Practical information

The Swedish-Finnish Cultural Center & Conference Hotel Hanasaari (swedish: Hanaholmen)
Address: Hanasaarenranta 5, Espoo

The meeting will be held in the Hanasaari conference hotel & cultural center on its own island in the Baltic Sea connected to mainland.

Hanaholmen is operated by the Swedish – Finnish cultural foundation, and houses their art collection in addition to a modern conference hotel and a restaurant. We invite you to explore the art gallery inside, as well as the outdoor art exhibition during the meeting, both free to explore for the conference participants.
https://www.hanaholmen.fi/en/culturalcentre/arts-and-culture/hanaholmen-gallery/
https://www.hanaholmen.fi/en/culturalcentre/arts-and-culture/art-park/

Hanasaari can be most conveniently reached from the city centre with the buses “121” and “121A” departing from the “Kamppi” bus station (Blue line on the map, departs every 15 min), located in the ground floor of the Kamppi shopping center. Alternatively, you can take the metro to “Koivusaari“ from the Kamppi metro station (Gray line on the map).

Public transport (HSL) offers the best speed to price ratio. Journeys can be planned online: https://www.hsl.fi/en.  Payment with the HSL mobile phone application is recommended (https://apps.apple.com/fi/app/hsl/id1340229182?l=en, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fi.hsl.app) but tickets can be bought at vending machines located on larger stations like the airport train station. Tickets must be bought before boarding buses, trains, metros and trams and can’t be bought on board. The HSL area is divided in zones A, B, C and D, which determines ticket prizes. The meeting venue, city center and Kulosaari are inside the AB area, but the trip to the airport requires an ABC ticket. The commuter trains I and P are convenient ways to reach the airport, either train leaves every 5 minutes, and the trip takes around 40-50 minutes. The ferry to Suomenlinna also operates in the HSL system, so it does not require a separate ticket.

*** There is only one metro line in Helsinki (M). Unfortunately, the metro station at the central railway station “Rautatieasema” is under renovation during the summer, splitting the metro line in two separate routes in the city center, with the western part ending in “Kamppi” and the eastern part ending in “Helsingin Yliopisto”. A replacement tram line 9 and 9B connects “Kamppi” and “Helsingin yliopisto”. ***

Taxi services were recently opened for free competition, unfortunately leading to an influx of some less reputable taxi operators. Taxi Helsinki is the oldest and most reliable and can be reached from the number 0100 0700. Other reputable operators include LähiTaxi and Kovanen. At least Uber, Jango and Bolt operate app -based taxi services in Helsinki.

Helsinki and Espoo have City Bikes for public use https://www.hsl.fi/en/citybikes/helsinki, 10€ /week. The bikes must be picked up and returned to specific stations, which are located all over Helsinki and Espoo. App based E-scooter providers have established themselves in Helsinki. Their parking is restricted in central Helsinki – they can only be left at designated parking areas. Car rental is of course possible and the Hanaholmen can be easily reached with a car. However, car is not a very convenient way to move in the city centre.

The organisers have booked room quotas for meeting participants in the following hotels that can be booked via the registration system. The availability can be guaranteed only for early bookings, please see detailed instructions from here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/eisg-helsinki-2024/registration#accommodation

• Hotel Hanasaari - The meeting venue for EISG 2024. Hanasaari offers visitors top modern hotel rooms. Located a stone´s throw away from Helsinki city center with the beautiful Finnish archipelago just outside the window. Spacious rooms are decorated in Nordic style and are filled with natural light. Breakfast as well as use of sauna and swimming pool in the morning are included in the room rate.
  
   
• Heymo 1 is a new flexible service hotel, where everything essential is taken into account and everything is made as easy as possible. Super comfy beds, 24/7 service and digital check-in available around the clock. Next to the metro, top companies, Aalto University and outdoor routes by the sea.
  
   
• Radisson Blu Royal - A luminous presence in the Kamppi district of Helsinki, the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel welcomes guests to the bustling city center. The Helsinki Airport is just 20 kilometers away, and public transport stations across the street from the hotel make it easy to navigate the Finnish capital. Upscale retail outlets, museums and entertainment venues lie within easy walking distance.
  
   
• Hotel Arthur is located in Helsinki city centre right next to the Central Railway Station. Helsinki's most prominent sights, large department stores, theaters and Casino Helsinki are all within walking distance of the hotel. As our customer, you will experience the comfort of authentic Finnish hotels at its best.

Room sharing

It is also possible to share a double room, in which case only one of the roommates makes the booking and indicates the roommate's name in the "sharing" field. If both roommates make booking, then two rooms will be booked. 

Participants are free to make their own accommodation arrangements but availability or prices cannot be guaranteed and is at delegate’s own risk.

Helsinki Airport (Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, IATA: HEL) is an international airport with flight connections all over world. The Airport is located ca. 20 km North of Helsinki city center with good connections to the Capital Region.

Port of Helsinki Harbours are located around Helsinki seashore. Helsinki can be reached daily departures from Estonia, Sweden and Germany.

Traveling in Finland is easy with national connections: VR railway company and Matkahuolto bus provider serve the whole country and provide land connection all the way to Central Europe.

Moving around Helsinki is easy with the local transportation, HSL's route planner helps you find your way. In the HSL route planner and in other map applications it is recommended to use "Hanasaari, Espoo" or the direct address "Hanasaarenranta 5" as there are two places called Hanasaari in Helsinki (the other one is old power plant on the east side of city center).

The closest metro stop to Hanasaari is called "Koivusaari" and on the island there is a bus stops called "E2205 Hanasaari" from and "E2332 Hanasaari" toward to Helsinki city center.