Product Description

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 chapter

Be Inspired – color highlights and tailored itineraries help you make the most of your trip

Stay In Style – discerning sleeping options for all budgets, from waterside wooden cottages to sleek boutique hotels

Immerse Yourself – the Kalevala to Kaurismäki, folk festivals to urban design – incisive arts and culture coverage gets you under the skin

Speak Up – be understood with our user-friendly language chapter and pronunciation guide

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #597516 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
...for the adventurous traveler who wants to live like a native.' --Real Simple Magazine, June 2005

Customer Reviews

Does its job, even if one is wont to grumble about the rip-offs it might lead you into
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.

Inspired me to go
I'm a Christmas investigator. This book confirmed and inspired me to visit Finland, especially Lappland.

Good for quick information...
When I took a 4-day trip to Finland I brought this and Insight Guide Finland (Insight Guides). Once in the country, I mainly relied on this book to make last-minute travel decisions and such, and the information I used turned out to be quite accurate. For the most part I was satisfied with it, but it is certainly not an all-in-one travel guide. There are very few pictures, and very little attempt is made to describe the country; entries are rather encyclopedic in style, like many of the other Lonely Planet guides. It works well for practical information, but I would not recommend relying entirely on this guide for planning a visit to Finland.