Shipping to Finland: How to Address Your Packages Correctly

Finland has 5.6 million residents, 3 million saunas, and 187,888 lakes. Mathematically speaking, that works out to nearly one sauna for every two people. Furthermore, the country has been the happiest in the world since 2018 and also boasts the highest density of heavy metal bands. Whether there is a connection between the two has not been conclusively determined.

But back to shipping: As the only Nordic country in the Eurozone, there are no customs formalities here, unlike in Norway, for example. In addition: 80 percent of Finns shop online at least once a month. And 42 percent of all cross-border orders go to German stores. No other country delivers more to Finnish homes.

But anyone who ships to Finland has to be able to read addresses that at first glance look like a jumble of characters, such as Mäkelänkatu 25 B 13.

This is how Finnish addresses are structured

Finnish addresses follow a clear format. The distinctive feature lies in the apartment number.

Line 1: Recipient name

The first line contains the full name of the recipient.

For business addresses, the company name goes at the top. The contact person’s name follows below, either with „c/o“ or directly with their name and title.

Line 2: Street name, house number, and apartment number

In Finland, the street name always comes before the house number.

Common street names in Finland:

katu = Street, typical of urban areas (e.g., Aleksanterinkatu)
tie = Roads, including both thoroughfares and residential streets (e.g., Mannerheimintie)
polku = Path, usually narrower trails in residential or green areas (e.g., Metsäpolku)
kuja = Alley, short or narrow side streets (e.g., Pihakuja)

The Staircase System: Finnish apartment buildings use their own system for apartment numbering.

The format: Street name [House number] [Stairwell letter (if applicable)] [Apartment number]

Example: Koulukatu 8, Apartment 20 -> means: Building 8⎢Stairwell F⎢Apartment 20

Note: Capital letters followed by a space refer to the stairwell.
A lowercase letter immediately following the house number (e.g., „Kalliotie 11a“) indicates a subdivided lot.

Example: 1a A 2, Esimerkkikatu -> means: Lot 1a⎢Stairwell A⎢Apartment 2

Buildings without a stairwell use the abbreviation „as“ (Finnish, from „asunto“ = apartment).

Example: Koekatu 5 as 4 -> means: Building 5⎢Apartment 4

House numbers with suffixes: House numbers may contain hyphens or slashes.

Example: Kehrääjänkatu 6–8 -> Building spanning two house numbers
Example: Majankulmantie 160/10 -> with a slash as a separator

All address components (street, house number, building, apartment) are listed on a single line. They are separated only by spaces, without commas.

Line 3: Postal code and city

The ZIP code consists of five digits, followed by the name of the town in uppercase letters.

Examples:

00100 HELSINKI
33100 Tampere
90100 Oulu

Line 4: Country (for international shipments)

For international shipping, the last line will read „FINLAND“ or „FINNLAND“ in all caps.

Address examples at a glance

Here are a few typical formats.

Home address

B = Stairwell B, 13 = Apartment 13

Business address

Address in the Åland Islands

Two languages, one address

Finland has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish. This means that the same address can be written in two languages.

The major bilingual cities have dual names: Helsinki is called Helsingfors in Swedish, and Espoo becomes Esbo.

Street names also exist in both languages. The ending indicates the language: -katu becomes -gatan (street), and -tie becomes -vägen (road). For example, „Mannerheimintie“ is called „Mannerheimvägen“ in Swedish.

Posti, the Finnish postal service provider, recognizes both formats. „Mannerheimintie 10, 00100 HELSINKI“ and „Mannerheimvägen 10, 00100 HELSINGFORS“ lead to the same door. So if an order comes in with a Swedish-language address, just use it as is.

Zip codes: Five digits with a system

Finnish ZIP codes consist of five digits. There are currently about 3,100 in use.

The first two digits indicate the region. The numbers generally increase from south to north:

00 = Helsinki
20 = Turku
33 = Tampere
90 = Oulu
99 = Utsjoki in the far north

The last three digits indicate the district or town. City centers always end in „100”: 00100 Helsinki, 33100 Tampere, 90100 Oulu.

And then there's the 99999 Korvatunturi ZIP code. That's the official address of the Finnish Santa Claus (Santa Claus). He receives about 500,000 letters a year from all over the world.

Åland Islands: Finland, but different

The Åland Islands are part of Finland but have special status. About 30,000 people live there. The official language is exclusively Swedish.

For addresses, this means that „AX-“ replaces "FI-" before the ZIP code. Street and city names are in Swedish. And between the ZIP code line and the country name, the additional line "ÅLAND" is included.

For customs purposes, Åland is part of the EU. No customs duties apply. However, Åland is not part of the EU VAT territory. This means that different VAT rules apply to shipments to the islands than to shipments to the mainland. Check in advance to see if your shipping provider automatically takes this into account.

How your package gets to Finland

Only 10 percent of Finns Packages can be delivered to your home. The vast majority of people prefer to pick up their orders at package stations or pickup points—even when it’s 20 degrees below zero.

From Germany, you ship as usual through your shipping provider. In Finland, a local partner will then take over:

DHL is relying on the Parcel Delivery Network with over 700 locations. There is no dedicated network of Packstations there, as there is in Germany.

GLS will handle Matkahuolto Zustellung, Finland's second-largest parcel delivery service, with over 1,000 of its own parcel lockers.

PostNorth totals approximately 2,600 pickup locations. The Pakettipiste network also serves DSV (formerly DB Schenker).

The largest share is held by Posti, the Finnish state-owned postal service, with over 2,100 parcel lockers and 1,100 staffed service points.

Your next step

Do you ship to Finland, or are you planning to? If so, check out these three points:

Understanding the stairwell system. If you receive an order for „Mäkelänkatu 25 B 13,” you should know that “B” refers to the stairwell and “13” to the apartment. The logic is simple once you’ve seen it.

Keep Åland in mind. Addresses with an AX prefix are in the Åland Islands. Although they are part of Finland, they are not part of the EU VAT territory. Different tax rules apply there.

Check shipping providers for coverage in Finland. Only 10 percent of Finns want home delivery. Your service provider should therefore have good connections to package stations and pickup points.

You can read how address validation works across national borders in our article International address verification explained in compact form.

Do you also ship to other Nordic countries? If so, be sure to check out our posts on Shipping to Sweden and to the Shipping to Norway to.

endereco: Address validation for international shipping

Other countries, other address formats. Our Address validation checks customer addresses in real time, directly when they are entered in the checkout. Typing errors, missing zip codes, incorrect place names: Corrections are made before the order goes out. For over 200 countries worldwide.

Want to know how this would work for your store? Get in touch with us.