Transportation

City buses are a good and easy way to travel in Turku. There are several bus stops in the area and from the different bus lines you can choose different directions and destinations to go to. If you’re heading to the city centre or coming from there, you can choose from one of the four different lines: 7, 9, 12, 18 and 61. The bus number 12 goes closest to Retrodorm. If you are going from the city center to Retrodorm the bus will say VARISSUO and from Retrodorm to city center the bus will say HÄRKÄMÄKI. If you want to learn more about different bus lines, we highly recommend that you get familiar with the Föli journey planner from this link: http://reittiopas.foli.fi/bin/query.exe/3engn.

Most of the city buses go to, and leave from the market square and its surroundings. Price of the single ticket is 3€, and it is valid for 2 hours after you have bought it. During this time you might switch the bus free of charge by showing the ticket. During the night-time (11pm – 4am) there is an additional fee of 1€. We advise you to purchase a student’s season ticket, if you’re using city buses regularly. The student’s season ticket costs 33€/36€ and you can travel 30 days with the ticket. The season ticket is rechargeable. The student’s season tickets can be bought from the Local Traffic Service Office, which is located by the Main Market Square, in address: Aurakatu 5, 20100 Turku. In order to get the student’s seasonal ticket you need a study certification from your host university. You have to also fill out an application form for the ticket. You can find these application from the Dorm books or download and print one from Föli's web site. Take the filled form and study certification to the Local Traffic Service Office, pay the office fee (5€) and the ticket (33€/36€) and use city buses as much as you want during the next 30 days. If you want, you can get additional 9 days with 10€. Local Traffic Office is open from Monday to Friday between 8am – 6pm and on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm. The Local Traffic Office may change the prices.

Sometimes taxis can be the best option when travelling in the group. Internet search engines give several hits for the search “taxi, Turku”. In general the availability of taxis is quite good. However, there are times when taxis might be hard to get. For instance, morning and evening ferry arrival/departure times (8am and 9pm) might be busy for taxis. During the weekends, when bars are closing, there is usually more demand than supply, and taxis can be very hard to get. The best way to get a taxi is to call the central dispatch, which covers all Turku taxis. The number for central dispatch is 0210041. Flagging a taxi on the street isn’t common, but may work sometimes, especially around the taxi stops. You can recognize the available taxis from the roof light (when It’s on, the taxi is available).There are also a couple of taxi stops in the city centre where you can queue for the taxi (for instance, by the Main Market Square, opposite to the Orthodox Church on Yliopistonkatu). There are different types of taxis. A normal taxi transports 4 people and a certain amount of luggage. If you have a lot of luggage with you, it’s good to state that information when calling the taxi, so that the taxi center can send the right type of taxi (a wagon instead of a sedan). If you have more than 4 people, you can order a van taxi (“tilataksi” in Finnish), which can normally transport 8 passengers. The van is always cheaper than two normal taxis. Taxis take a base charge, which can be 5-10€ depending on the time of the day. The base charge is higher during the weekends and night time. Actual transportation costs are usually 1-2 €/ kilometer. A taxi from the city center to Retrodorm costs about 10 - 15 euros.

There are two railway stations in Turku. The smaller station is in Kupittaa and all the trains going or coming from Helsinki direction are going via Kupittaa station. If you’re going to other direction (direction to Tampere), you have to go to the main railway station, next to the city centre. You can get more information about the Finnish railway services from the website https://www.vr.fi/cs/vr/en/frontpage. A bus station is situated ten minutes walk from the market square.

There are several buses going directly from Turku to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Matkahuolto Ltd operates most of the bus traveling in Finland. Get more information about buses from the website https://www.matkahuolto.fi/en/. Students, who have a student card with the VR and Matkahuolto logos, are entitled to get discount when travelling with the trains and buses. The discount is approximately 50 percent. The student cards without required logos are not accepted. Ask about the student card issues and benefits from your tutors. If you can’t have the required student card, you might be able to get the VR’s and Matkahuolto’s own student card, which entitles you to travel with out-of-town trains and buses with the student prices. The card costs eight euros and you can get it from the railway station’s ticket sales. In order to get the card, you have to fill up the application form and return it to the station. For the card you will need a passport picture and stamp from your host university. You can find the application forms from the “dorm book”.

There is also this bus company called Onnibus. It is usually much cheaper than Matkahuolto. Onnibus does not have student discounts, but it is still usually cheaper than matkahuolto specially if you book it early and avoid rush hours. Students use Onnibus a lot. Onnibus also takes you straight to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Check the timetables and prizes here: http://www.onnibus.com/en/index.htm

Turku harbor is located in the West-side of Turku, next to the Turku Castle. Ferries and cruisers leaves from the harbor. There are morning and evening departures to Stockholm, Sweden daily. The two ferry companies, “Silja line” and “Viking line” have terminals in the harbor. You can get more information about ferries from the companies’ websites: http://www.tallinksilja.fi/etsi-matka and https://www.vikingline.fi/. Bus number 1 goes between the harbor, market square and airport.

The airport is located in the North, approximately 9 km from the city centre. The bus number 1 goes to the airport. Air Baltic, Wizz air, Finnair, Flybe, SAS and Blue1 operate from the airport. Get more information about the airport and flights from the webpage www.finavia.fi.