Travelling by plane

Finnair flies between Helsinki and Oulu multiple times a day. From Europe, Asia, and North America, you can connect through Helsinki — the easy and fast option.

Flying to Rovaniemi is also an option, especially if you want to improve your chances of seeing the northern lights, want to see Santa, or spend 500 € on a hotel.

Book early — the Helsinki–Oulu leg in particular can get genuinely ridiculous close to the date.

From Oulu airport, it's about 15 minutes to the city by taxi (Bolt, Uber, or a local company) — or a bit longer by bus, if one's running.

Travelling by train

Taking the train is a great choice, and it will most likely save you money.

• Helsinki–Oulu takes around 6 hours
• Rovaniemi–Oulu takes around 2,5 hours

There's also a night train from Helsinki. Cabins sleep two — and the price is the same whether you travel alone or share.

Buy your train tickets as soon as possible and get them directly from VR.

Oulu's railway station is in the city centre — a 5–15 minute walk to all major hotels.

Where to book

Airlines to Oulu:

• Finnair (Europe, Asia, North America)
• airBaltic (direct from Riga to Oulu)

Airlines to Helsinki:

• Icelandair (North America)
• Scandinavian Airlines (North America)

Airlines to Rovaniemi:

• KLM (Amsterdam)
• Norwegian (Barcelona, London, Munich)
• EasyJet (UK, France, etc.)
• Eurowings (Germany)

Trains:

• VR (Finland's national railway)