LAPLAND EXPRESS DELUXE EN-SUITE SLEEPER TRAIN / VR FINLAND TRIP REPORT 

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Dashing through the snow on a cozy warm and comfy train is Railroad Heaven. Thanks for allowing me tag along on this quiet and smooth as silk overnight train ride.

very cold and -5C in the same sentence feels bizarre to me as a finn! if you ask me, very cold is -20C

Finland is such a wonderful and underrated place to visit in Europe. We rode the allegro a few years ago, absolutely fabulous

As part of an Interrail holiday, I did almost the same thing as you although my journey was in middle March. I took the later sleeper from Helsinki to Rovaniemi (2313 departure) and that arrives at about 1120 or so. I had the meatballs in the restaurant car and then a beer and some coffee, all of which were excellent quality. I also took some breakfast in the morning but I was on the later train. I also slept superbly in my sleeper cabin and had a deluxe en suite cabin as well. I think I managed almost 8 hours but I was so excited (60 years old!) to do the snowmobile drive through Lapland Tours in town. So enjoyed it an the fastest I managed was 58 km/h but don’t tell the instructor! I returned the same day in the 20:57 sleeper for Rovaniemi and alighted at Tikkurrila as I was taking a flight on to Warsaw. The restaurant at the station which you briefly featured served me a really huge Pizza and some coffee / beer again and I was so full I got on the train and just crashed out. Again the VR sleeper was superb and I had a great nights sleep. Finland is a hugely recommended country and prices are not as crazy as anyone might think, they are really around the same as London (or sometimes less). I hugely enjoyed my trip and would say to anyone to do it. Those VR en suite sleepers are just amazing!

The attention to cleanliness was first class. Really like that. The toilets and showers looked very well fitted and roomy. It all looked an excellent service. Seriously impressed.

Very impressive cabin and the ensuite even more impressive. The whole train is well designed.

This was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable rail travel videos I have ever seen. The videography and ambient sounds were exceptionally well done. I did not want it to end.

I have been to FInland many times and loved it!! I never did a sleeper train there but I used commuter trains there. However I did take many sleeper trains from Moscow to Helsinki many times and it was just great!! Very comfortable. - I have been to Helsinki, Espoo, Jyvaskula, Tampere and Turku as well as Vannikalla

That's an amazing train! Definitely love the livery. The rooms look really comfortable, the dining car seems really good. All around a great service. Thanks for sharing this review

Hello from Canada. I enjoyed your review and unlike many other videos on the Internet these days, it was very positive and made for pleasant viewing. Obviously this carrier is making an effort and is trying to provide a fairly priced choice for travellers. Even the food cost was reasonable. Good for them.

I see that you missed the six finger hand on the Restaurant Car's door XD [EDIT] When I was in the Navy doing my military service. -25C out and windchill at -40C that was a lovely day to be outdoors. Perhaps that is why I get asked IDs whenever I get some alcohol products

The train roads are very impressive. I watched this video so I imagined that I was there enjoying the beauty of nature

Finnish railways are great, really enjoyed traveling with them, also very affordable in the otherwise expensive country of Finland

If that was the UK with that amount of snow you wouldn’t have left the station, mmm unless it was the right type of snow instead of the normal excuse ‘it’s the wrong type of snow”, great post and as usual I’m in heaven with sleeper trains

We used to travel a lot on VR sleeper trains when I was a kid. I don't know if they've completely removed the third bed but all the rooms had three beds stacked. One of my most vivid memories is falling from the middle bunk in the middle of the night on my mom's glasses :') For the rest of the trip I had a bump on my forehead and my mom had to survive with contacts

Arctic trains in Finland and Sweden are off the hook. Thanks for the ride.

As a local I find it interesting to watch your experiences through a visitor's eyes 👀. I'm happy to learn that you liked the train trip! ☺👍

That was and excellent trip report !!! Those trains look great!!! Thank you for sharing with us...

Love a sleeper with a dining car. "Jam thing"🤣🤣 - presume you mean lingonberries - a standard accompaniment to meatballs in Nordic cuisine.. Seriously though, a great & memorable trip.

Wow, what an amazing trip! I love Finland, and now, I definitely want to try this out! Thank you so much!

I’ll be there for the first time in about a week. Can’t wait!

It's more than 40 years ago that I travelled Helsinki - Rovaniemi and retour, both at night. One time I had a seat and the other time I had a couchette. What a difference it was to watch your video. Thank you very much.

Did that trip by car 25 years ago and after took the train to St Petersburg. Brought back amazing memories to me. Thank you,

I've taken the sleeper train only two times a few years ago on pretty much the same route and both times I didn't sleep well but it was likely not cos of bad beds but due to me going to a job interviews on both times, resulting butterflies in stomach :) I landed one of the jobs so now I take the same route 2-3 times a year to visit my parents up north, but I always take the day train, half price tickets even in Ekstra (1st) class compared to sleeper train and the Ekstra class seats are very comfy for a long journey.

Amazing video and loved watching this trip report and certainly by the looks of it that cabin does looks comfortable, I would love to travel on this sleeper train.

That train looks incredible and.the cabin looks so comfy. I would not want to leave. Great video. Loved hearing the sound of the crunch crunch crunch of the snow!!!!!!

Astonishing and Wonderful Landscape!!!

❤ lingonberries with köttbullar. 😋. I also spread lingonberries on my Swedish pancakes 😛. The cabin looked fantastic and so inviting. Glad you slept well Max 😉👍🏻

I really appreciate You showing the accessible cabins and toilet. I am a wheelchair user myself and would love to travel up north. I live in the south of Sweden. It is always difficult to travel by train but this seems to be working very well. Looks like a great train and price worthy.

Enjoyed this video very much. I spent one complete summer driving Finnish tourists around Ireland. We had great fun despite neither of us could understand each other. The guide would translate, but we would often head out together without her. It's on my bucket list to visit this beautiful country and what a beautiful experience to follow on your footsteps on that sleeper train.

Thank you so much for taking us all on this wonderful trip with you! I would love to take the journey by train now!

Simplesmente maravilhoso. Adoro comboios e este deixou-me "sem palavras". Parabéns pelo ótimo vídeo e pelo lindíssimo comboio… faz é muito frio (-20C).

Thank you, nonstop eurotrip! Ah, it's Finland! Ah, it's the North! Happy you are. Otherwise, yes, -5°C is not cold at all when you started your trip. You had fun. I would gladly stay with someone for 12 Hours on a night train in these conditions out of the cabin as you asked us in your video. That is, like a day train. The price plays a lot you know, thank you!!!

As soon as the music starts my mood lifts! Thanks, Peripatetic EuroTrains Person!

I did this same journey in Summer of 2007 on my way to The Masters Orienteering held in Northern Finland that year. I remember when I boarded the train in Helsinki the temperature inside the carriage was 35deg C and the Air Con was off. I took an overnight train but having just arrived from New Zealand I hadn't adjusted to the time zone properly so I only needed an ordinary seat and not a bed. I'm glad because of such wonderful scenery all the way. I was amazed by the 24 hour daylight and my main goal in Rovaniemi was do a training run over to the Arctic Circle.

Muchas gracias, amigo, por compartir estas aventuras. Gracias a ti, viajo por el mundo como me gusta. Tengo 30 años, y espero algún día poder disfrutar estas aventuras como tú. Un gran abrazo desde Asturias, 🇪🇸

Живу в Финляндии!!! Несколько раз ездила в Лапландию поездом, машиной... Очень красивая природа!! Спасибо за видео!!!

Worth watching to the end! Another great video!

Wonderful video! Not able to travel right now, but would love to visit Finland. In 1988, I took an overnight train from Hamburg to Stockholm, in coach the entire time, and loved it. At the time I was the typical American college student with a backpack, Eurail Pass and Let's Go! guide. Then another sleeper train from Munich to Florence, playing cards with a group of Italian college students. Great memories!

Damn it has changed a lot, I used to travel a lot from Helsinki to Lappland with VR in the 80's and the sleeper suites did not look that fresh back in the days :D They even had a toilet in the middle of the cabin back then. Everything was blue and orange in the cabin.

I would chose the deluxe cabin also for a journey this long!! Good value for the money! Good food too! Love the decor inside and outside. Thank you Max for a great review😀💚💚

Nice video. I'm a retired locomotive engineer [Amtrak 42 years] in California and found the review of the passenger car equipment very well covered and the remarks informative. It reminds me of the trains I ran south out of Chicago to St. Louis, and east to Ft. Wayne and Pittsburg PA. I also ran the California Zephyr out of Sacramento east across Donner Pass to Reno/ Sparks Nevada with ultimate destination Chicago. Excellent review and keep up the good work. Cheerio!

Well done, Eurotrip! Thank you very much for your video. It's really fantastic. This is absolutely unreal video, one of the best I've ever watched before. Adore Finland, it's unique absolutely fantastic beautiful nature, the magic of Northern Lights, X-tream and certainly, I'm happy to say that: you finally did your best destination route to visit the birthplace of Santa. Super!!! When I'm watching this my eyes are full with tears of joy and happiness, I surely remember of the best holiday --- New Year and Christmas. I guess VR Sleeper is the best way to travel by train with a friend or a family on winter holidays or Christmas vacations. I think kids will be very-very lucky to spend time like this. So am I!!! 😄

Didn't except a video from my country, it was a nice surprice! I'm clad that you enjoyed your trip :) Oh and I wanted to mention that it's pretty usual to travel long distances here just sitting in those common seats. They are comfy and bend back so you can easily sleep in it too. And about cold weather, well... you get use to it when you live here some time :D

Nine hours uninterrupted sleep - fabulous!!!

Nice one! I don't think I've ever heard (if that's the right word....) such a quiet and smooth-riding train. Now wonder you got a good kip!

Great review! I went on this train in December 2021 and absolutely loved it! Such luxury on a train wow! I think I can top you though, when I arrived the temperature was -30° brrrrr!!! I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

It's a fantastic country and one which has a lot to offer for rail enthusiasts. In that regard, I'd say it's quite an underrated place.

13:30 That is very interesting to see, I didn't know this is a thing, must be a special with the sleeper trains. Great video!

Nice video, thank you! A winter vacation travelling by train through Finland, Sweden and Norway is on my bucket list too (I'm going next winter!) and watching your report rekindled my excitement even though it's still six months away. I lived in northern Canada when I was a kid where -28 days in the winter were not unusual but it will take some getting used to as I live in a much warmer climate now. I laughed at your snowmobile near-mishap because the exact same thing happened to me on my first snowmobile outing. In addition to almost rolling the machine I hit a bump that was hidden by the snow and almost ejected myself from the seat. Good times! Really looking forward to riding the VR night train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. I have heard so many good things about it, and VR services generally, and all the reviews I've seen have been very positive. Can't wait to experience it myself. Another really great Nordic train journey (there are so many) is the Bergen line between Oslo and Bergen in Norway. I rode it the summer before the pandemic and am really looking forward to doing the trip in the winter. There is a night train on the route but but the scenery is absolutely stunning so a daytime trip is a must. Would be really cool if you, Simply Railway or doc7austin could do a trip report on that line too. I know you would like it. If you want a sense of what that route is like RailCowGirl (ru-vid.com), a train driver in Norway, has a RU-vid page with awesome video filmed from the cab of the locos/EMUs she's driving. Anyway, sorry for writing an essay. I just intended to write a simple thank you and got a bit carried away haha.

Great video !!

Beautiful train journey🌹

I actually did spend the night in the seat once, although it was on one of the old "blue cars" so the seat was much comfier while other amenities were sparse. I was heading back south after visiting home. The sleeper cars were fully booked but I really had to get back, so I had no options. It was summer, very bright, quite hot (the old cars had no air conditioning) and the Provinssirock festival had just ended in Seinäjoki. And of course the party people, who still had an unhealthy amount of alcohol in their blood and plenty of energy, boarded the same car in the small hours. I didn't sleep a bit. To top it off, I had to spend three hours at Tampere station waiting for a connecting train. After that I've made sure to always book my cabin early. :P

Did this trip many times up to Kemi earlier in my life. The trains were obviously not so fancy. I also remember sitting all the way from Kemi to Helsinki. It was painful. After watching this I want to try the luxury car of course. But during summer months ☺️

What a lovely journey in Finland … cheers !!!

Cool Video!!

-5 celsius really isnt that cold for us finns:). During winter it is usually between -15 to -20 celsius and sometimes even higher than that. This was in may (or february) when it is already much warmer since summer is getting closer. If this was actually in february then it is uncommonly warm for the time of year.

We Did the same trip, May 1995, hire car on. Flat trailer behind the train. Train quite basic then, had a coffee with Father Christmas on the Arctic Circle, 9.15 am on that Sunday morning. Thanks forthe video, brought back many memories!

Great trip report

i work on finland trains and i love the job!

You forgot to mention rare Sr1 locomotives that haulded the train (built in the USSR by the Novocherkassk factory).

Nice to see this refreshing travel video... Feel like myself travelling 😍

Nice video subbed to this wonderful channel!! ☺️

And from there you can take the Bus to North. That take about 4,5 Hours to Ivalo near Lake Inari. A Trip of 296 km.

Just stumbled on your video channel. I love travel channels. The snow looked so magical. I was disappointed , though, that you did not show the menu close enough to the camera so as to be readable to your audience. I'll likely never be able to travel overseas, but it's nice to see what people in other parts of the world eat. And to fantasize about what I would choose to eat.

This looks incredible definitely on my list! Would make such an amazing video! The content both ends and the middle! It’s a dream

Amazing trip and very soon I will explore this train.I have travelled 33hrs in train.

A few seconds before the overlay appear that this it the coldest thing you've ever experienced,@17:35 if i hear right someone says in german"Ich schwitze" which means "I'm sweating" 😁🤣

13:18 What's wrong with this picture? 😂

Wonderful Finland 🇫🇮💙🇫🇮

So much better than aeroplane! The most civilized way to travel. We need this train here through Malaysia to Thailand.

Why is snow on the ground, if the station a roof?

Great video! I would like to see the menu in detail for the dining car, also the year of the train set and type of engine that is being used?

Its a very detail information on riding a sleeper train from Helsinki . Thank you very much , we plan to try soon .

Great video. So cold!

-5c is Spring in most parts of Canada. It starts to be very cold at -25c…

19:00 I caught COVID and I was quarantined for 8 days (3 days more than the Spain's quarantine time for COVID). Well, today I had an antigen test and, It was negative!

This was brilliant, trains have become my new favourite video especially long snowy journeys… My hope for next year is to take one of these amazing trains but I would be awake the entire journey, I wouldn’t want to miss a thing . Stay safe stay well x

This is the first time I watched your video. It's detailed and enjoyable. Congratulations.

I see you travelled in the Lapp of luxury.

Спасибо! Супер великолепно ехать в пустом купе и даже в пустом таком замечательном поезде навстречу к Деду Морозу! -Тверь, из временно нацистской России.

Great coverage !

Wonderful trip, enjoyed the ride, beautiful country 😘

I LOVE FINLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Живут же люди. Дали отпор красной заразе, завоевали независимость большой ценой и мужеством, проявили стойкость. Большущее уважение за это финскому народу!

Wonderful! So cosy))

Such a great and informative video! I'm planning a trip to Rovaniemi and such reviews are so helpful

I hate it when train-testers sit in their seats and press the seat bolsters or turn on and off the reading lights or check if water rinses in the bathrooms or fumble the window blinds. I love it when train-testers sit in dining cars and show their food they eat. The more lavish the better. Why not mention what type of loco this train is pulling? Not interested in locos?

That bathroom/shower set-up is genius.

Kiitos for the experience. We plan to take this train, but in August

Great video, lovely clean train and great views, thanks

I had an occasion to ride on the same train at the beginning of May 2022. I was very satisfied to ride with VR operator.

Love watching your videos

I feel cold, too in the video. What an amazing train ride

Kiitos ....its very nice and beautiful vedios.....its like im also there riding on a train....haivää paivää

I live in Rovaniemi :) glad you enjoyed your trip and have a good day❤️❤️

Thank you, very informative video , will have to take this train !

I just found your channel. I'm really forward to watching of your videos! I enjoyed this trip! Love from Vermont

Lovely cozy rooms with a nice bathroom and traveling in snowy weather is so cool!