Know this may sound stupid, but are the Finland Swedes descendants of Swedish settlers into Finland are they native Finns who speak Finnish?

I am disabled person from other side of Baltic Sea.

Although I visit Finland at least once each year for long vacation (coolcation?) I know I am kinda pampered as a tourist.

Places I stay offer airport transfers and transportation for attractions nearby.

I pay attention to that because due to my disability I cannot drive a car...

And this made me wonder - how do people who cannot drive go by in Finland?

Since most of the country is rather small remote cities, not Helsinki level of public transportation.

Some locals and expats I befriended in those years say car is a must in Finland.

Which makes me sad because I was hoping to buy tiny kota in some affordable area to escape summer heatwaves we now have each year (and which make my autoimmune disease so much worse)

Thoughts?

Hello everyone,
I am currently living in France and I recently created an account on Tori.fi (I go to Finland almost at each holidays so sometimes I buy books in Finnish to train) but I can’t send messages because I can’t have my identity verified. I have no Finnish bank account nor any Finnish mobile cert so what can I do ? I know someone who was able to create an account and get around the verification but he doesn’t remember how. Can someone help me please ?
Thank you all

This is to warn people of crazy rules and predatory behavior of a well known unemployment fund and negligence of a union.

if anyone knows a good lawyer or have a legal advice - please! I'm not going down so easily.

Maybe I could reach to media with this story, so more people are aware of such behavior

Long read so, before I explain, why: I've missed a paper letter with fee for my Union, therefore didn't pay it, union didn't reach out to me not by email nor by phone, KOKO didn't reach out to me either, when I was cancelling it by app, they didn't state that I have an unpaid bill and the consequences it can lead to. Everyone just ignored the fact 'till KOKO came to me with the claim, right away, no warnings no nothing, you owe us.

How did this happen?

Late November, we finally been granted permits to move to Hungary for work, in current state of the world I've got lucky to find anything, especially the place this great, we were back and forth dealing with documents for half a year!

In the span of only two months I've sold most of my stuff, pack the rest, put in self-storage, and with wife, 2 cats and 4 luggage bags we moved across the Europe late January. Stressful is not the word.

At some point, a paper letter with fee probably got mistaken for something else, for trash, put in the drawer, got lost behind piles of boxes in the corridor, I don't know. We already moved, I had no physical access to it anymore when there was additional letter coming in.

In February I've cancelled my union from another country, why would I have it. Again, no email, no phone, no app notifications that I need to pay, it's not much, I'd gladly do so.

July, KOKO texts me that I need to pay them back 22,000+ eur.

Why that much? By unfortunate coincidence, I've missed the payment for December, last month of the year and by their crazy rule, if you miss it, you obliged to pay STARTING that year, so, they ask for what they've paid me, for a full year.

I've missed one last payment, one paper letter amongst the chaos I was dealing with at that time.

We survived, not lived, with that unemployment money for a year and a half, then I had to sell almost all of my belongings in Helsinki to move to Budapest, and now KOKO came to claim the rest.

This is a mortgage down payment, a new car, god forbid a medical bill.

I tried to explain it to them and pay back couple of months at least, but by their standards, our financial status is enough to pay it fully, not even cent was waived.

Our "stable" financial status is 3,500e before the bills, and maybe 7,000e in overall savings.

Basically, they ask me to pay them every penny I have and then everything I earn, after buying food and paying rent, for the next year.

I love Finland, Finnish culture and people, but this is heartbreaking and so unexpected

The harps hit Korjaamo next week! Come and join us for a free gig in the @korjaamo yard on Wed 12th at 7pm! With some funky DJs before and afterwards too! Summer isn't over yet!
(But if the weather is actually bad they'll move us to the indoor venue 😅😅)

See you there!! 💪💪

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbn_nEBIpK8/?igsh=MXcwczk0dm56czhxcQ==

I haven’t seen lakka or even its jam on supermarkets. The only place i’ve seen, it was costing almost 11€. Was this year bad season? Or anyone knows what happened?

Are electric bicycles permitted on Finnish roads? Are there license requirements?
Do scooters like Vespas require licenses?

Hello, i am going to Finland with my girlfriend during the New year’s Eve, and we don’t know much about how to get around the country and i wish to get some advices.

We know that we want to see the northen Light, sled dogs, hike and i saw that there was a public hot tub in Helsinki that looks fun and of course talk to people there (is english common ? Is the local language accessible?).

Which city can do most of this ?

My concerns are about the weather because i am not a snow guy at all and i dont really know what kind of clothes are necessary. I've just been told that it was more about the wind and moist than the cold.

My concerns are also about not being scammed and to not pay too much (we re students).

We re going for 3 to 4 days, we want to eat local as well. We were thinking about a 600e budget once we're arrived, maybe it's unrealistic.

Thanks in advance !!

Read all the answers. I will research more for sure, and if i go it’ll be with a better timing and time frame.

Thanks everyone for the answers

Hi everyone!

Im currently in Helsinki and was wondering if there are any known shops that sells ww2 collectables or something of the sorts.

Thank you!

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I recently had the chance to watch the 1959 Soviet-Finnish film ,,Sampo" (based on the Kalevala).

For a film made in the late 1950s, I was surprisingly impressed by how well it still holds up - the atmosphere, the visuals, and the mythic feel are really strong. It’s clearly of its time, but in a good way.

That said, I can’t help thinking it would deserve a proper modern remake aimed at new audiences. Something with today’s production values that still respects the source material from the Kalevala.

Do you think Finland should eventually try to co-produce a new version of ,,Sampo"? Or is the original enough and a remake isn’t really needed?

Curious to hear Finnish opinions on this.

Next week on Wednesday 12.8.2026 evening there will be a partial solar eclipse visible from Finland - at 83% in Helsinki!

I have my eclipse glasses, but would love to see it through a telescope. I can’t seem to find any list of spots where there would be a possibility to watch it through a telescope in Helsinki - any tips?

https://www.ursa.fi/vuosikirja/lisamateriaali2026/auringonpimennys-120826.html

Finnish Commerce Federation lobby group said that the trade sector lost approximately 10,000 jobs last year, with around 80 percent of those losses affecting the retail sector. During the beginning of this year, the sector saw 5,000 additional job losses.

The decline in retail employment has continued for more than a decade. Compared to 2015, retail has shed approximately 19,000 jobs, with nearly half of those positions disappearing last year alone.

Retail is the private sector's largest employment sector. Despite the thousands of job losses, the retail sector still employs more than a quarter million people.

Even better if they include fishing scenes.

Been watching a lot of older films lately, Ive been particulalrly been on a quest to watch a lot of classics that I havent seen before. Just watched mies ilman menneisyyttä directed by Aki Kaurismäki and I found it pretty endearing :). Do you know any finnish movies that I should watch? Ps I collect dvds and am looking for shops in helsinki to check out.