6. There are no public payphones in Finland
Finns have a reputation of being very quiet, introspective people who aren’t big on small talk.And generally, that’s true. Until you hand them a mobile phone. There are over 5 million mobile phones in Finland for a population of 5.4 million and Nokia is a Finnish company, based in the town of Nokia in southern Finland.
Which goes a long way to explaining why there are no public phones in Finland. There’s no need for them, everybody has mobiles phones.
7. One and two cent coins are not used in Finland.
When you pay cash for something in Finland the price is rounded to the nearest 0.05€ so there is no use for 1 and 2 cent coins. Although 1 and 2 cent coins are, strictly speaking, legal tender, shops are not obliged to take them.
8. Finland probably holds the world record for hosting world championships.
And the majority of them are far from serious events. Finland holds world champion competitions for wife carrying, mobile phone throwing, mosquito catching, swamp soccer,sauna, boot throwing and air guitar to name a few.
9. When driving in Finland you must keep your headlights on at all times.
It’s been the law since 1982.
10. Finns love their sauna
Although hotly contested by the Swedes, Finns lay claim to inventing the sauna. But whether they invented it or not, they certainly love it. There are around 2.2 million saunas in Finland, 1for every 2.5 people, and visiting the sauna is as normal to a Finn as going to the pub is to a Brit.
A Finnish sauna is taken naked (wearing clothes -and yes, a swimming costume counts as clothes- in the sauna is a big faux pas) and it’s normal to go in with groups of friends or family,drink beer and even grill sausages on the fire.
After getting very hot in the sauna it is normal to run outside, still naked, and leap into the lake. In winter they often cut a hole in the ice so you can still enjoy a dip or sometimes roll around in the snow instead.
