Finland may geographically not be in the centre of the continent, but this year’s conference venue can nevertheless be reached conveniently – and indeed more easily than most other NanoScale venues in the past!
Helsinki is very well connected, and both the conference venue as well as the VTT MIKES campus and the centre of Helsinki are nearby, and can be reached quickly and easily by public transport from the international airport Helsinki-Vantaa.  Helsinki with its well-preserved classicist town centre, its white cathedral on a hill above senate square, the market at the old harbour, the esplanades, Suomenlinna fortress on an island in the sea, and plenty of exciting locations and spots in the centre, along the shores and out there on the many islands of the archipelago… is always worth a visit! Heated by sauna, you may even dare to bath in the Baltic Sea, even in October!

TERVETULOA – Welcome to Finland!

Our venue is Technopolis Ruoholahti, a modern conference venue on the rim of the centre of Helsinki – just 1,5 km West of the Esplanades and 2 km West of Kauppatori (Market Square) or Senaatintori (Senate Square). If you take a hotel in the West of the centre, the venue can be reached by walking, otherwise metro (or tram 8) brings you there (get off at stop Ruoholahti). Technopolis Ruoholahti is just 100 m from the shore in a region that has undergone an amazing transition from an industrial area to a modern office & leisure quarter by the sea.

Address: Technopolis Ruoholahti, Hiilikatu 3, 00180 Helsinki
Please see location map (external link to Technopolis) and find the right building/entrance: We are in Ruoholahti 1

For public transport within Helsinki centre incl. trips to Ruoholahti (for NanoScale at Technopolis) and Aalto Yliopisto (for VTT MIKES), an AB ticket is enough. For the airport (and other destinations farther from the centre), an ABC ticket is needed. If you plan to use public transport several times per day, you may consider a day-ticket or multiple-days-tickets. For details on public transport, please see https://www.hsl.fi/en.

Helsinki is actually one of the best-connected capitals in Europe! The national carrier FINNAIR offers direct flights from/to nearly all European capitals and other major cities, as well as from/to the most important cities in Asia. Furthermore, SAS flies to/from Helsinki via Copenhagen and AIR BALTIC via Riga, and many other airlines fly to/from Helsinki-Vantaa airport from/to many places in Europe, often directly.

Unlike many airports in Central Europe, Helsinki airport is known to be managed well, and is one of the first in Europe already fully equipped with the latest generation of scanners that make the security control easier and much faster.

To get to Helsinki centre (and NanoScale or VTT MIKES), please buy a ticket for zones ABC first and then take commuter train either I or P. Both lines I and P bring you to Helsinki main station in about 30 min. If you directly want to continue to NanoScale or VTT MIKES, please change to Metro at main station with the very same ticket and take M1 or M2 in the western direction (Tapiola or Kivenlahti) and get off at the 2nd stop Ruoholahti (for NanoScale at Technopolis) or the 6th stop Aalto-Yliopisto (for VTT MIKES on the Otaniemi campus).

FINNLINES offers a daily connection from Lübeck-Travemünde to Helsinki. The departure is shortly after midnight from Travemünde-Skandinavienkai (can be reached by train from Hamburg/Lübeck), and the cruise all along the Baltic Sea takes about 30 hours so that Helsinki is reached in the morning of the next day.

From central Europe, travel via the Danish sounds & belts and across Southern Sweden by car or train e. g. to Stockholm and take one of the ferries to Helsinki or Turku – several shipping companies operate between Sweden and Finland (and Estonia).
Alternatively, you may take the Eastern route and travel across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Tallinn, from where it is only 80 km to Helsinki; there are several (fast) ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki every day. Please note that there is no direct train connection from Central Europe to Tallinn (but long-distance busses).

There are no international passenger trains to Finland. But if you wish to see more of Finland before/after NanoScale, you may make use of domestic trains that offer very good connections in the South-North direction all the way up even to Lapland, please see www.vr.fi/en.

After February 24^th, 2022, travel via Russia can no longer be recommended! Please pay attention to sanctions and restrictions.

Finland is perfectly integrated in Europe: it is a full member of the European Union (EU) and, most recently, also NATO. Finland is part of the SCHENGEN-zone, and its currency is the EURO. Together with Finland, all other Nordic and Baltic countries are part of the Schengen-zone, too. So travel is easy (but don’t go via Russia!).

If you need a visa to enter Finland, please register for NanoScale 2023 first and then contact the organizers for a visa support letter. Please attach a scan of the ID page of your passport, and observe the application & entry requirements on the website of the Finnish Foreign Ministry. The participant needs to bear all travel costs on its own, and may need to prove this upon visa application. Please note that the organizers may wait with the visa support letter until the payment of the participation fee is received on the NanoScale bank account. If visa application fails, the organizers will transfer the money back.

Members of institutions in countries that support the Russian aggression war (Russia, Belarus, Iran...) cannot attend at all, in line with the sanctions imposed by the European Union and its member states, the recommendations given by EURAMET and the rules applicable for NMIs in Europe and elsewhere after February 24th, 2022.