Venue & Travel

Venue and Accommodation

The participants will be accommodated at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station of University of Helsinki (see Google Maps). Full catering will be provided. Rooms are for 2-4 persons. The price for the stay for the whole week depends on your choice of accommodation, please see the registration page for details.

Alternative options

There are a number of alternative options available. Very close to the Biological Station there is Kilpisjärvi Holiday Village & Camping. There are a number of hotels in Kilpisjärvi some 4-5 km away. Note, that we do not provide transport between alternative accommodation and the Biological Station.

Getting There

Blue: EISCAT_3D sites. Green: EISCAT mainland sites. Red: Radar School location.

The nearest airport is Tromsø (TOS) and the easiest way to get to Kilpisjärvi is to fly to Tromsø on Sunday, and take the direct bus (see below) to Kilpisjärvi in the early Monday morning. At the end of the school the same bus leaves Friday evening back to Tromsø and you can fly out on Saturday.

Also the airports Rovaniemi (RVN) and Kittilä (KTT) in Finland are connected to Kilpisjärvi by direct bus (see below). Travelling via Kiruna (KRN) is less convenient due to lack of bus connection (see below for Symposium participants).

There are busses from Rovaniemi via Kittilä to Kilpisjärvi, and back, as well as from Tromsø to Kilpisjärvi and back. Please refer to Matkahuolto for more information as well as pre-booking. See also the screenshots here.

EISCAT Symposium Participants

If you participate in the International EISCAT Symposium in Kiruna in the week after the Radar School, depending on demand, EISCAT may try to arrange for one dedicated transport from Kiruna to Kilpisjärvi before the school and return to Kiruna after the school (Sunday out, Saturday return). The costs for these dedicated services will be shared between the passengers. Please let us know as a comment in your registration!

If you travel via Tromsø, you can return to Tromsø after the Symposium by train and bus from Kiruna via Narvik.

Visa and Invitation Letters

Important: check in good time if you need a Visa for Finland, Norway and/or Sweden, and if you need an invitation letter to apply for it. If so, select the respective box in the registration form and get in touch as soon as possible!

Travel: Note that we can invite you only to Finland! When you apply for Visa to Finland, it is our understanding that you will get a "Schengen Visa", which will allow you to move in the Schengen Area, which includes Norway. However, do make sure before booking flights via Norway, that the Visa you received is indeed a Schengen Visa!

Kilpisjärvi

Kilpisjärvi is located in north-western arm of Finland, in the municipality of Enontekiö (geographic co-ordinates: 69°03'N, 20°48'E).

Finland

Finland is a Nordic country, which celebrated 100 years of independence on 6th December 2017. Finland is a member of the European Union since 1995. The capital city is Helsinki, located at the Gulf of Finland on the southern coast. The local currency is Euro (€) and Finland is in the "Eastern European Timezone" (EET). Due to daylight saving time (DST), this means that during the radar school the local time is UTC+3h, while in neighbouring Sweden and Finland (Central European Time), the local time is UTC+2h.

The official languages are Finnish and Swedish (in the northernmost part of the country, Northern Sámi, Inari Sámi and Skolt Sámi are recognised as minority languages). Most people understand and are able to communicate in English. The Finnish population is currently just over 5.5 million inhabitants, and the total land area of the country is 338,424 km².