Heavy Metal Travel Guide for Finland

I haven’t visited Finland yet, but it’s very high on my to-do list. In 2008 we did a little bit of Norway and Sweden, and while we loved what we saw, we haemorrhaged money buying $10 cans of coke and 5 different Oslo road tolls, and had to hoof it back to Germany where everything was cheap.

(you know a place is expensive when you go to mainland Europe to SAVE money.)

But Finland has eluded me. Every thing I read about her makes me want to see her more and more. The country that brought as such amazing music must be something seriously special.

If you’ve saved a bit (OK, a lot) of cash and are ready for a Finnish Metal holiday, you’lll probably want to know what to do and where to go, and what to say when you get there. Kimmo Kuusniemi’s been good to give us a few great tips on visiting his home country, and I’ve compiled some info from fellow metal travellers, to give you the Steff Metal Guide to Metal Travel in Finland.

Finland is a lot like my home country – New Zealand. The population is about the same – 5 million Finns, 4 million New Zealanders. The cities are tiny, caccooned inside dramatic prehistoric forests and crystal clear lakes. Up in the north, you enter the Arctic circle and experience midnight sun.

Finland

General Finland Travel Tips for Metalheads with Wanderlust

If you’re going to visit Finland, take a bit of time to venture out of Helsinki and visit the countryside, because you won’t find wilderness this truly wild in most parts of the world. The Finns love the outdoors – hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, cycling, and playing outdoor sports at all times of the year.

The Finns respect the rights of people to enjoy these places, and Finland has “every man’s rights” – meaning you can travel, trek, pick berries and camp anywhere as long as you’re 150 m from a building. Don’t make open fires without permission and don’t leave any mess, and you can enjoy the wilderness for free.

Be careful, though! Don’t forget Finland is a country of extreme temperatures, ranging from +30C degrees in the Summer to -30C in the Winter, with a surprisingly pleasant Spring and a very colourful Autumn in between.
Finland uses the euro, so is probably not as expensive as Norway and Sweden, but it won’t be cheap. If you’re going in from another European country, go to a supermarket the day before you go and stock up on essentials.

If you’re taking an overnight ferry, don’t expect to get any sleep.

Finland has more mobile phones per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Eating out in Finland is taxed higher, so the bill is going to be a bit of a shock. Tipping isn’t customary in Finland, unless you’re at some kind of super-expensive place … more expensive than usual.

If you meet a group of metalheads at a bar, don’t expect to buy them a round. Everyone takes care of their own drinks. This is quite good, because after you see the price of a beer you might want to stick to the water yourself …

If Finland is anything like the rest of Europe, if you ask for a drink of water at a bar or restaurant, you will get sparkling water, and it will cost you. You’ll have to specify “tap water” and expect to see people wrinkle their noses at you.

The Finns don’t believe in chitchat. If they don’t have something important to say, they will say nothing at all. This doesn’t mean they don’t like you. Just enjoy your beer. They can take awhile to warm to you, but once they do, you’ve made a friend for life.

Tuska Open Air, Helsinki

Helsinki

The capital of Finland, Helsinki is located on the southern coast as is easily reached by ferry from Germany, Stockholm. Alternatively you could drive, from, say, Latvia, but having driven those Scandinavian roads in a campervan, I’d say save yourself the multiple heart attacks and take the bloody ferry. Finns take their driving very seriously, and you’d have to, given the narrow, winding, often treacherous nature of their roads.

Don’t believe me? Here’s James May from TopGear getting a Finnish Driving lesson:

Where was I? Right, Helsinki. Home of the Tuska festival, the biggest Finnish metal festival, held usually two weeks before Wacken in a huge park in the centre of the city. You will find a lot of smaller festivals in the city during the summer, as well as local and international gigs at the bars, at all times of the year.

Kimmo recommends the following rock and metal bars in Helsinki
Bar Bäkkäri + Green Room, Pohjoinen Rautatienkatu 21, Helsinki.
Majava Baari (Beaver Bar) a cosy rock bar in the district of Kallio, popular with musicians… Porthaninkatu 9, Helsinki
Gloria, Pieni Roobertinkatu, Helsinki.
Nosturi, Punavuori district seaside, at Telakkakatu 8, Helsinki.
Tavastia Club (legendary club just celebrated it’s 40th Birthday), Urho Kekkosenkatu 4-6, Helsinki.

For shopping, check out:

Rock Ts and other official band stuff (they deliver worldwide): Hellsinki Shop, Albertinkatu 38, Helsinki
Great record store just by Tavastia club: Keltainen Jäänsärkijä (Yellow Icebraker). Urho Kekkosenkatu 4-6 A, Helsinki
Morticia: gothic clothing for everyday and evening – in the Kamppi Shopping centre.

Radio: throughout Finland you can listen to Radio Rock

the Kings Gate of the fortress, Helsinki

In Helsinki you might be interested in:

Suomenlinna Fortress, just 15 minutes from the market by Ferry. As well as exploring the world heritage fortress site, you can eat in many boutique restuarants, including a local brewery.
Hakaniemi Market: a local indoor market selling fresh fish, meats, produce and handicrafts. Apparently a great place to go for “cheap” breakfast.
Uusix Workshops: an area where unemployed people go to workshops to learn new hands-on skills. All products made in the workshops come from recycled materials.
Kakkugalleria: an artistic cake store with an “all-you-can-eat” sunday special.
Library 10: the largest music library in the world.
Enjoy a public sauna.

Other cities in Finland:

The biggist cities – which will probably seem more like towns by most people’s standards – offer more festivals and culture. Tampere, Turku, Oulu regularly host metal festivals and gigs, and you’ll find lots of metalheads in these parts. Kimmo particularly likes Turku and the Archipelago between Finland and Sweden, and from pictures, I can see why:

Kimmo recommends:

Turku Klubi, Humalistonkatu 8a, Turku, Finland.
Tampere Klubi, Tullikamarinaukio 2, Tampere, Finland.

Things you should do while in Finland

Have a sauna and beat yourself with a birch branch
Go to metal karaoke
Swim in the Baltic
Go Ice Fishing
Stay in a cabin in the wilderness
See the midnight sun
Collect mushrooms in the forest
Camp in the wilderness
Eat reindeer

Finland

Heavy Metal Finnish Phrasebook:

A few useful Finnish phrases for your travels. Many people in Finland speak Swedish, German and English, though you’ll have more trouble finding English speakers the further out of the cities you go.

hi – moi/hei/terve
kiitos – thank you
lippu – ticket
juna – train
lautta – ferry
lento – flight
bussi – bus
hevi metalli – heavy metal
alkoholi – alcohol
seksi – sex
festivaali – festival
ruoka – food
kaunis – beautiful
perkele – the devil himself
vittu – female privates, used in conversation like “fuck”

Resources:

Finnish travel info is hard to pin down … The information is difficult to put together from the Finnish websites. Kimmo is putting together a metal travel website for Finland at Rocking Finland, which should be live in a few months. They’ll have all the info about Finnish gigs, smaller events and festivals, as well as accommodation info and travel tips.

also check out for band info (in English!) at Metal From Finland.

Metal Travel Guide – a listing of every metal club, shop and bar in the world.

VisitFinland – the official site of the Finnish Tourist board. In English.

Now, this is soooo not comprehensive, but hopefully it will give you something to start with. I know I have a few Finnish readers, so I would love for you to pipe up in the comments with great ideas for places to visit and things to do.

Perkele!