henry999

I take it you're flying from Ivalo back to HEL? It would be possible to drive both ways in six days but you'd be spending an awful lot of time in the car and it wouldn't be very much fun.

I agree with SPBanker that the lake country in the southeast is nice. In the north, I'd say you want to spend your last night in Inari; quite easy to get from there to Ivalo airport.

So, what to do? As a first approximation, take a look at this.

DAY 1: HELSINKI - Porvoo - Imatra - SAVONLINNA. The (world-famous) Savonlinna Opera Festival is in July but you'll be there early enough (just barely) that you should still (i.e., now) be able to book a room.

DAY 2: SAVONLINNA - Pyhäjärvi - OULU. Pyhäjärvi is maybe two-thirds of the way along and is perhaps a good place for lunch. There is a delightful little 'roadside attraction' there called Vaski-kello, which is well worth the stop.

DAY 3: OULU - Kemi - Tornio / Haparanda - Pello - ROVANIEMI. This isn't the shortest route from Oulu to Rovaniemi but at Tornio you can go across into Sweden (no border formalities) and go north on that side of the river for an hour and a half to Pello, where you cross back into Finland. From Pello to Rovaniemi there are usually a lot of reindeer.

DAY 4: How about a slow day? ROVANIEMI, the capital of Finnish Lapland, is the biggest town in the north and might be worth a half-day of poking around. Will you have any kids with you? Rovaniemi is also the home of the Santa Claus World Headquarters, which is open for business year-round. Just an hour or so down the road is KEMIJÄRVI, a nice little town that could be your fourth night.

DAY 5: KEMIJÄRVI - INARI. The road takes you right through Ivalo, so you'll be able to get your bearings for exactly where you have to go when you come back the next day. The lake at Inari is perhaps the most famous in all of Finland, and there are a number of hiking trails / walking paths in the area. The air is so clean that you'll see a lot of naava on the trees.

DAY 6: INARI - IVALO ... and away. :-)

FFlash

^ these kind of things sure are special if one looks into specialties. In June this is possible reversed - sun never going under horizon. Something for tourists (not for me, I want my sleep at night )

FFlash

Ahem, each to their own, but my personal viewpoint is that the mid Finland is so boring to drive that I would spend my days in for example the southeast lake district and take a plane to IVL in north and enjoy the special nature there. Rovaniemi, Pello, Kemijärvi, what-else, khmmm I should promote tourism here but I sincerely think most tourist people (unlike locals who love that cozy forest-Finland) would be disappointed if raising expectations there Alright, let's take positive view, road-trip through that mid-land and not too long stops to avoid angst

kmandrew

Everybody is giving us a lot of great suggestions, we are used to driving - Omaha is 500 miles from anywhere interesting. Thinking about talking my wife into a few extra days maybe come home on July 15 - is it crazy to think about driving up to the coast of Norway north of you? We have been to Europe many times but usually anchor in a major city then take day trips so this will a bit of a departure from the norm.

henry999

Nordkapp. Not crazy at all. There's not much there, except for a visitor centre, but it's literally as far north as you can go, in Europe. Bleakly beautiful on the drive to and from. We were there in late June one year and there was still snow on the tundra and ice on the streams. Bound to be snow, even in July; not sure about the ice, though.

tsastor

The road to Nordkapp is scenic, but not as stunning (more flat) as the area around Bergen.
But if you drive via Alta, then you still get a taste of the mountains and fjords.

FFlash

I second that.

Coming back to the driving from south to north, it can be interesting to choose eastern route, passing Kuusamo etc. with places to try spotting a bear for example.
Another note would be to calculate time, driving most of time at 80km/h speed limit (sometimes 100). Don't expect highways without limit

henry999

I thought about that, but then he'd miss Oulu. The trade-off for the 'southeastern lakes route' is that he doesn't get Tampere, or even Turku. To leave Helsinki on a six-or-more day driving trip of Finland and see only small towns and lots of rural countryside would get old.

Kallio

Something like Helsinki-Jyväskylä-Kuopio-(Kuhmo, Sotkamo or Kajaani) -Kuusamo could work. At least Jyväskylä and Kuopio are not that small towns.

FFlash

Here we come again to what is small/big town and interesting from tourists angle. For me, having lived in many those cities in Finland, and actually toured some tourists, I have seen them "yawning" in places what local Finns would consider "so lovely nice towns" to live in. Think about someone coming from huge Shanghai and a Finn touring him/her in a "this is so fantastic Jyväskylä and sufficiently big"
Or, for example, a wonderful nice city of Vaasa, which is for most Finns in the periphery, and despite its beauty it is totally dead during Summer. You can meet 2 cats in the market square, since all locals are "i skärin" enjoying the archipelago. The experience can turn out negative.

But hey, this is Finland and for megalopoly citywalker these small towns could be what they exactly look for! Something like a stroll in the old town of Rauma.

kmandrew

How about looking at this a bit differently, my wife points out (probably correctly) in all our travels where we stay seems to play a big part of our memories. Are there 3 or 4 iconic Finnish hotel or resorts that we should look at and try to plan around? She does want to go to Tallinn for a night.

Also my wife is a bit concerned the mosquitoes/flies are going to be bothersome?

FFlash

In the southeast lake district you should definitely stay at Imatran valtiohotelli, and old castle with fantastic rapids surrounding. I just googled "Imatrankoski" which is the name of the waterfall and it seems they are closed for 2017-2018 for renovation of the dam. Not sure. However, if they open it, like they do few times in summer, it is FREE.

Mosquitoes: sorry, they will be there, and they will be bothersome. Just something you need to live with. Not dangerous though, but can be itchy so you may want to buy repellent.

henry999

Makes sense.

The short answer, unfortunately, is ... no. FFlash mentions Imatran valtiohotelli. I don't know that one. I would say Savonlinna, as a lovely little town to spend a night passing through. Throughout Finland there's a fair bit of 'different', even occasionally 'quaint', for someone not familiar with this part of the world ... but, by and large, what you'll find is IKEA / Scandic / Nokia - style effective, rather than iconic.

Yes. Lovely place, well worth the visit. But do you really need 'a night'? There are all kinds of services available. (1) You can leave Helsinki in the evening, cross the gulf, anchor off Tallinn and sleep onboard the ship in a private cabin, going ashore the following morning. You'll have the day in Tallinn, enough time to see the Old Town (which, for a first-time, non-specialist visitor, is all you'll need). Then you return to Helsinki, arriving early evening -- enough time to collect the rental car and drive to, say, Porvoo for the night. Or, depending on how tired you think you'll be, even further. Remember ... even in the south at that time of year it doesn't get dark dark. Or (2) You can take a fast ferry in the morning, have the day over there and take a fast ferry back in the afternoon / evening. Or (3) You can go on a ferry, fast or slow, spend a night in a Tallinn hotel and return to Helsinki the following day.

There have traditionally been great bargains available on the option (1). The shipping company thereby has hundreds of Finns captive, offshore, overnight, and the money they spend in the shops / bars / nightclubs / casinos is enough that the price of the passage itself, even with a cabin included, can be set enticingly low. And, after all, one doesn't have to succumb to these temptations so it can be a very economical trip indeed.

Mrs999 and I were married in Kemijärvi near the end of June. We stayed in a cabin on the lakeshore just outside of town. We like to joke that we had millions of guests at our wedding feast.

tsastor

fransknorge

Great, I will go to Helsinki in circa 6 weeks ! This will be just a week end visit but hopefully there will be something for the 100 years. I read about a permanent exposition in some museum, I need to dig into this.
This will be my actual first time in Finland (transiting in HEL does not count) !