HOW TO GET TO TURKU


One thing to note is that Turku is also known as Åbo. Don't be fooled - they are the same place. In fact, since both Finnish and Swedish are official languages in Finland, many things have two names. Streets, for example, can be particularly confusing - what first appears on a map to be a street that changes its name is, more often than not, one street with two names. It might help to know that Finnish street names usually end in `katu' or `tie', while Swedish street names usually end in `gatan' or `vägen'. Any alternative Swedish names for places in this document will be given in parentheses.
  BY AIR  

Turku airport has direct services to Helsinki and Stockholm - as well as to various other towns in Finland. So, if you are planning to fly in you will no doubt be coming via one of those places. The first route that springs to your travel agent's mind will probably be via Helsinki, but if you are coming from Western Europe or North America that means doubling back on yourself. One of the other gateways might be better; Stockholm is often faster and cheaper. However, it really won't make that much difference to your travelling time, so flight times, prices, and availability are probably more important factors. 

The following airlines fly into Finland and have web sites:

One thing your travel agent might not know (or be bothered to find out) is that some carriers will sometimes give you a free connecting flight to Turku from Helsinki or Stockholm. Make sure you don't pay for this flight unless you have to. 

If you do have to pay for your connecting flight to Turku, then perhaps you don't want to do that last leg by air anyway. Getting to Turku by bus or train from Helsinki is easy and inexpensive. The journey takes approximately 2 hours. Alternatively, you can catch an overnight ferry from Stockholm; this is also easy and inexpensive, but more relaxing than fast. See below for details. 
 

  BY RAIL  

If you are coming to Turku from within Finland or from Russia, then rail could be the mode of transport for you. The timetables for trains in Finland are available on the web as well as a map of the Finnish rail system. Here are a couple of useful looking routes: 
Helsinki-Turku
Turku-Helsinki
Moscow-St Petersburg-Helsinki
Helsinki-St Petersburg-Moscow
The contact details for Finnish Railways are as follows: 
VR Ltd, Finnish Railways 
Vilhonkatu 13 
PO Box 488 
00101 Helsinki 
FINLAND 

Phone: +358 9 707 5700 (UTC+3:00) 
Fax: +358 9 707 4290 
Service Phone Numbers at VR's Railway Stations, for Traffic between Finland and Russia

  BY BUS  

Bus is another good choice if you are coming from within Finland or Russia. ExpressBus runs buses to Turku from St Petersburg, Helsinki, and Helsinki Vantaa Airport. Here are a couple of useful-looking bus routes: Note: If you take the bus from Helsinki Vantaa Airport, then at some point along the journey the driver may pull up on a fairly anonymous looking stretch of highway and dump your bags by the side of the road. If this happens, get out and wait with your bags. There may already be another bus waiting there - in which case just get on it. If not wait until another bus comes along and picks you up.

  BY BOAT  

There are also various ferries that can take you to either Turku or Helsinki from around the Baltic. Silja Line and Viking Line are the two main operators into Finland, but if you are travelling in a group or with a car. They operate large and very comfortable boats. Here are a few useful-looking ferry routes.  The contact details for Silja and Viking are as follows:
Silja Line Viking Line: