Arriv­ing in Oulu

If you thought Oulu is far from every­where, it is time to update the false impres­sion! It is easy to get here and mov­ing from place to place in Oulu is pleas­ant and com­fort­able. Pick up the fol­low­ing tips for arriv­ing in Oulu and get­ting around smooth­ly.

Oulu Air­port is one of the busiest in Fin­land, with numer­ous flights land­ing every day. Keep track of them through the Finavia web­page (opens in a new tab) – air­lines such as Finnair and Lufthansa fly to Oulu from sev­er­al loca­tions. You can fly from Oulu to Helsin­ki in an hour. Lufthansa has year-round, direct flights from Munich to Oulu.

The trip from Oulu air­port to the city cen­tre only takes about 20 min­utes by car, and bus­es, taxis, rent­ed cars, or your own car will get you there with lit­tle effort. Local trans­port bus­es go to the air­port at 30-minute inter­vals dur­ing the day.

If you arrive by train, you can get to Oulu from any­where in Fin­land: See the timeta­bles and routes on the VR web­site (opens in a new tab). Tak­ing the train is a care­free and green method of trav­el­ling to Oulu. The rail­way sta­tion is in the very heart of the city, and you will reach the busiest cen­tre in a few min­utes on foot. Right next to the rail­way sta­tion is the bus depot for all the long-dis­tance bus­es depart­ing to des­ti­na­tions around the coun­try.

Dri­vers with­in Fin­land can get to Oulu via Nation­al Roads 4, 20, and 22. These and oth­er roads from Oulu lead to region­al des­ti­na­tions with entic­ing land­scapes and activ­i­ties – beware of becom­ing addict­ed!

Get­ting around in Oulu on pub­lic trans­port or rid­ing a bike

The city cen­tre is sit­u­at­ed about 15 kilo­me­tres from Oulu Air­port and 800 metres from the rail­way sta­tion. It is the hub of pub­lic trans­port, cycling high­ways, and oth­er roads around Oulu and beyond.

In the city cen­tre and near the sta­tions you will find local trans­port bus stops where you can catch a bus wher­ev­er in Oulu you want to go. Go to the Oulu Region­al Trans­port pages for nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion and timeta­bles. You will find spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion about tick­ets on this page (opens in a new tab). For pay­ing your fare on the bus, you can use a card with con­tact­less pay­ments or the Walt­ti mobile app, for exam­ple.

The peo­ple of Oulu ride their bikes every­where – check out our Cycling page for more! You can also rent an elec­tric scoot­er for get­ting from place to place, and the city cen­tre is very com­pact, so just walk­ing around is a love­ly alter­na­tive: at the same time, you can see the beau­ti­ful scenery at Hupisaaret Islands or the unique Oulu Riv­er estu­ary with its islands, from the city cen­tre through Hietasaari Island all the way to Nal­likari Beach.

Reach your des­ti­na­tion com­fort­ably in Oulu

Are you head­ing to Lin­nan­maa Cam­pus or the Tech­nol­o­gy Vil­lage?

Lin­nan­maa is about six kilo­me­tres from Oulu city cen­tre. The Pub­lic Trans­port Author­i­ty bus­es will take you near the main entrances of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu or Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sci­ences, or into the heart of the Tech­nol­o­gy Vil­lage. There are also plen­ty of park­ing spots in the Lin­nan­maa Cam­pus, although some of them have lim­it­ed park­ing hours and some are charge­able. You can eas­i­ly cycle here from any­where in town. The main cycling route in Oulu is the ”Lin­nan­maan baana” cycling high­way start­ing from the Mar­ket Square. It will lead you swift­ly to the cam­pus with plen­ty of park­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for bikes.

Need to get to the Kon­tinkan­gas Cam­pus­es or Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty Hos­pi­tal?

Kon­tinkan­gas is about three kilo­me­tres away from Oulu city cen­tre. It is a handy dis­tance to walk or ride a bike like the locals do. Pub­lic Trans­port Author­i­ty bus routes will take you there eas­i­ly, with many lines stop­ping on Kajaan­in­tie and next to the hos­pi­tal. City Bus line B will also trans­port you there from the cen­tre. Arriv­ing with your own car is handy, too – there are plen­ty of park­ing spots and three park­ing garages around Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty Hos­pi­tal.

Enjoy the Nal­likari Beach

The Nal­likari Hol­i­day Vil­lage is the gem of Hietasaari Island four kilo­me­tres from the city cen­tre. You will get to the sands of the Riv­iera of the North most eas­i­ly by bike through islands and the estu­ary, along a route that is cer­tain­ly one of the most beau­ti­ful in Oulu! You can get to Nal­likari also by catch­ing a bus on the pub­lic trans­port line num­ber 15, or the adorable city trains Pot­napekka and Kom­piainen in the sum­mer­time! Dri­vers can get to Nal­likari from the city cen­tre by fol­low­ing clear­ly marked signs – you can also check the dri­ving instruc­tions on the Nal­likari web­site (opens in a new tab).