Getting there

See Ahtela on Google Maps

Street address:  Ahtelantie 21, 21570 Sauvo

By car

From Turku: Get onto the motorway towards Helsinki (road 1/E18) and stay on it until  junction 10 (20-25 km depending on where you started in Turku). At the junction follow the signs to road 181 towards Sauvo (and Kemiö/Kimito); that is on the south side (right, when coming from Turku) of the motorway.

From Helsinki center and ports: Follow the signs towards the motorway to Turku, road 1/E18. Stay on the motorway until junction 11 (abt 115 km). (NB. Navigators and Google Maps may suggest a slightly faster but a lot more complicated and a lot darker route to the site. We recommend sticking to the motorway until junction 11).

From Helsinki airport: When leaving the airport follow the signs for Kehä III, then Kehä III länteen (Ring road III west) and Turku/road 1. Drive for 22 km and turn onto motorway 1 (E18 towards Turku). Drive for 117 km, until junction 11.

 

At junction 11, follow the signs to road 181 towards Sauvo (and Kemiö/Kimito). You’ll end up on the south side of the motorway heading south.

When you have gotten onto road 181 towards Sauvo/Kemiö/Kimito, keep driving for about 13 km, passing the village and church of Sauvo and continuing towards Kemiö. At the signs to Rajalahti and Kokkila, turn left. Drive for about 1 km and turn right towards Rajalahti. Keep driving for 7 km and turn left towards Ampola and Ahtela. Go on for another 2.5 km and you arrive at Ahtela Youth Camp.

For those using a GPS the address is: Ahtelantie 21, 21570 Sauvo

On public transport

From Turku airport

The airport is a pickup point, so public transportation isn’t required.

From Helsinki international airport (HEL)

For pickup, you need to take an express bus towards Turku and get off in the city of Salo. All express buses to Turku leave from platform 14 opposite arrival hall 2B at the airport. There’s a bus every hour almost around the clock, but if you want a pickup, you need to know in advance which bus you’ll be on; please allow a minimum of 60 minutes before scheduled arrival and bus departure.

Travel tip: At the airport the bus usually arrives to platform 14 10-15 minutes before departure, so you can get in early; but check that it is the correct bus, the platform is used by a few other routes as well (the front of the bus will have the text Turku on it).

This bus is a feeder line, so most of the time you have to transfer to another coach after 30 minutes, but the transfer is guaranteed and the drivers will assist with luggage and getting everybody from one bus to the other (the bus drivers move all the luggage that is in the hold while passengers just need to board the new bus). The drivers on the express buses, especially on the airport feeder, speak English.

Advance reservation is not needed and the express bus drivers take credit cards as well as cash. When buying the ticket, remember to tell the driver you want to get off at Salo bus station. A single ticket for an adult from Helsinki airport to Salo costs costs 22.00 euros. A return ticket costs 39.60 euros [prices valid in April 2014].

Finnish express buses don’t have a limitation on the amount of luggage you can carry, all express buses have lots of hold space for big pieces.

Salo bus station is one of the major stops on the journey, so getting off there is easy. You can also ask the driver to make sure you get off the bus at the correct stop. The trip from Helsinki airport to Salo takes 1:45-1:55.

See the Express bus schedules.
Enter Helsinki-Vantaa Airport as point of departure and Salo as destination to get the schedules [October 2014 isn’t available yet, but the Express bus doesn’t usually vary much so what you get in April 2014 is pretty much what you’ll get in October].

From central Helsinki
Take a train or a express bus towards Turku and get off at Salo, where you can be picked up from either the bus station or the railway station.

In Helsinki,  both the bus terminal and the railway station are in the heart of Helsinki, along the busiest streets. Connections are available at least once per hour, at busy times more often. The bus ticket costs 22 euros (39.60 return), the price of the train ticket (one-way) varies from abt 30 to 40 euros, depending on whether you buy the ticket in advance and what type of train it is (prices as of April 2014).

See  bus schedules and  train schedules.
Enter Helsinki as point of departure and Salo as destination.

Pickups and dropoffs

Please note: We can only promise a pickup/dropoff service for our foreign visitors and from two locations: Turku (for people arriving to Turku) and Salo (for people arriving to Helsinki).

Due to limited resources, we unfortunately cannot guarantee pickups for Finnish residents. However, we’ll do our best to accomodate those requests if there’s space available.

In Turku the pickup point is Turku airport. We may also be able to do a pickup from the evening ferry.
In Salo the pickup point is either the railway station or the bus station (these are close to each other).

Each of these is about 45-50 minutes from the site.

Each pickup/dropoff costs 10 euros per trip per person and the service has to be booked at least one month before the event (by September 17). Please note, that If your plans change, you have to cancel the pickup at latest the day before the event or you will be charged for it whether you use it or not.

Pickups are mainly done during Friday evening after the site opens and dropoffs will be done on Sunday morning before the site closes. If we find a space for you with somebody arriving to the event or driving home (instead of separate pickup/dropoff), other times may also be available.

We will be able to follow flight (and ferry) arrivals to Turku and Helsinki and reshuffle pickups to Turku based on that, but you’ll need to inform the autocrat as soon as possible if you miss a flight connection or your planned bus/train connection in Helsinki so we can reschedule the pickup.