Finland's network, run by Finavia, hangs off Helsinki-Vantaa (HEL), Finnair's home base about 19 km north of Helsinki. Its real trick is geography: Helsinki sits neatly on the great-circle route between Europe and East Asia, so Finnair's flights to Japan, China and South Korea make it a genuine one-stop alternative to the Gulf hubs. The other airports that matter are Tampere (TMP), Turku (TKU), Oulu (OUL) and Rovaniemi (RVN), the last doubling as the official home of Santa Claus and the way into Finnish Lapland.
People come for the forests and lakes, the design, the saunas and, in winter, Lapland. Rovaniemi is mobbed in November and December with Christmas traffic, while Helsinki works all year. Hotels near Finnish airports hold to the usual high Nordic standard.
