Driving to Finland

[Badger74]

As the title really, has anyone done this or looked into it before. I have the chance to take part in a canoe trip on lake Paijanne in central Finland next August and i'm looking at my options. I'll be bringing the family and all the crap, sorry essentials, hence thinking of driving rather than flying and then car hire.

Thanks

Chris

 

[RonW]

Hej Chris,
driving with the family from Leeds to central Finland? That's quit some trip you have ahead of you, then. Don't know if you have kids and how old they are, but it sounds like a hellish roadtrip, if you ask me.
And for the milage, cost of gas, ferries, overnight stay, food etc. You could practically fly to Finland and buy all your stuff there, including a car! I'm guessing the trip would at least take you 3 days in total just to get there and for the most part over Dutch and German highways. From my experience no fun... absolutely not!
Trip as you planned; highway to dover, ferry to Holland or belgium. than head for northern Germany, ferry to Helsinki and than drive to central Finland.
Maybe it is an option to take a ferry to Norway, but a decent west-east-connection from the Norwegian coast to stockholm is not present.
I can only advise you to fly and save yourself a lot of agony and stress. Maybe ask our BC-buddies in Finland for help here; http://bushcraftfinland.atfreeforum.com/forum.html.

 

[cbr6fs]

Did a drive to Finland many many years ago (around 1987).

We broke it up to 4 days if i remember rightly,
Nottm to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Copenhagen
Copenhagen to Stockholm
Stockholm to place with a weird name where the 1000 lakes rally was stationed.

Was a decent drive and even in the old Escort we were in we were ok at the end of each day.

Can't help with ferries etc as it was long long ago, i do know we had a nightmare with insurance so it might be worth checking with your car insurance company before going any further.

For that sort of mileage we do Greece to the UK and back again a fair bit.
We've done it several times on the motorbike and in various cars.

Tough bit is deciding the route.
If you stick to motorways you get to cover the distance quickly, but bugger me it's boring.
Stick to A or B roads and you really get to see a country, but you really take a hit on the mileage you can cover each day.

 

[DavidJT]

Sweden and Norway are do-able by Harwich - Esberg (Denmark) ferry. I would say Leeds - Finland is a stretch too far for it to make economic sense as said above.

Better to fly and hire a canoe I would say.

 

[sandbender]

Netherlands, Germany and Sweden and your there, easy enough I'd say, not sure about the costs for petrol and such but all three countries are fairly pleasant to drive in and your trip will be well serviced. Treat it as part of the adventure, some nice scenery and places along the way, you will have a great time. Remember most of the roads you will drive on will require the purchase of a toll.

Enjoy yourself.

 

[DavidJT]

Netherlands, Germany and Sweden and your there, easy enough I'd say, not sure about the costs for petrol and such but all three countries are fairly pleasant to drive in and your trip will be well serviced. Treat it as part of the adventure, some nice scenery and places along the way, you will have a great time. Remember most of the roads you will drive on will require the purchase of a toll.

Enjoy yourself.

I agree with Sandbender, it might be fun, however I don't think it would be cheap. I think its...

Leeds - Harwich
Harwich - Hook of Holland (Ferry. expensive) (Or longer ferry Harwich - Esberg Denmark, skip Germany)
Holland - Germany (Tolls)
Germany - Denmark (Tolls)
Denmark (Copenhagen) - Sweden (Tolls)
Sweden Stockholm - Finland Helsinki (Ferry, expensive)
Helsinki - Paijanne

Phew! It has cost us (family of 3) about £800 to ferry and drive London - Gothenburg high season, so I recon Leeds - central Finland must be well over £1000+.

 

[pastymuncher]

Looks like a good road trip. I suppose it depends on your vehicle and your timescale. Taking your time and enjoying the route would be my choice over flying for sure. Plenty of nice places to stop and explore on the way too.

 

[Qwerty]

What works out the cheapest and most do-able in my opinion is this: (avoiding the capital cities by taking their ringroads) Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Panevezys (LT) Olzstyn, Poznan, Dresden, Nuremberg/Leipzig (depending on which route you decide on taking) Liege, Calais.

 

[sandbender]

What works out the cheapest and most do-able in my opinion is this: (avoiding the capital cities by taking their ringroads) Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Panevezys (LT) Olzstyn, Poznan, Dresden, Nuremberg/Leipzig (depending on which route you decide on taking) Liege, Calais.

That would involve traveling through Poland which is a fantastic country with great people, brilliant food and beer but with very poor roads.

 

[Badger74]

Thanks for your all your input.

My friend is getting married to a local girl and the canoe trip is his version of a stag do, but without the masive intake of alcohol. I'm not taking a canoe, thats getting sorted there. The idea is to combine his trip with the family holiday, which maybe camping or finding a cabin of some sort. If camping i'd like to bring all the gear hence the thought of driving.

I'd forgotten about checking insurance, so thanks for that

 

[susi]

Stockholm to place with a weird name where the 1000 lakes rally was stationed.

Jyväskylä?

OP, please PM me if you need some local details.

BTW, I wouldn't recommend driving all the way here, unless time and money are plentiful

 

[DavidJT]

Thanks for your all your input.

My friend is getting married to a local girl and the canoe trip is his version of a stag do, but without the masive intake of alcohol. I'm not taking a canoe, thats getting sorted there. The idea is to combine his trip with the family holiday, which maybe camping or finding a cabin of some sort. If camping i'd like to bring all the gear hence the thought of driving.

I'd forgotten about checking insurance, so thanks for that

Thats the problem with buying lots of nice gear and getting attached to it! Maybe fly + cabin? Don't know Finland but elsewhere in Scandinavia most campsites have a few nice little basic huts to hire.

 

[jonathan77]

Hi Badger,

Don't know if you're still considering this trip, I've only just come across this thread but I've done the u.k to finland by car quite a few times and I love it. Depending on quite a few fairly obvious things such as the size (and no offence - temperament of the family) this can be an amazing experience.
If you are comfortable with driving long distances (which I presume you are) I would try to avoid long distance ferry travel as much as possible. Firstly because germany to finland and poland to finland by boat is ridiculously over priced and because when you get to Finland you will see enough water to last you a life time. The purpose of driving is to see something different and avoid waiting in terminals for hours etc.. I would:-
Tunnel to france
drive through france, belgium, holland, germany,
Either drive up to denmark and cross the great belt bridge or take the ferry (45 mins)Puttgarden/Rodby and then the oresund bridge into sweden
Drive from Malmo to Stockholm and catch the boat to Turku or Helsinki ( vikingline have 8hr crossings a couple of times a day morning or evening departure. Good fun for the kids). I have done this route a number of times with my son. We have also scrapped the boat from stockholm to finland and driven north towards the arctic circle and crossed the border in Tornio (Lapland). This is a little bit like driving from London to Brighton via Glasgow but if you are going to drive - the scenery starts from denmark to finland.
This may not be the most practical trip off your life but you won't forget it.
Money wise, I have always ended up paying around £200 per person for a return plane ticket but it is not much fun. I love having my car in finland for what i can take and bring back and it saves me paying over £1000 on rentals.
Next year going to drive to Estonia and take the ferry to Helsinki (3hrs ish)
I say go for it Badger!