Rovaniemi to Linkoping or Stockholm by Public Transport?

Hi.

I%26#39;m going to be in Rovaniemi around Aug 8-12. Is there a way to take a train from Rovaniemi into Sweden and down south to Stockholm?

My goal is to get to Linkoping in Sweden (two hours from Stockholm from my research) as cheap as possible from Finland (other than flying.)

Can anyone recommend me a cheap way to get from Rovaniemi to Stockholm by train or bus or boat or whatever?

I%26#39;m also looking into using a 5 day EuRail pass. Would that save me money and be useful on this route?

Thanks!

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There are no direct trains from Finland to Sweden. You should take a train from Rovaniemi to Kemi and change there to a bus to Haparanda. From Haparanda you must then get a bus to Boden from where the railway down to Stockholm would start.

You can search for train connections in whole Europe on the Deutsche Bahn%26#39;s server: www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/en/start.html (just enter Rovaniemi and Stockholm into the appropriate fields). It will suggest you a train ride from Rovaniemi to Turku Harbour and taking a ship from Turku to Stockholm.

The Eurail Pass might not be worth it (at least not for this part of the journey) since VR (Finnish Railways) has an offer (-50%) for train rides in conjunction with boat trips (offer starts on 17 Aug, though).

You%26#39;ll have to do some maths, as the rail passes will entitle you also to a 50% discount on the ferries between Turku and Stockholm: www.tallinksilja.com/en/tab1/oneWay/eurail/ / vikingline.fi/timetables/prices/discounts.asp .

Further info on the SeaRail discount vr.fi/eng/…a4

Railpasses: www.vr.fi/eng/junaliput/rail_passes.shtml .

You can find a Nordic railway route map at http://www.sj.se/content/1/c6/07/74/70/Nordisk%20järnvägskarta%20A4-format%20.pdf to help you to plan your journey.

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Agree, no need to use Eurail pass. It is quite easy to save some money if you purchase you tickets smart enough.

http://europetrainsguide.com/ might help

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Thanks for both of your very informative replies.

I understand the easiest way to go through to Stockholm is by boat through Turku, but my travel itinerary seems as follows:

Helsinki -%26gt; Tampere -%26gt; Rovaniemi -%26gt; Stockholm.

Train from Tampere to Rovaniemi is 60EUR one way. Roundtrip is 120EU. A EURail Finland-Sweden pass for youth is 160. I thought it%26#39;d be cheaper to do this.

With this in mind, is it still not very wise for me to buy a EURail pass? I%26#39;m brand new to this whole planning thing, so any input is very very welcomed!

Go through Tornio/Harapanda to Boden. Is this hard to do? Are the bus schedules through the border not very good? (Are there only a a few scheduled busses every day?)

Is there a bus company you can recommend me?

Or would you still recommend me to go to Turku and take the boat?

Time isn%26#39;t that much of a constraint if I take train the whole way... Just wondering if I can do Rovaniemi to Stockholm in five days. (five day pass.)

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Sure you can do the journey from Rovaniemi to Stockholm in 5 days - it will take max 1.5 days unless you make stopovers on the way.

There%26#39;s only one bus connection between Finland and Sweden. The bus connection is from Oulu to Tornio (via Kemi) and then from Haparanda to Luleå (via Boden).

Here%26#39;s the bus timetable for Kemi-Haparanda (valid until 12 August): http://www.veljeksetsalmela.fi/ketokesa.htm Kemi RT.AS. means the departure time from the Kemi Railway Station. Days: M=Mon, Ti=Tue, K=Wed, To=Thu, P=Fri, L=Sat, S=Sunday. (=Stops only for leaving passengers.

At www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=10%26l=en# you can search for the connection Haparanda - Linköping (use Haparanda Busstation and Linköping C as search words in appropriate fields). You can also select Interrail/Eurail pass to find out the exact price for supplements to be paid (in SEK).

Rovaniemi-Kemi connections are available at http://www.vr.fi/eng/

E.g. on 12 Aug 2009:

Rovaniemi 07:15 -%26gt; Kemi 08:33 / Kemi 09:10 -%26gt; Haparanda 09:53 / Haparanda 11:20 -%26gt; Sundsvall 22:00 / Sundsvall 23:25 -%26gt; Stockholm C 03:55+1 / Stockholm C 06:21+1 -%26gt; Linköping C 07:58+1

I.e. almost 25 hours!

In addition to the Eurail Pass you%26#39;ll have to pay for the Kemi-Haparanda bus + the seat/berth place aboard the trains/buses in Sweden.

Seeing that itinerary I would say that the connection via Turku by boat will be much more convenient:

12 Aug 2009:

07:15 Rovaniemi - Tampere 14:57 / Tampere 16:11 - 18:19 Turku Harbour (use Turku satama as search index in VR%26#39;s journey search) / Turku Harbour 20:15 - Stockholm Värtahamnen 06:10 (Silja Line) / Stockholm C 07:21 - 09:00 Linköping C.

OR

Rovaniemi 10:07 - Oulu 12:25 / Oulu 12:32 - Tampere 17:58 / Tampere 18:11 - Turku 19:55 / Turku 20:05 - 20:12 Turku Harbour / 21:00 Turku Harbour - Stockholm Stadsgård/Vikingterminalen 06:30 (Viking Line) / Stockholm C 07:21 - 09:00 Linköping C.

There%26#39;s a bus connection to the Stockholms Central Station (Stockholm C) from both the Silja and Viking Line terminals immediately after the ship has arrived.

In this option you%26#39;ll have to pay extra for the seat reservations on the trains + boat trip (50% discount with the Eurail pass).

Now all you have to do is the maths. It seems that if you intend to actually use the trains more than for only one way trip (i.e. use the train also on the way to Rovaniemi), it may be worth it.

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Notice! the arrival time in Haparanda seem to be in Finnish time in the timetable (deduct 1h for Swedish time).

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Hi Zam72 and Vasp! Thank you so much for all your help on this. I really appreciate it. I guess I will get the bus connection through the border then.