| Page Views: 3,760 Last Visit to Tampere: December, 2005 | Ryanair's gateway to Finland by kit_mc - last update: Oct 5, 2008 |
| In front of Tampere Library Centre |
British readers may be aware of Tampere's existence solely because it acts as the Ryanair gateway to Finland from London Stansted. Cheap flights and the hope of discovering a surprise in south central Finland can be quite attractive. I won't say a whole lot about the city as I was only there for an afternoon en-route to Helsinki. I saw cheap flights to Tampere while thinking of visiting some old friends in Helsinki and booked it on a whim, knowing that it’s 2 and a half hours from Helsinki, I'd get to tick off a new city, but not knowing quite how expensive the airport bus was going to be... |
|  | Having only an afternoon before my onward journey, and in temperatures of minus 3, snowing heavily, I wasn't really inclined to do anything very adventurous or to stray far from centrally heated buildings. In the summer I would imagine this is a fairly pretty city and a look at the Tampere City web pages shows that there's a fair lot going on, with museums and art galleries knocking about. The most well known seem to be the Moomin museum which is housed in the Library (next to a Rock Museum - that's as in geology not music and is possibly about as fascinating as it sounds) and the Lenin Museum. Tampere may not really be worth the special trip for these museums though unless you’re a) a Communist or b) a Moomin fanatic.
I wouldn't have minded spending longer in Tampere and the city is certainly a destination if you're taking a trip round Finland as a whole, as it's one of the country's larger ones. I also believe that it's known for having some good examples of the architecture of Alvar Aalto, though the city maybe doesn't make enough of this - or I'm confusing it with somewhere else? |
| | Tampere would be a good starting point to the rest of Finland if you're planning a trip around the country as it has some good rail connections and is located nearer the centre of the country. However, if your main destination is Helsinki or Turku I'd recommend flying direct. With a single bus trip from Helsinki to Tampere airport costing 25 euro, so 50 euro for a return, add this to your flight and you’re better off flying direct. If you fancy stopping off at Tampere, it's 6 euro there by bus and then another 26 to Helsinki by train (about 1 and a half hours). Still, I'm quite a sucker for random provincial museums and I know that little bit more about the Moomins now, and care that little less about Lenin, so I'd say it was a detour worthwhile.
Additionally, and less positively, the staff at tiny Tampere airport win the prize being the rudest, and I suspect from their treatment of anyone who wasn't Caucasian at check-in, racist, airport staff I've encountered before. |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Pros: | "Small sized city with some places of interest" | | Cons: | "Small sized city with few places of interest" | | In A Nutshell: | "Better in summer!" |
kit_mc's Tampere Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 2 - Photos: 3 | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | Transportation
Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips |
 Comments for kit_mc about Tampere | | | | |
Olli78 Sat Feb 24, 2007 20:29 UTC
The terminal that Ryanair uses is not actually the main airport in Tampere. The real airport is nearby. Indeed The Ryanair terminal is a disgrace but the operator running the terminal is hired by Ryanair (read cheap) and the service is in accordance. | sue_stone Tue Jan 3, 2006 17:56 UTC
Everything I know about Moomins I learnt from your page. |
|
|
email me
add as friend
