Exploring Finland

Exploring Finland

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Join us Exploring Finland! Here are all the posts.

  • Sodankylä | Exploring Finland

    Sodankylä, or Sodankylän kirkonkylä, is the central village of the Sodankylä Municipality within Finnish Lapland. Around 4.800 people live in this small urban area in northern Finland. This is the church village of the former parish, which is the actual translation of “kirkonkylä”. The center of the village lies between the rivers Kitinen and Jeesiöjoki….

  • Tankavaara | Exploring Finland

    Looking for gold? You are not alone, especially if you visit Tankavaara. This is a village in northern Finland, within the Sodankylä Municipality of Finnish Lapland. This is known as the “Gold Village”, or Tankavaaran Kultakylä in Finnish, and is today a tourist attraction. Who knows, maybe you will find gold and maybe you will…

  • Saariselkä | Exploring Finland

    Saariselkä is a resort village in northern Finland, in the region of Lapland. Its main attraction is the ski center along the slopes of the two nearby mountains of Kaunispää and Iisakkipää. The village is home to several hotels and separate lodges. Reindeer walks the streets and tourists come for either skiing or summer activities…

  • Kuusamo | Exploring Finland

    Kuusamo is a town in northern Finland, in the eastern part of the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. To its north lies Finnish Lapland while not far to the east is the border with Russia. The town is one of Finland’s large tourist hubs and the surrounding area includes places such as Ruka, one of the…

  • Kaunispää | Exploring Finland

    Kaunispää is a mountain just to the north of Saariselkä in Finnish Lapland. This is the reindeer country of northern Finland, with the possibility to see reindeer herds grazing. The mountain itself reaches an altitude of 438 meters and offers a great view of the surrounding area. The possibility to see unobstructed for kilometers resulted…

  • Hyrynsalmi | Exploring Finland

    Hyrynsalmi is a municipality and locality in the Kainuu Region in Northern Finland. It is an unilingual municipality with Finnish as its main language. The urban settlement of around 1200 inhabitants lies along the southern shores of the lake Hyrynjärvi, with the smaller lake Salmijarvi just to the east. Hyrynsalmi is probably best known for…

  • Utsjoki | Exploring Finland

    Utsjoki is a village and municipality in the far north of Finland, right at the border with Norway. This is Finnish Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle, and this is in fact the northernmost municipality of the country. The municipality has a population of around 1.100 inhabitants spread out over a large area. There are…

  • Ivalo | Exploring Finland

    Ivalo is a village in the far north of Finland, north of the Arctic Circle. It is the administrative center of Inari Municipality in Finnish Lapland. Around 3.000 people live here at the shores of the river Ivalojoki. The village is also known by its Inari Sami name Avveel. This is one of the larger…