The 26th Koli Calling conference will be held in the beautiful surroundings of Koli National Park at Break Sokos Hotel Koli, approximately 75 km north of Joensuu. While Koli is very beautiful, it is not the easiest place to get to without the useful information that you’ll find on this web page!

Conference venue on Google Maps

There are two Sokos hotels near Koli. The main conference hotel is the Break Sokos Hotel Koli. A quota of rooms has been reserved at the conference hotel shown in the Google Maps link above for Koli Calling participants. Instructions for booking accommodation from the conference quota can be found on the Fees and registration site.

Because Koli is beautifully remote, we recommend that you read the following information carefully, to work out the best way for you to arrive in time to enjoy the conference. The instructions cover train and air travel.

Travelling by train

For most international participants, the easiest way to reach the conference is to travel from Helsinki to arrive in Joensuu. There are several daily long-distance train connections between Helsinki and Joensuu, with a journey time of approximately 4.5 hours.

Train timetables and tickets are available from VR, the Finnish national railway company. We recommend booking your train tickets well in advance, as VR uses dynamic pricing and fares generally increase as the travel date approaches. VR provides a range of options for your seating on their InterCity and Pendolino trains, all of which have restaurant cars, places for bags, and allocated seating. The booking app will also show you the direction of travel if the direction you face on the train is important to you. Trains are climate controlled, many seats have 240V power, and there is pretty good high-speed WiFi for most of the journey. There are even small rooms on the train where you can have meetings.

If you are travelling on the train, the VR app can hold your tickets for you and you can even activate your ticket on boarding, which means that the conductor will just nod at you as they walk past. This is perhaps the most Finnish way to enjoy the train.

Recommended train connections

Finnish trains are very punctual. The departure time is when the train will leave, almost all of the time, and it is highly advisable to board a few minutes before this. You can activate your tickets 15 minutes before departure.

ARRIVING

Wednesday, November 4: Helsinki → Joensuu

• InterCity 5: 13:14–17:51
• InterCity 7: 15:14–19:29

Conference shuttle buses will take participants from Joensuu to Koli. Please see the shuttle bus schedule below. You will be asked before the conference which shuttle you are planning to take, to allow us to plan for the right size of bus!

DEPARTING

Sunday, November 8: Joensuu → Helsinki

• InterCity 6: 09:00–13:44
• InterCity 8: 12:10–16:44

Conference shuttle buses will take participants from Koli to Joensuu. Please note that participants taking InterCity 6 will need to leave Koli early on Sunday morning. You will be asked to confirm your departure time before the conference, again to allow us to plan the buses.

Travelling from Helsinki Airport by train

If you arrive in Finland at Helsinki Airport, you do not need to travel to Helsinki city centre to catch a train to Joensuu. Instead, travel via Tikkurila railway station, which is located only a short train ride from the airport. Tikkurila is the Finnish name for the station, it is also called Dickursby in Swedish. You will hear both, but they mean the same station.

1. At Helsinki Airport, follow the signs to the railway station, located beneath the airport terminal.
2. Inside the airport rail terminal are displays that show where the trains are going and clearly label the train name.
3. Take a P commuter train from Helsinki Airport to Tikkurila. You can check both that it is a P train and that it is going to Tikkurila on the display.
4. The journey to Tikkurila takes approximately 8 minutes.
5. At Tikkurila, change to your long-distance train to Joensuu.

For the return journey, travel from Joensuu to Tikkurila and then take the I commuter train from Tikkurila to Helsinki Airport.

The trains serving Finland are run by VR but the local trains in the Helsinki public transport service are run by HSL. You can book one ticket for the entire journey from Helsinki Airport to Joensuu through VR, which will also provide you with the HSL ticket. When searching for your journey, simply enter Helsinki Airport as your departure station and Joensuu as your destination. The journey planner will show the connection and transfer at Tikkurila. We recommend allowing sufficient transfer time at the Tikkurila connection and at Helsinki airport, particularly when travelling for your return flight.

Participants attending the Doctoral Consortium or pre-conference workshop

Participants attending the Doctoral Consortium (DC) or the pre-conference workshop should arrive in Joensuu one day before their event:

• DC participants: arrive on Monday, November 2
• Workshop participants: arrive on Tuesday, November 3

Both events begin early on the following morning, and there are no train connections from Helsinki that would allow participants to reach Joensuu in time when travelling on the morning of the event.

Flying to Joensuu

Domestic flights between Helsinki Airport (HEL) and Joensuu Airport (JOE) are operated by Finnair. The number of flights is limited, so we recommend checking availability and booking early.

The following flights may be convenient for conference participants:

Tuesday, November 3

• AY345: 17:05–18:10, Helsinki → Joensuu

Wednesday, November 4

• AY345: 17:05–18:10, Helsinki → Joensuu

Sunday, November 8

• AY346: 18:35–19:40 Joensuu → Helsinki

Please check the current timetable and exact departure time directly from Finnair before booking, as flight schedules may change. We will ask those arriving by air to confirm their arrival times so that we can schedule the correct number of buses and know when we need to pick people up.

Conference shuttle buses between Joensuu and Koli

The conference will provide shuttle bus transportation between Joensuu and the conference venue at Koli. The shuttle buses are included in the conference registration fee.

On Wednesday, the buses will collect participants from locations in Joensuu according to the announced schedule, including the University of Eastern Finland campus, Joensuu railway station, and Joensuu Airport.

ARRIVAL: Wednesday, November 4: Joensuu → Koli

Bus 1

• 17:30 UEF campus / Joensuu city centre
• 17:50 Joensuu railway station for participants arriving on InterCity 5
• 18:15 Joensuu Airport for participants arriving on AY345

Bus 2

• 19:15 Joensuu railway station, for the arrival of InterCity 7 from Helsinki

DEPARTURE: Sunday, November 8: Koli → Joensuu

Bus 1

• 07:30 from Koli
• Connects with InterCity 6 from Joensuu to Helsinki at 09:00

Bus 2

• 10:30 from Koli
• Connects with InterCity 8 from Joensuu to Helsinki at 12:10
• Connects with AY346 from Joensuu to Helsinki at 18:35

More detailed information about the shuttle bus stops and departure times will be provided to registered participants before the conference.

Visa information

Depending on your nationality and travel document, you may need a Schengen visa to travel to Finland. Please check the current visa requirements on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and, if necessary, contact the Finnish embassy, consulate, or visa application centre responsible for your country of residence.

Participants who require a visa are encouraged to begin the application process well in advance. The conference organizers can provide an invitation letter to participants with an accepted paper who have completed their conference registration and paid the applicable conference fee. Please, contact the local organizers at conference@kolicalling.fi for the invitation letter.

Other Useful Travel Information for Finland

by Nickolas Falkner

Travel in Finland

Finland makes extensive use of app- and web-based systems for booking travel and displaying tickets. eSims are easy to find online and data sims can also be purchased at the airport and in R-Kiosks, which are small convenience stores all over Finland. It is highly recommended that you have data coverage while travelling as it is simply more convenient when you have installed the apps for your travel.

Most people in Finland are fluently multi-lingual, speaking Finnish and English, among one or more other languages. However, if someone can’t understand you, they will usually quickly try to find someone who does, as Finnish is a relatively hard language to learn and very few visitors have more than a few words.

Politeness and kindness are always appreciated – so if there’s only one word you learn in Finnish, it could be “kiitos” which is the Finnish word for “thank you”. The ‘ii’ sound is pronounced like “ee” in English and, even though you won’t sound all that Finnish, the gesture will probably be appreciated.

Finnish Weather

Koli is held in November, when the temperature across Finland is dropping, the snows are starting to occur, but it can often be a wet, slushy, cold experience in Helsinki, with Koli itself (and Joensuu) being colder, with more likelihood of snow. Travelling with layers is highly recommended, as is having good waterproof, warm boots or shoes that have good tread. Koli sits between 3 Celsius and -10 Celsius, depending on the prevailing conditions and snow is not uncommon. The venue is kept comfortable and warm, which is why it’s important to be able to remove your warmer outer gear.

While outside footwear is regularly taken off at the front door in Finnish homes, people generally wear their outdoor shoes through the Koli venue, although you might be more comfortable with something lighter if you’re not planning to go outdoors. It’s more about if you’re comfortable in your big boots or want to bring something light and warm to spend the days in.

Local Train Tickets – Helsinki

If you don’t have a local (HSL) train ticket in the Helsinki part of your journey, you can just use a credit card on board by finding the contactless reader on the train, selecting the appropriate zone, and swiping your credit card. If you’re coming from Helsinki, it’s zone ABC. If you’re coming from Tikkurila, it’s zone BC.

If you are planning to do more travel on the Helsinki public transport network, which includes buses, trams, and trains, it is highly recommended that you download the HSL app. Once you have added a payment method, you can buy tickets easily for single trips, day trips, and other. Helsinki’s public transport is split into zones, where most of the “main” city is within zone AB and going to the airport from town requires zone ABC.

Taxis and Ride share

Taxis are readily available in Finland, with the taxi companies usually being organised at a city, rather than national level. If you decide to catch a taxi from the airport, you will find ranks by company outside the airport, most of which will clearly advertise a fixed fee to take you into the centre of town. Finnish taxi drivers are, in the vast majority, safe and careful drivers, most of whom speak English and can find your hotel or location. The taxi companies have their own apps if you are planning to use them a lot.

Uber is also available in some locations, although regulatory requirements mean that your Uber driver will probably also be a taxi driver. Bolt is also available and, again, will most likely connect you to a taxi driver. The advantage of the ride share apps is the ability to pay for the ride through the app, although it is worth noting that the ride share apps tend to take the fee up front, before the driver arrives.