringing packed meals, other than for small children, has become rare.

Pets can be taken on trains (€5), but seats must be booked in the right compartments. If your pet is big, book a seat with extended legroom (or, on some trains, a separate seat for the pet). The pets travel on the floor (a blanket can be useful; bring water), other than for dogs a cage is mandatory. Vaccination etc. should be in order. For regional transport the rules are different. The sleeper trains have some cabins for passengers with pets (probably one upstairs and one halfway up in each modern sleeper car, some cabins in the older sleeper cars and probably some day department). For night trains, ask the conductor about stops where you can get out with your dog. If you bring a car, don't leave pets there.

Ticket sale is mostly online, with tickets bought days in advance often significantly cheaper, although the same-day prices are reasonable. Few stations are manned and conductors generally don't sell tickets.

For the capital region, note that while tickets for the regional trains can be bought as part of a long-distance journey, to buy them separately you need the HSL app (or a service point of some kind, see Helsinki#Get around). You can pay them on board with an NFC debit/credit card. Regional trains travelling outside the region may use ordinary VR tickets.

Train tickets can be purchased online, from ticketing machines on mid-sized and large stations, from manned booths on a few of the largest stations and e.g. from R kiosks (not all tickets). Larger machines take cash, but most provincial stations have only small ones for which you need a debit/credit card with chip. A fee of €1–3 applies when buying over the counter or by phone. There are usually cheaper offers if you buy several days in advance; to get the cheapest tickets, buy them at least two weeks in advance. Usually tickets need to be bought before boarding; a seat is included in the fare. You can change your departure time and your seat like when you bought the ticket (no refund for a cheaper train), but to change stations or cancel the trip, you must pay a premium at time of ticket purchase.

This means that for walk-up travel at many mid-sized stations, you'll need to buy a ticket from the machine. This is easier if no-one tries to assist you! Otherwise, thinking to be helpful, they'll press Aloita and you'll be faced by a screen asking you to choose between Aikuinen, Eläkeläisen and Lapsi. So spurn their help, wind back to the beginning and press "Start" to get the process in English, including the bank card reader instructions. Or if you're feeling adventurous you can press Börja since you can figure out whether you're vuxen, pensionär or barn, but you'll have to choose "Åbo" to get a ticket to Turku.

The selling procedure offers a seat, but you can chose one yourself if you want to. Usually half of the seats face forward, half of them backward. Seats with a wall behind them have less legroom when reclined, and don't recline as much. You may want to check the options on IC2 trains especially if you are a group or want privacy (four seats with a table in-between, cabins for two or four etc.). On most other trains, options are limited.

In some situations your group or voyage does not make sense to the booking system (e.g. if you are a group and have a pet, it might believe you have one each). There are usually tricks to fool the system to allow what you want to do, but unless you find a solution, you might want to book by phone, to leave the problem to somebody more experienced.

Seniors over 65 years old and students with Finnish student ID (ISIC cards etc. not accepted) get 50 % off. Children younger than 10 years travel for free in sleeper cabins if they share a bed with somebody else (bed width 75 cm, safety nets can be ordered, using a travel bed is allowed if it fits nicely). Otherwise children aged 4–16 pay a child fee on long-distance trains, those aged 7–16 on commuter trains, usually half the ordinary price. Carry your ID or passport to prove your age.

Finland participates in the Interrail/Eurail systems. VR is one of the more pass-friendly operators to use this pass on (with a model similar to the operators in German-speaking countries) – Eurail/Interrail pass holders do not need any reservations to travel on day trains, though reservations are recommended for travel during peak season on busy routes.

You would have to travel a lot to make any of these pay off though; by comparison, a full-fare InterCity return ticket across the entire country from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and back is €162. The price for a typical 2-hr journey, such as between Helsinki, Turku and Tampere, is about €20. The passes may include the bus from Swedish trains to Finnish ones and give a 50% discount on standard prices for ferries to Finland (although offers may still be cheaper).

The main railway museum in Finland is the one in Hyvinkää, founded already in 1898. Among the carriages on display are three carriages of the Finnish train of the Russian emperor and the one of the president of Finland. The oldest locomotive is from 1868. A few tours are made in summer on the mainline railways. There is a 1:8 railway on the museum premises.

Savon radan museo in Pieksämäki tells about life and work at the Savo railway line.

Kouvola has a miniature railway museum (Kouvolan pienoisrautatiemuseo). The museum's collections cover the history of the miniature railway world, from rolling power to digitally controlled trains.

Jokioinen has a narrow-gauge museum and heritage railway with narrow-gauge rolling stock also from elsewhere.