Helsinki - Trains

Valtion Rautatiet - VR (tel: (09) 2319 2902 or 0600 41902 in Finland only; website: www.vr.fi/heo/eng) is the main passenger rail service provider. Trains in Finland tend to be clean and efficient. Services depart from Rautatientori (Railway Square), located on Kaivokatu, off Mannerheimintie. ATMs, exchange facilities, newsagents, a car hire office and hotel booking centre are all available at the station.

Rail services: Three main lines arrive from Turku in the west, Tampere in the north and Lahti in the northeast, through which trains from St Petersburg and Moscow pass. There are daily direct train services to and from Russia. The Finnish train, Sibelius, to St Petersburg (journey time - 6.5 hours) departs Helsinki in the morning, while the Russian afternoon train, Repin, to the same city, leaves Helsinki in the afternoon. Tolstoi, the Russian-operated night train to Moscow (journey time - 15 hours), departs in the early evening. It is possible for travellers to continue on to Berlin on the Repin.