Travelling to Lappeenranta

A cheaper alternative, especially if you arrive by boat from Sweden or Germany, is to take an express bus from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport or the Helsinki central bus station to Lappeenranta. The bus trip takes four hours and costs about 30€ to one way and 50€ to two way (notice a possible group discount). You can find timetables here: www.matkahuolto.fi/english/index.html.

The third alternative of getting to Lappeenranta is to take a train from the Helsinki railway station situated in the centre of the city. Finnair buses shuttle at regular intervals (every 20 minutes) between Helsinki-Vantaa airport and the Helsinki railway station. The train trip from Helsinki to Lappeenranta takes three hours and costs about 35€. You can find timetable here: http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html.

The trains from Helsinki will stop at a smaller station of Tikkurila about 15 minutes after its departure from Helsinki. The station of Tikkurila can be reached from the airport by a local bus (61, 61N, 61K) which departs just outside the arrival hall at platform 1b. Often this connection will help to catch a train. The bus Airport-Tikkurila takes about 25 minutes. Airport taxi can also be used. This should not take more than 15 minutes. Here are departure times of trains on Friday afternoon/evening towards Lappeenranta. More info on trains from http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html

	Helsinki	Tikkurila
P 5	12.34	12.50
IC 7	15.34	15.50
IC 9	17.34	17.50
IC11	19.34	19.50

When coming to Turku by a ferry, take a train or bus to Helsinki and from there to Lappeenranta. The trains for Helsinki leave near from Turku harbour soon after the arrival of the ferries. If you arrive by car, drive to Forssa, from there to Lahti, Kouvola and finally Lappeenranta. This is a shorter and faster way of getting to Lappeenranta than driving through Helsinki. About 8 km before Lappeenranta turn left to the direction of Sammonlahti. Drive straight to the first traffic lights and turn left at the sign Yliopisto. This will lead you directly to the university campus area and your student houses. The distance from Turku to Lappeenranta is 360 km and from Helsinki to Lappeenranta 225 km.

When arriving at Tampere airport, take a bus or taxi to Tampere railway station or bus station. Train to Lappeenranta costs about 40€ and you have to change train at Riihimäki. The train takes three hours. A bus takes four to seven hours.

Local Transportation

There are fairly good local bus connections from the centre of Lappeenranta to the university (yliopisto) although, unfortunately, most bus drivers do not speak English. At every bus stop there is a yellow rectangular sign on which there is a picture of a bus. A bus 5 and 6 drives through the centre of Lappeenranta to the University. Hotel hotel Karelia Park and LOAS-kourula are also on the way. Bus 5 leaves from in front of the railway station and bus 6 leaves from the hospital. The university is the last stop for both buses and therefore hard to miss. The buses leave the town every half hour and a ticket from town to the University costs 2,50. After 23:00 the prices of bus tickets are double the normal prices. You can find timetable here: http://lprwilima.lappeenranta.fi:8080/traveller/matkainfo?origin=hauntulos&command=haku, where Matkakeskus means the railway station and Skinnarila means 'the University'.

Find the local bus route map and location of the dormitory (Karankokatu 4) from here: map

A taxi from town to the university costs about 15. In the evening the cost of a taxi is competitive with that of a bus if at least three persons share a taxi. There are taxi stops in front of the main post office, at the railway station and in the market place.

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