Ylivieska is a town in Southern Oulu region of Northern Finland.
In the early 1900s, Ylivieska was connected by rail, which meant rapid development of the area.
In the urbanisation of the 1960s, Ylivieska grew dramatically . Ylivieska became the centre of the region, with a wide range of services and good job opportunities. In 1969, Ylivieska was granted city rights.
Today the town is the administrative centre of the southern part of the Oulu region and a regional shopping destination especially known for its numerous car dealerships.
The closest passenger airports are in Kokkola (IATA: KOK) and Oulu (IATA: OUL). Outside the town there is an airstrip used by general aviation.
Ylivieska is located at Finland's main north-south railway, and all trains going from southern Finland to Oulu or Rovaniemi stop here. There is also a track east to Iisalmi.
There is a direct intercity coach from Kokkola and a connection from Oulu needing a transfer at Kalajoki.
Ylivieska is two hours south of Oulu, one hour east of Kokkola and about six hours north of Helsinki by car.
As you could expect from a town in rural Finland, the town is small enough to get around by foot, if you need to go further out your options are to drive or to take a taxi.
A demand-based taxi (kutsutaksi) with a discounted fare is available on Thursdays. The shuttle runs on Thursdays from the morning and the ride is ordered the previous evening by 21:00 from +358 44 757 5505 . If Thursday is a public holiday, the service will run on Wednesdays. The call taxi service is operated by Ylivieska Taxi (as of 2022).
See Southern Oulu region#By taxi
There are a couple of fairly big shopping malls along the road towards Iisalmi like Kärkkäinen and Prisma.
A local speciality is maitorieska, a white flatbread.
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division