Thinking about hiring a car for your trip to Lapland? Worried about driving in the snow? Wondering what the snow conditions are like on the roads? After spending a week in January 2018 driving on Finnish roads, I can now answer your questions!
Honestly, driving in the Finnish Lapland in the middle of winter is so much fun!
Car Hire
Hiring a car for our 7-day holiday in Lapland, we hired a red Volkswagen Golf from Kittila Airport with the company, Budget car hire. Originally we had booked to hire a Skoda Fabia, costing just over £200 for the week. However, on arrival Budget car hire upgraded us to the Volkswagen Golf free of charge. It was a great car that was very fuel economical! The biggest highlight was the heated seats. Definitely worth having in these sub-zero temperatures!
When looking to book a hire car, the prices ranged depending on what type of car you want to go for. When choosing a hire car you need to consider the following: the number of people travelling in the car, luggage space, and how economical it is on fuel. We looked at hiring a compact economical car, which belongs to vehicle group B. The reason we choose a car this size was due to luggage space. A smaller car was cheaper to hire but we knew we were going to be taking two large suitcases with us. Therefore, we decided we needed a larger boot space to fit at least one of the suitcases in.
The collection of the car was very straightforward at Kittila Airport. The car was ready and waiting for us outside in the car park. The engine was running, the windows were defrosted, and the heating was on. Basically, it was all ready to drive away!
Always Check The Car Before Driving Off!
When collecting a hire car from anywhere, the first thing I recommend you need to do is check the car for any scratches or dents. The last thing you want at the end of your lovely holiday is to be charged for damage to the car which you haven’t done.
Before you drive off to begin your holiday, do check what fuel the car takes. This was something we forgot to do! It was rather embarrassing when we arrived at the petrol station and didn’t know what fuel the car took! Also, it is worth checking to see if the car has an ice scraper and brush. Often the car will come with one. But if not you might be able to borrow one from the car hire company, or buy one from the local petrol station.
Driving Laws in Finland
The speed limits on the roads during the Winter months are lowered to 80km/h to make it safer. Cars are fitted with winter tyres by law and often, there will be a set of snow chains stored in the boot, in case needed.
You can drive in Finland with a full UK driving license.
It is a legal requirement to have your car headlights on at all times, even in the Summer months.
Driving on the roads
Finnish roads are very quiet compared to the roads in the rest of Europe. This made driving a lot more pleasant, especially when driving on unknown roads.
We found the roads, okay to drive on, as long as you take it slow! The back roads were completely covered in compacted snow, but they were still okay to drive on. The main roads were often clear of snow!
Tips
At a petrol station, once you have filled your car with petrol, move your car away from the pump, then go and pay.
Fill up your car with petrol whenever you see a fuelling station. Don’t leave it until you need one, there might not be one around for miles!
Things to make sure you always take with you in the car: extra warm clothing, extra water, and extra food in case you break down.
It is recommended to take out car hire excess protection insurance. This covers you if anything happens to your car during the time you’re renting it from the car hire company.
You may notice in supermarket car parks, people leave their car engines running while they go into the shop to keep their car warm. It is very normal for locals to do this. We found they did this at the airport when we collected our hired car. The car was outside with the engine running, waiting for us.
In car parks, you will notice a little box that people plug their cars into. If temperatures go below -20ºc, you need to plug your car into one of these boxes. It’s free to do and prevents your car battery from draining. You will find the lead under your car bonnet for the plug.
If you would like to be notified when any new travel guides goes live, straight to your inbox, please subscribe here:
(don’t forget to check your junkbox for the confirmation e-mail!)
Further Reading
My book, How I Tamed the Wolf, Living with Lupus is available on Amazon via this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09M73X2JQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MWAF58981F0VVMNRV1WN
Other travel guides you may like:
Skiing in Yllas – Skiing in Yllas
Staying in a Glass Igloo – Glass Igloo
