How to Awoid Parking Fines in Finland

Rules regarding parking in Helsinki and other major Finnish cities are far more complicated than they need to be. Sometimes the rules are so complicated that even local residents are confused. Combine that with active traffic wardens patrolling the busiest areas, and you have a recipe for a very expensive day.

Whereas in many other European countries, you find free parking, paid parking, and no parking, in Finland, there are area rules, resident parking permits, time-limited parking, weekday-limited parking, day-of-the-month limited parking, etc. And the rules may change every 50 meters, even along the same street. My goal is to get you up to speed with Finnish parking rules and signs so that parking is one less thing to stress about on your trip to Finland.

No Parking Zones

First off, let’s talk about no parking zones. This is the one thing that is most likely to catch you.

No parking zone sign on a street corner

A classic international No Parking sign encased in a yellow rectangle indicates the beginning of a No Parking Zone. This means that unless otherwise indicated, parking is forbidden on both sides of the road and also on any connecting roads and traffic areas. The zone is in effect until you pass a similar sign with four diagonal stripes indicating the end of the zone.

End of no parking zone sign

It is best to note that these zones can be massive. A no parking zone might start from a highway offramp and end somewhere on the other side of town. As it is easy to miss these signs, you should assume that unmarked street parking in an urban area is forbidden.

Examples of Sign Combinations

The easiest way to explain some of the variables would be to go through some examples.

Relatively Simple Parking Zone

Simple multipart parking sign

Here is a relatively simple example of a time-limited parking zone. Let’s go through it part by part:

  • The first sign is just a simple “P” indicating a place to park. This you should already know.
  • The second sign contains three important pieces of additional information:
    • On the top left, there is an icon indicating that you must use a parking disk (“Parkkikiekko”). Read further to learn more about this.
    • “4h” means what you think it means: a 4-hour maximum parking time. -“8 - 20” means that this limitation is in effect from Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 8 PM.
  • The third sign indicates that none of this matters if you have a parking permit “O.” This is one of the residential parking permits available for purchase in Helsinki.
  • The fourth sign indicates that this is in effect for 15 meters or, realistically, about 3 cars.

So in summary: If you do not have the residential parking permit, you are allowed to park for four hours during weekdays while using a parking disk. During nighttime and weekends, you may park freely. More about time limits and parking disks later.

Same but Not Quite

Simple multipart no parking sign

How does this “No Parking” sign work then? Let’s go through it part by part:

  • The first sign indicates that it is illegal to park here. This you should already know.
  • The second sign contains three important pieces of additional information:
    • On the top left, there is again an icon indicating that you must use a parking disk (“Parkkikiekko”).
    • “4h” means what you think it means: a 4-hour maximum parking time.
    • “8 - 20” means that this sign is in effect from Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 8 PM.
  • The third sign indicates that none of this matters if you have a parking permit “O.”

So in summary: If you do not have the residential parking permit, you are allowed to park for four hours during weekdays while using a parking disk. During nighttime and weekends, you may park freely.

One might ask how this differs from the previous example, except for the 15-meter limit? It is pretty much the same thing. The difference is mostly minor, such as a parking zone having painted parking spots while this one does not. During winter, when the ground is covered in snow, there really is no difference.

Simple paid parking sign

Most of this should be familiar already, but here, instead of a parking disk, you see an icon indicating that it is paid parking Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 9 PM. During nighttime and weekends, you may park freely.

The small number “2” indicates the pricing zone. As of writing this in 2025, there are only two zones:

  • Zone 1: 4€/h
  • Zone 2: 2€/h

The prices are high, and if you find yourself in a paid parking zone, there most likely won’t be any free parking nearby. The letter “H” here indicates that these restrictions won’t apply if you have the corresponding residential parking permit.

Danger Zone!

No parking sign with way too much going on

Here you can see a combination of signs with a lot of information. You should be able to parse most of it, but there are some new things as well.

Why is the time indicated three times? The first one is familiar: Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 9 PM. The second one in parentheses means Saturday, 9 AM to 9 PM. The time in red letters means Sunday, 9 AM to 9 PM. Yes, this is a very complicated way to indicate that this section of the road is paid parking every day. During nighttime, you may park freely.

Below that, you see the pricing information (2€/h), but next to it, there is also a notice indicating that you can only pay for 60 minutes at a time. Below that, there is the familiar residential parking permit exception.

The real danger is in the yellow sign on top. It reads in Finnish and Swedish (yes, very convenient for non-speakers) that from the beginning of November to the end of April, this section of road has regular maintenance on Thursdays of every odd-numbered week. If you park here during that time, your car will be towed! Don’t ask me why I know that..

Sometimes these signs are about regular maintenance, mostly during winter to clean out the snow. Sometimes similar signs are posted to prepare for construction work or an event. Make sure you understand it before parking there.

Risk of Confusion

Sign indicating no parking during the day

After seeing so many No Parking signs that actually indicate parking spots, one might think that the short stretch of road between these signs is good for parking during the day. But this is not the case, as the sign does not indicate an allowed parking time. It simply means that parking is forbidden during the day. To be more exact, from 7 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday and from 9 AM to 3 PM on Saturdays. During other hours, you may park freely.

Parking Disk or “Parkkikiekko”

A stack of parking disks sold in a gas station

In many places, you will come across the parking disk symbol indicating that a parking disk should be used. Before 2015, it had to be a very specific blue parking disk, but that regulation was lifted. Now, you must clearly and visibly indicate your arrival time.

You can buy a parking disk from a gas station or supermarket (~2.5€), or alternatively, you can just write the time on a piece of paper and put it on the dashboard. As long as it is clear and easily visible for traffic wardens, it should be okay.

When using a parking disk, you round up your arrival time to the next half-hour. So if you park at 15:32, you would indicate your arrival time as 16:00.

Parking off-hours

In an example above, we saw a parking time of 4 hours between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM Monday through Friday. How does it work if your parking time extends into off-hours?

Let’s say you arrive at 16:13 and set your parking disk to 16:30. The requirement to use a parking disk ends after three and a half hours at 20:00. When the requirement resumes, your parking time actually resets, so the next morning you have 4 more hours to park from 8:00 to 12:00 without needing to move your car.

And what if you start your parking during the off-hours? Let’s say you arrive at 22:21. You would set your parking disk to show 22:30, but your parking time would only start at 8:00, meaning you would still have until 12:00 to park.

How to extend your parking time?

The legal requirement is that you need to move your car after the parking time runs out. It is not enough to just go and adjust your parking disk.

Traffic wardens actually monitor this by taking pictures of your wheels and comparing them later if they suspect parking disk misuse. However, you do not need to move your car a lot — just driving out of the parking spot and straight back in is enough.