Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport?

Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport? - Young ethnic man in earbuds listening to music while waiting for transport at contemporary subway station

This is part of a series of question on public transport in Finland. It has been suggested by a mod that I ask separate questions for each location I intend to visit.

I intend to see the Midnight Sun, and more in general visit Finland. I will start from Ivalo, the location of the northernmost airport in Finland, a few kilometers above the arctic circle.

I would like to also visit the capital of the municipality, Inari and its Sami museum.

Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo via public transport (bus, I guess, there does not seem to be any railway in Ivalo)? If not, are there alternatives for a foreigner that does not intend to rent a car?



Best Answer

As long as you stay within Finland and travel between inhabited areas, you will be able to travel by public transport, although services may run only once per (week)day in some cases and you may need to take quite circuitous routes (travelling via a central town rather than directly from village A to B). You need to plan carefully to avoid potentially multi-day waits.

If you want to cross the border to Norway, Sweden, or Russia you are even more limited. There are some seasonal buses into Norway and Russia. Out of season, you're out of luck and a border crossing would require a potentially very time-consuming hitch-hike or very expensive taxi if you'd want to get into Troms or Finnmark. There are no border-crossing buses to Sweden. There are towns or villages that straddle both sides of the border, such as in Tornio/Haparanda or Karesuando, where you can reach both sides of the border with national buses and only a short walk in-between (or in some cases the bus drives maybe 1 km into the other country), but timetables are not at all connected. I remember trying to get from northern Sweden to the Käsivarsi region of Finland and giving up after realising I'd have to wait 23 hours for my next bus after walking the 500 metre from Sweden into Finland, so I brought a bicycle on the bus and cycled the final 100 km instead. The timetables are simply not designed with international travellers in mind, which may be reasonable for international bus travellers are very rare out of season.




Pictures about "Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport?"

Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport? - From below of aged retro golden clock placed atop information booth of historic Grand Central Terminal with arched windows
Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport? - From above of crop anonymous female employee in elegant outfit and name tag standing on platform of metro station with newspaper in hand
Is it possible to reach Inari from Ivalo with public transport? - From above long exposure traffic on modern highway elevated above ground level surrounded by urban constructions in evening



How to get to Inari from Helsinki?

The best way to get from Helsinki to Inari is to fly which takes 3h 57m and costs \u20ac95 - \u20ac310. Alternatively, you can bus via Rovaniemi, which costs \u20ac29 - \u20ac45 and takes 18h 16m.

How do I get from Rovaniemi to Inari?

The best way to get from Inari to Rovaniemi without a car is to bus which takes 5h 50m and costs \u20ac8 - \u20ac13.

How far is Inari from Saariselkä?

Yes, the driving distance between Inari to Saariselk\xe4 is 70 km. It takes approximately 59 min to drive from Inari to Saariselk\xe4.



How public transportation work in Milan, Italy - bus, subway \u0026 tram




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Andrea Piacquadio, William Fortunato, Ono Kosuki, Ruiyang Zhang