City of Joensuu locates about 450 kilometers to North-East from Helsinki and it is a capital city of North Karelia region with more than 75 000 inhabitants. City website:
http://www.joensuu.fi/en/web/english
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From Helsinki you can reach city of Joensuu normally by three different ways:
1. by airplane
- Joensuu (airport code JOE) locates 450 km from Helsinki(airport code HEL) to North-East.Daily flights between Helsinki and Joensuu start again in March 2021. More information coming.
- Ryanair is flying to Lappeenranta (city 230 km from Joensuu, Very good train connection to Joensuu.
Ask your travel agency, you can fly to Joensuu example by Air France tickets etc. www.finnair.com. Helsinki airport locates in city of Vantaa, so name of airport is Helsinki-Vantaa.
Airport of Joensuu is about 10 km from Joensuu center, busses and taxi cars are very quick going to city center after flight and to main bus station next to Sokos hotel Kimmel. Latest in May 2021, Swedish company Amapola Flyg AB is starting daily flights between Helsinki-Joensuu. More information coming in Apri 2021.
Ryanair is flying to Finland also. 2021 they have flights mainly in summer time:
- To Lappeenranta (city 230 km from Joensuu by train). Check the cities from Ryanair website. From Lappeenranta it is easy to take a train to Joensuu (two hours).
- To Tampere (city 450 km from Joensuu by train) planes leave from Bremen (Germany) now. Also train connection to Joensuu.
Remember to check these flights from
Ryanair.com website. From Tampere or Lappeenranta it is quite easy to take a train to Joensuu. Lappeenranta is closer to Joensuu (230 km) than Tampere or Helsinki. Some of these flights are available only in summer time.
www.ryanair.com
2. by train
Cheapest and perhaps now also the best way now between Helsinki-Joensuu-Helsinki.
Finnish trains are very comfortable and not very expensive if you buy your ticket in time. Finnish national railway company, VR, website is
www.vr.fi (they serve also in English). Cheaper "saver" train tickets are sold earliest 60 days before trip and I think latest about two weeks before your trip, if discount tickets are still available. In trains you can find restaurants and free wifi.
Cheapest "Saver" tickets are about 25 €/one way. (Basic tickets are about from 41 euros to 56 euros /one way.)
You can take local train from Helsinki-Vantaa airport to Tikkurila or Helsinki railway station and jump to Joensuu train. Or you can take a Finnair bus from Helsinki airport to Helsinki main railway station. Local train from airport is included into you train ticket to Joensuu. Or if you use example Ryanair to Lappeenranta, there is 230 km from Lappeenranta to Joensuu by train, bus or rented car.
If you want, you can also take also a train from Joensuu or Helsinki to Russian metropol St. Petersburg, before or after you visit. Of course you normally need a visa to Russia if you are EU citizen. Electric VISA to Russia for EU citizens is available in 2021.
Traveling by train to St. Petersburg from Joensuu or Helsinki takes about 4- hours. Travelling to Russia is now impossible because of COVID-19 situation.
3. by bus
Also one way is to travel between Helsinki-Joensuu. Busses are ok to travel and tickets and timetables you can find from portal
www.matkahuolto.fi (also in English).
From internet you can buy these bus tickets in lower price earliest 32 days before trip. Bought from a bus, ticket is little more expencive. Credit cards are not always accepted in matkahuolto busses, so prepare with cash.
Also low fare bus company, Onnibus, operates between Helsinki-Joensuu-Helsinki. This
Onnibus company website you find here! Cheap rate in one way can be normally example 15 euros (or cheaper) between Helsinki-Joensuu, depends how "early bird" rate you get. Onnibus does not accept cash, so you have to pay it by debit/credit card even in a bus. From airport you have to take train or bus to Helsinki center bus station (Kamppi shopping center, near Helsinki railway station) to get in the Onnibus going to Joensuu. Changes with timetables are now more possible, so check and follow them.
