For foreign people, best part of driving in Finland is that here the roads are almost always empty. We had a vacation in central Europe just a while ago, and I had never seen so much traffic jams. Our attitude for traffic jams is completely different than visitors from big cities: for me, heavy traffic is always few minutes more. And after that, road rage is like… You know.
Roads in here are basically in a good condition and empty, like I said. In Helsinki, Turku and Tampere, you might see some heavy traffic at 07-09 and 16-18 but these are never too bad.
There are car hire companies in all big cities and airports. I recommend booking in advance and for that, you will need a credit card.
If you have EU or Swiss driving licence, you can get on the road straight away. If you don’t have, see these links.
When you are driving you need to carry on few documents, including your driving license, vehicle registration and insurance certification.
Speed limits are 50 at taajamissa, 80/100 at high ways? and 120 in speed ways. And in winter, limits are 50, 80 and 100. In winter you will also need snowing tyres and if you are about to rent a car, hiring company will do that for you.
Finland has two national languages, and thats why signs are in two languages, (almost every place) first in Finnish and secondly in Swedish. There is no two destination. There are few places where the signs are the other way round, first swedish and then finnish but that’s uncommon.
Useful finnish terms for driving in here:
Suomi = Finland
Pysäköinti = Parking
Uloskäynti = Exit
Sisäänkäynti = Entrance
Aja hitaasti = Drive slowly
Tie rakenteilla/Tietyömaa = Road construction
Kunnossapito = Road repairs
Kiertotie = Detour
Poliisiasema = Police station
Poliisi = Police
Sairaala = Hospital
Ambulanssi = Ambulance
Paloasema = Fire station
Lautta/Lossi = Ferry
http://finlandinsider.com/travel/travel-car/
http://portal.liikennevirasto.fi/sivu/www/e/transport_network
