26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Does its job, even if one is wont to grumble about the rip-offs it might lead you into, March 11, 2007
Having moved to Helsinki last August and traveled around a bit, I've used the 5th edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Finland for several months now, mainly in the south of the country. I found the guide useful, but certain aspects of it invite comment.
LONELY PLANET FINLAND does cover all of the standard sightseeing objectives in the country, including museums and natural areas outside of the largest cities. And while maps are often problematic in Lonely Planet guides, I found no errors at all in this one. The activities recommended in cities like Helsinki are spot-on, free of kitsch routes and putting travelers in good contact with the locals. The author clearly thinks that most people will be in the south of Finland in the summer, since visiting places like Suomenlinna wouldn't be all that interesting in the cold and dark time of the year, but this I suppose is a reasonable assumption. And since the guide was written by a single person, Andy Symington, it is more coherent in its rating of destinations and activities than the often self-contradictory guidance of collaborative Lonely Planet efforts.
But while the book is a good companion once one has settled in at one's destination, quite objectionable is its guidance on lodging and travel, with so much inexplicably geared towards wealthy travelers. Finland has a high cost of living, true, but it can be a very cheap destination for the backpacker. You know, that demographic that Lonely Planet has historically targeted. The inclusion of hotels that charge 200 euro/night or more is simply ridiculous; travelers that would fork over that much are much more likely to buy the simpler Berlitz, Fodor's, or Frommer's guides. Even recommendation of so many hostels and guesthouses in each locale seems unnecessary. Basically the entire country is now covered by free Internet hospitality services like Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing, so there's no need to pay for lodging and tours when chances are some kind local will give it to you all in exchange for just interesting conversation and cultural exchange. Similarly, coverage of the north of the country seems excessively concerned with expensive guided tours and safaris.
The preference for expensive lodging is mirrored by the exclusive attention paid to Finland's notoriously pricely train and bus systems. I was happy to see that the Directory of the Finland guide lacks the scary "hitchhiking is never entirely safe and we don't recommend it" text the publisher favours, and in fact the author is fairly positive about it. Unfortunately, this kind look towards hitchhiking doesn't actually translate into giving tips on it. Cutting out the luxury hotel listings that no one will use anyway would free up space for simple advice like "In Tampere, the most popular place to hitchhike towards Helsinki among local students is Viinikka crossroads, a ten-minute walk south from the bus station."
If you are going to Finland to visit just a couple of cities and have already secured lodging and know how to travel cheaply, you should have no problem printing out some information about basic sightseeing from freely available resources on the Web. I found Lonely Planet Finland a decent investment, but only because I've gone out to see many places around the country.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for quick information..., December 1, 2008
When I took a 4-day trip to Finland I brought this and
Insight Guide Finland (Insight Guides). Once in the country, I mainly relied on this book to make last-minute travel decisions and such, and the information I used turned out to be quite accurate. For the most part I was satisfied with it, but it is certainly not an all-in-one travel guide. There are very few pictures, and very little attempt is made to describe the country; entries are rather encyclopedic in style, like many of the other Lonely Planet guides. It works well for practical information, but I would not recommend relying entirely on this guide for planning a visit to Finland.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2009 Edition is a Great Book, But if all You are Visiting is Helsinki, Get Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania Book Instead, May 15, 2010
The 2009 edition is great (note Amazon has lumped together the 2009 guide with reviews and ratings of older versions as well). Guides change dramatically in quality over time so I don't understand why they do this, but rest assured the 2009 edition (one with reindeer pulling a guy pretending to be an airplane on the cover) is very, very good. It extensively covers pretty much everywhere you're going to want to travel to in Finland, with, maps of tourist areas of cities and towns, info on what to see there, how to get there and places to stay (not comprehensive if you're backpacking you'll still want to check out the websites of Hostelling International, BUG and Hostelworld to find all the hostels and read reviews, book them and so on). Pretty much everywhere from the remote north to the south is in here.
However if the only destination in Finland you have time to visit is Helsinki, you would be better off buying
Lonely Planet Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania as that guide includes an excursion chapter to Helsinki, since it is just a short boat ride across from Tallinn in Estonia. That book's Helsinki chapter is pretty much exactly the same as the Helsinki pages in Lonely Planet Finland. There's a few less hotel and dining listings but other than that it's exactly the same. If you hadn't considered catching a short ferry ride to Tallinn you should change your plans right now even if all you are going to do is a day trip!
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