Car Rental at Helsinki Airport

More than 20 million air travelers used Helsinki's airport last year, making Helsinki Vantaa Airport Finland's number one international airport. The airport is located roughly 17 km to the north of Helsinki's city center.

Passengers can choose car rental from five official car hire suppliers at the airport, who have car rental desks located in the corridor connecting the two terminals. Well-known and respected companies like Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt provide Finland visitors with car hire options at competitive prices. Rental car returns are handled in a designated area at the airport, namely in parking lot P3B, which is well sign-posted.

List of all car rental companies at Helsinki Airport:

• Addcar: +358 44 241 1312
• Alamo: +358 10 525 2282
• Avis: +358 10 436 2244
• Budget: +358 10 436 2255
• Europcar: +358 40 306 2800
• Firent: +358 60 055 0701
• Global Rent A Car: +358 40 014 8950
• Green Motion: +358 20 121 3510
• Hertz: +358 20 555 2100
• National: +358 40 306 2800
• Scandia: +358 10 235 5224
• Sixt: +358 20 112 2515
• Thrifty: +358 20 55 5210

Ranking as a star among the family amusement parks and attractions Helsinki has to offer, the city's Zoo can be found on Korkeasaari Island. Located on a 22-hectare site on a rocky island, Helsinki Zoo displays animals from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa as well as Australia and South America.

Helsinki Zoo lies north of Kruunuvuorenselkä and it is possible to travel there by public transport. In the summer, visitors can even take a boat that leaves from the Kauppatori market place or from Hakaniemi. The Zoobus number 16 provides year-round transport, except for Christmas eve.

Another family attraction worth visiting is the Linnanmäki amusement park in Tivolikuja 1. The park opened in 1950 and has since then provided generations of children and their parents with fun and entertainment on a non-profit basis. There are some 43 different rides and 23 amusement park games aimed at different age groups. It is old-fashioned type entertainment in many ways, but the park is charming and the restaurants and shops offer plenty of distractions for old and young visitors, too.

The park is located in the Alppiharju district of the city. It is possible to get there by tram line 3B Eläintarha starting from Helsinki railway station and alighting at Alppila. Bus line 23 leaves from platform 2 at the Ratatietori Square and also goes to Alppila. Parking is limited at the park, so using public transport is the best option.

The stunning Sibelius Monument celebrates the life of composer Jean Sibelius (1865 to 1957) and can be found in the Sibelius Park, which is located in the Töölö district of Helsinki. Artist Eila Hiltunen constructed the statue from 600 hollow steel pipes, which were welded together in a wave-like design and remind the visitor of a huge church organ. Its much smaller counterpart graces the UNSECO headquarters in Paris. When the wind caresses the steel pipes, music echoes through the Sibelius Park, something that the composer would undoubtedly have approved of, even if he might have been a trifle intimidated by the massive size of the monument!

With car hire from Helsinki Airport it is much easier to get to destinations outside of the tram and city bus scope. Just a few kilometers from the city center lies the wonderful Seurasaari Open Air Museum on a verdant island. The museum displays 87 examples of traditional Finnish farmsteads, manors and cottages that demonstrate what life was like in Finland during the 19th and early 20th century.

Car rental Helsinki Vantaa Airport can provide transport to some of Finland’s other treasures, like the medieval Häme Castle in Hämeenlinna for example, a city that lies 95 km or 59 miles northwest of Helsinki. It took 200 years to construct the castle, the origins of which date back to the end of the 13th century. Overlooking Lake Vanajaveski, the castle and adjacent 1970's barracks are a reminder that history is a living-breathing thing happening right now and all around us.