Finland has unique road markings that can make it identifiable from the other Nordic countries. On marked roads, Finland inevitably has white continuous side lines. In combination with this it often has centre yellow lines concurrently with centre white dashed lines. The alternative Finnish markings are the white continuous side lines with two yellow, continuous centre lines. Contrasting the other Nordic countries, it doesn’t have dashed lines on the edges of its roads. If I am ever in a Nordic country on a dirt or gravel road, I will always guess Finland. Finland uses the warning signs that are fairly rare across Europe. These entail a triangle with a thick red border and yellow filling. The other European countries to use these signs are: Sweden, Iceland, Greece and North Macedonia. Finland also uses the same red border and yellow filling colouring scheme for its circular speed limit signs. Sweden and Iceland also use this colouring scheme for speed limit signs. The Finnish landscape is generally flat. There are often birch trees lining the sides of the road in Finland and indeed these trees seem slightly more common here than in Norway or Sweden. As a general rule with these three countries, the further north you travel, the thicker the density of birch trees. I find that Finland also has a bit more of a wintery feel on average than Sweden. Finnish bollards are another good way of identifying the country. These bollards are either cylindrical or appear curved. This contrasts the normal European bollard shape. The Finnish bollards’ colours are black and white and they look like generic European bollard colours. If you see Finnish street names, they are most likely to end in one of two suffixes: ‘..katu’ and ‘…ntie’. Directional signs in Finland are either blue, like Sweden or green. The Finnish language stands out for its abundant use of double letters. Many words on signs will have double letters and this contrasts the other Nordic languages. It should be noted that the Estonian language also has many double letters. The Finnish highway system is explained in detail in the ‘Highways Numbering Systems’ section further up this article. Finnish road lines typically have white side lines and some form of yellow centre line with a secondary centre line. In this example, the secondary centre line is also yellow. In this example, Finland has its standard white side lines and yellow centre line but it also concurrently has a white dashed centre line. If you are in a Nordic country and see a dirt or gravel road, you are likely in Finland. Finland uses warning signs that are triangular with a red outline and yellow filling. Across Europe, the same signs are used in Sweden, Iceland, Greece and North Macedonia. Finland has these circular speed limit signs with a red border and yellow filling. Sweden and Iceland also have these signs. Finland is generally a fairly flat country. If you see birch trees (the white coloured ones) on the side of the road, you are likely in a Nordic country. Finland seems to have more birch trees than Sweden and Norway. The further north you travel, the thicker the density of birch trees. I find that Finland feels a bit more wintery than Sweden in general. Finnish bollards are either cylindrical or look cylindrical from the front. This cylindrical shape isn’t shared by the bollards of the other Nordic countries. Otherwise, Finnish bollards look like fairly generic, black and white, European bollards. Estonian bollards look the same as Finnish bollards Finland uses wooden, circular utility poles. Norway, Sweden and a number of other countries around the world also use these poles. Finnish street name suffixes are most commonly ‘..katu’ and ‘…ntie’ Finnish directional signs are blue or green coloured. Sweden also has blue directional signs. The south-western section of Finland often features road and directional signs with both Finnish and Swedish. The Aland Islands situated between Finland and Sweden and belonging to Finland have roads with short dashes on the side- Sweden style. The roads also have a reddish tinge to them. The Finnish language stands out from the other Nordic languages for its abundance of double letters. Estonian also has many double letters. 

Finland has shorter than normal white plates with the standard European blue strip on the left.

Åland has small, fully white plates with blue lettering.

Where present, outer road lines will always be solid white lines.

Unlike Sweden and Norway, Finland does not use dashed outside lines. The only exception to this are the Åland Islands in southwest Finland, which do use dashes.

Finland has several different types of middle road lines, including: 

white dashes, with or without a solid white line next to it

solid yellow with white dashes

double yellow.

Yellow lines are being phased out and are increasingly rare in newer coverage.

Sweden never has yellow middle lines. Norway has middle lines that have a distinct orange tint.

Finland has long black-and-white bollards with a rectangular, white reflector on the front and two dots on the back. They can be either round or thin and curved. The black strip is typically diagonal.

They can look somewhat similar to bollards found in other Northern European countries. This infographic shows the differences.

In Finland, it is common to find orange snow poles with a thin white band near the top.

These are also found commonly in Norway and Sweden, but with a much wider white band, lower down on the pole. They can also have multiple white bands, while Finnish snow poles always have just one band.

The Finnish language is not related to most other European languages, so it has a very unique look. It has a lot of long words and double vowels. The Finnish alphabet includes the letters ä and ö.

Estonian is closely related to Finnish, so it can look similar. Estonian uses the letters õ and ü, which are not used in Finnish.

Most Finnish street names end in “tie” or “katu.” These are the Finnish words for road and street. Street signs most commonly have a white background with black text.

You may find roads ending in “polku” and “kuja”.

Finnish road signs have a yellow background.

Signs in Sweden and Iceland also have yellow backgrounds. Norway, however, has signs with a white background.

On traffic signs that have a red border, you will find a thin yellow stroke on the edge of the sign.

You will not see this in any other Nordic country.

Finnish pedestrian signs have 5 stripes.

Pedestrian signs in Sweden and Norway usually have 4 stripes. In rare cases, you can find 5 stripes in Norway.

Finnish directional signs consist of a solid blue background, white text, and a white border with guiding arrows.

Finnish chevrons are black with yellow arrows.

Norway and Iceland have similarly coloured chevrons. Sweden, on the other hand, has unique blue and yellow chevrons.

Finland primarily uses wooden utility poles. Most of them tend to have a simple design, but they can have a variety of poletops. Poles often have a street light attached to them.

In Northern Europe, wooden poles are also common in Sweden, Norway, and Estonia.

Traffic signposts often have blue and white striped markings.

This pattern can also be found in Sweden. While the same colour scheme is also common in Estonia, the markings typically have a wider shape and attach to the signpost in a looser way.

Most of Finland is covered by dense boreal forests. Pine trees are common, as well as birches, which are easily recognizable by their white trunks.

Lakes are so common in Finland, that the country is also sometimes known as the Land of a Thousand Lakes. Usually, you do not have to drive long to find a body of water.

Finnish architecture is mostly modern and utilitarian. Downtown areas tend to be very modern, with lots of apartment buildings and use of concrete. Suburbs mostly consist of freestanding single family homes. Many houses have wooden cladding. Like Sweden and Norway, some wooden buildings, especially in the countryside, are painted in a distinctive dark red colour.

Finland has two styles of bus stop signs, a blue and white one, and a yellow and black one.

This can be used to tell Finland apart from Sweden, which has many different bus stop signs (example), most of which have the names of the stops on them.

K-Market and S-Market are two Finnish supermarket chains with recognizable logos. Both chains operate only in Finland.

K-Market is sometimes known as K-Supermarket or K-Citymarket.

Bollard:

The Finnish bollard is black and white with the black portion containing a white rectangle.

A common sight also are these snow poles.

These can occasionally be found. They indicate that there is a pipe underground and to be cautious if you dig nearby.

Road Lines:

Finland usually features all white markings, sometimes dashed shoulder lines, and sometimes yellow center lines. Finland has officially stopped adding a yellow center line. This took place the summer of 2020, so most of the coverage will still feature this yellow divider line. As the coverage gets updated, we will begin to see less yellow on Finland’s roads. The yellow only means “No Overtaking / Passing”. It is being replaced with a white line that means the same thing.

Aland off the coast of Finland has a red tinted road.

Currently, only the city of Helsinki will have a tram line. While Tampere does have a tram, it is not updated on the current images we have available to us. If you find either the tram itself, or the rails on the road, you have to be in the capital.

Road Signs:

Finland uses blue and green road signs. It uses white signs for its street signs.

Yellow signs are often used for important information such as speed limits etc.

Chevrons in Finland use a black background with a yellow arrow.

Bus stop signs in Finland can be either a 5 window or a 7 window. They can also be Blue or Yellow, although Finland is replacing all of their blue bus stop signs with yellow ones.

Guardrails in Finland use a traditional guardrail, without any reflectors placed in the middle.

Finland uses a thicker red border, as well as a thin yellow border for most of their signs. This is different from Sweden, and can be very helpful.

Finland has a few areas where you can find Bilingual signs. Not only can you find Swedish, but also a few variations of Sami. For more information on Sami, check out the language section below.

Finland has a gas station called ABC. It is exclusive to Finland, and has been the number one fuel retailer since 2009.

Electricity poles:

Finland uses wooden electricity poles.

License plates:

Finland uses the standard EU plate style.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Eastern Finland generally has more hills than the rest of the country. You can also find some mountainous areas far north near the border with Sweden or Norway.

Finland uses a lot of wooden houses often painted red.

Finland has 19 different regions. They had 20, but one was dissolved in 2011. Each has their own crest which can be found at the entrance to the region. Most also have their own flag, but those are rare to come across.

