If you are arriving by plane, you will most likely land at the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. If you want, you can take the cab to the convention center Dipoli. The fare will likely be in the €40-€50 range per ride.
Renting a car can be somewhat expensive in Finland, so we suggest trying to gauge whether it is suitable for your budget beforehand. Furthermore, we suggest trying to get a rental car with a GPS navigator. Finland has quite an excellent public transport system in the Helsinki metropolitan area, so that is a very feasible option for getting to Ropecon from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Finnish taxis, the subway, trams, and buses are all very safe and reliable.
You will find all about the local public transportation (except for the taxis) on this website: https://www.hsl.fi/en
In addition, he Journey Planner is a very helpful tool: http://www.reittiopas.fi/en/ and there is also a free app, ReittiGPS, available from both Android Market and the App Store. If you have a smartphone, there’s an excellent application, ”Andropas” by Akiware, designed to help traveling in Helsinki-Espoo-Vantaa region. You can find and download it from the Android Market.
If you use the Journey Planner, choose “From: Airport, Vantaa” and “To: Dipoli, Espoo”, and you’ll end up right next to Dipoli. Which bus(es) to take depends a bit on when you’re arriving. If you want to take the shortest option, you take bus #615, get off at “Mäkelänkatu”, and switch into bus #506, but the easiest option is probably taking the bus #615 to the city center, walking to Kamppi bus terminal, and taking the bus #102. When buying the ticket at the bus tell the driver, just in case, that you need to get to Otaniemi, Espoo.
You only need to pay once, and then just show the receipt in the next bus. Switching is free within an hour or so. This way, you can get to Dipoli conference center (or back to the airport) for 5 euros per person (2,5 € for children under 12). The travel time is about an hour.
NOTE: Bus drivers are not obliged to accept banknotes bigger than 20 euros!
If you want to go to Helsinki:
If you also plan to travel to Helsinki and see the sights and such, you can opt to buy a regional ticket for 1-7 days (regional ticket means it’s valid in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa: Dipoli is in Espoo, a city next to Helsinki, and the airport is in Vantaa, another neighboring city). With a regional ticket, you can use public transport as much as you want to (not taxis, though).
You can buy all sorts of tickets, including regional tickets, from the bus. The Helsinki Card is nice, but it doesn’t give you free transport to Espoo and Vantaa.