1936 On the Continent

for the average Finn is anxious that his country, of which he is proud, should make a good impression on the visitor from abroad.
Travelling in Finland
    Except for differences in local colour, language and so on, the British visitor to Finland might fancy himself travelling in one of the Dominions. There is the same contrast between a largely virgin nature and a modern civilisation. For all that the country is sparsely populated and has the new appearance of a land that has not been cultivated everywhere for centuries, the towns and one might say the appointments of the country are more modern than in densely populated countries, where vested interests act as a brake on progress. In type, Finnish civilisation resembles that of Great Britain, Germany and America, and not that of South and Eastern Europe. Finland is the kind of country where trains run punctually to the minute, where motor-cars have superseded horses for travel purposes, where labourers read their newspapers by electric light, where things are done and not left till to-morrow.
    The Finnish State Railways are efficiently operated and the railway network covers most of the country. The coaches are all built on the corridor system, and on the main lines there are sleeping-cars and Wagons-Lits dining-cars. There are three classes—on many trains only Second and Third—and as the only advantage gained by travelling First is that one is usually alone in the compartment (there is a saying in Finland that only madmen and Englishmen travel First), most cultured people travel Second. Railway fares are extraordinarily cheap;roughly, a Second Class ticket (fifty per cent. increase on a Third) costs less than half of the Third Class fare in England for the same mileage.
    The railway facilities are supplemented by a widely ramified system of motor-bus services, served mostly by modern, low-slung, single-decker, roofed American cars—a democratic mode of travel, like riding in a tram-car. Further, in the summer, by lake-steamers. The lakes form in parts long consecutive waterways along which one can travel distances up to a couple of hundred miles without changing steamer. A tour in Finland should include one of the chief lake-steamer routes. Private cars can also be hired, with chauffeur, for any distance at a moderate cost, or the visitor might bring his own car. The roads are well engineered, and while not the equal of the Central European autostradas can be described as good; roadmaking and road improvements have been carried out for many years now with an eye expressly to automobile traffic. So far, the only air service within the country is the stretch between Helsinki and Turku, which can be flown on the hydroplanes on the Helsinki-Stockholm route.
Travel Facilities
    Tourist travel facilities have not been left to chance in Finland, but have been developed by semi-official bodies, chief of which is the Finnish Tourist Association, which provides and operates its own hotels and travel facilities where private enterprise cannot be trusted to give satisfactory results. The Association was originally founded to encourage domestic travel among the Finns, and its services are not run on a profit-making basis. Visitors who apply to the Association (address: Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu 7 A), or to the Association’s local agents in other towns or centres of tourist travel, can be sure of receiving disinterested, reliable advice in any matter connected with travelling, which travellers nervous about engaging guides, hiring cars, etc., without proper recommendations, should remember.
    The travel agencies also give free advice and should be used when buying tickets for round tours, booking sleeping-car accommodation, etc., as there is no extra charge andthe visitor can make known his wishes in his own language. Addresses: Finland Travel Bureau Ltd., Helsinki, P. Esplanaadikatu 19 (branch in Stockmann’s Department Stores); Travel Bureau Kaleva Ltd., Helsinki, T. Heikirzkatu 9; The School Travel Bureau (Koulumatkailutouristo), Helsinki, Ratakatu 2, for school and group excursions only.
    Motorists should apply for advice to
Suomen Automobiili Klubi
(Finlands Automobil Klubb, member of the Association Internationale des Automobile-Clubs Reconnus), Fabianinkatu 14, or to
Yleinen Autoliitto
(Suomi Touring Club, member of the Alliance Internationale du Tourisme), Mikonkatu 3, both in the capital. In any case the booklet “Automobile-Routes in Finland,” published by the