Go.
No major changes since yesterday.
Governments, one trip
What they're telling their own citizens about Finland
The real score
The breakdown
See it from your perspective
Go.
The general Sketch Score, unweighted for any specific traveler.
Don't fall for it
Scams to know
Fake Police Solicitation
Individuals posing as police officers may demand money on the spot. Real Finnish police never accept on-the-spot fine payments, so any request for cash is a clear sign of a scam.
Organized Pickpocketing
Organized thieves operate in crowded areas, particularly during summer tourist months. Never leave phones, laptops, wallets, or keys unattended in restaurants or hotel breakfast areas.
Don't do this
Laws that jail tourists
Prohibited Self-Defense Weapons
Carrying weapons for self-defense, including pepper spray, is illegal. Self-defense is only permitted as a last resort and must not involve excessive force.
Strict Drug Laws
Police and customs maintain a strict stance on all drugs, including cannabis. Sniffer dogs are deployed at ports and airports, and a positive marking leads to a full search.
Mandatory Identity Checks
Police, border guards, and customs officials have the legal authority to check your identity and verify your right to stay in the country.
Staying healthy
What to watch out for, health-wise
Active notices
- • Global Measles
Vaccines
Required: Yellow Fever
Recommended: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Measles, Rabies, Tick-borne Encephalitis
Source: CDC Travelers' Health →Getting in
What you'll need at the border
The visa policy of the Schengen Area is a component within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union. It applies to the Schengen Area and Cyprus, but not to EU member state Ireland. The visa policy allows nationals of certain countries to enter the Schengen Area via air, land or sea without a visa for up to 90 days within any 180-day period. Nationals of certain other countries are required to have a visa to enter and, in some cases, transit through the Schenge
Source: Wikipedia →Real, not invented
Terrorism
Terrorist attacks in Finland cannot be ruled out. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals.
Source: UK FCDO →From people who've been there
Local know-how
Staying safe
- •Crime: Finland enjoys a comparatively low crime rate and is, generally, a very safe place to travel.
- •There is organised pickpocketing, especially in the busy tourist months in the summer.
- •Bicycle thieves are everywhere. Never leave your bike unlocked even for a minute.
- •Self defence is generally allowed only as a last resort, and excessive force must not be used. Weapons for self defence (including pepper spray) are not allowed.
- •Finnish police (poliisi/polis) are respected by the public, respectful even to drunkards and thieves, and not corrupt.
- •Customs and the police are strict on drugs, including cannabis.
Staying healthy
- •You're unlikely to have tummy troubles in Finland, since tap water is always drinkable (except on trains etc., and there will be warnings in those cases) and generally quite tasty as well, and hygiene standards in restaurants are strict.
- •At cottages and in the wilderness different considerations apply; quality of water from local sources varies.
- •Pests: The most dangerous pests are the ticks (Finnish: puutiainen or colloquially punkki, Swedish: fästing), which may carry Lyme's disease (borreliosis) or tick-borne viral encephalitis (TBE).
- •There are also a number of irritating insects, but if you are planning to stay in the centres of major cities, you are unlikely to encounter them.
- •Wasps sometimes gather to share your outdoor snack.…
Adapted from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA — edited by travelers, not us.
Right now
In the news the last few days
Pack this, know this
The little things that trip people up
Plug & voltage
C / F · 230V
Driving side
right
Emergency
police: 112 / ambulance: 112 / fire: 112
Tipping
As a rule, tipping is entirely optional and never necessary in Finland; restaurant bills already include service charges. Indeed tipping is almost unheard of outside restaurants with table service and taxi fares; the latter are occasionally rounded up to the next convenient number. Cloakrooms (narikka) in nightclubs and better restaurants often have non-negotiable fees (usually clearly signposted,
SIM / Data
As you'd expect from Nokia's home country, mobile phones are ubiquitous in Finland. Modern 4G/5G networks blanket the country, although it's still possible to find wilderness areas with poor signal, typically in Lapland and the outer archipelago, and the net may at times be congested elsewhere. The largest operators are Telia, Elisa (a Vodafone partner) and DNA. Most locals use packages with data,
Cash vs. Card
The vast majority of payments in Finland are electronic, and most Finns use a debit card for their daily purchases. Credit cards (mainly VISA and MasterCard) are widely accepted and contactless payment readers that also accept Google and Apple Pay are commonplace. Increasing numbers of businesses and vending machines accept only card. If you don't have a chip and PIN, expect a hassle – personnel i
Zoom in
2 Finland cities on SKETCH.WORLD
Real, resident-submitted Numbeo crime data at the city level — the same national picture above, with crime swapped for what people who actually live there report.
Show the receipts (8 sources)
- us-state — observed 2026-09-09
- uk-fcdo — observed 2026-09-09
- ca-gac — observed 2026-09-09
- worldbank-political — observed 2026-09-09
- worldbank-policeTrust — observed 2026-09-09
- cdc-health — observed 2026-09-09
- wikivoyage — observed 2026-09-09
- lgbtq-legal-wikipedia — observed 2026-09-09