I fly out of Amsterdam and need to get from Helsinki to there the first week of September, prefer not to fly. There seem to be a wide variety of options and am wondering about best/most fun that would take me no more than 4 days.
Posted by
Wengen
4248 posts
In theory you could go by train all the way by going north to Oulu and take the new service to Happarantaa in Sweden. From there you can travel down to Stockholm. Would be an interesting trip. The new service starts Aug 10.
Other wise the obvious route is overnight ferry to Stockholm, and then via Copenhagen and Hamburg. www.seat61.com has all the details.
Posted by
Rick Steves Europe
412 posts
There are various routes you could do. Which one you take depends on if you have any particular cities you would like to spend a night or two in along the way. The most direct route would be to take either the Viking Line or Tallink Silja Line overnight ship from Helsinki to Stockholm (16-18 hours), then travel by train From Stockholm-Hamburg-Oberhausen-Amsterdam. (about 22 hours). Other options would be Stockolm-Copenhagen-Hamburg-Duisburg or Osnabrǔck-Amsterdam as well as many others. You can use the German Deutsche Bahn website to plan the route - www.bahn.com.
Tickets for the overnight ships and various trains are cheaper if purchased ahead, directly through the official websites for the ferries and the Swedish, Danish and German railways websites.
Posted by
The Netherlands
2340 posts
The OP asked this question back in June already and per their post traveled in the first week of September. Very strange that this post was brought back to live today by a RS staff member….