Lappeenranta is a city in the southeastern part of Finland, in the region of South Karelia. This is the border region with Russia, and the border is only about 64 kilometers away from the city. Lappeenranta is majority Finnish-speaking, but it is also known by its Swedish name Villmanstrand. The city is the seat of…
Parikkala is a small town in the region of South Karelia, in the very eastern parts of Finland. The town center is located just around 10 kilometers from the border with Russia. This is the seat of the local municipality, which has a population of around 4.400 inhabitants. A Short History of Parikkala Parikkala has…
Kerimäki is a locality and the seat of the local municipality in the province of Etelä-Savo in south-eastern Finland. The locality itself is also known as Kerimäen Kirkonkylä, or the Kerimäki Church Village, but also by its much older name Jouhenniemi. Finnish is the main language in the area with over 98% of the inhabitants…
Villähde is a village outside of Lahti in the region of Päijät-Häme in southern Finland, at the southern shores of Lake Kymijärvi. It lies along the Finnish national road 12 between Lahti and Nastola and has a station along the railway between Lahti and Kouvola. The village has a few small commercial centers and industrial…
Taavetti is a locality in Luumäki Municipality in the region of South Karelia in southeastern Finland. It is also known by its Swedish name Davidstad. At its center stands the Taavetti Fortress with a history going back to the Russian rule of the area. It has today a population of around 2.000 inhabitants and a…
Riihimäki is a town in the province of Kanta-Häme, or Tavastia Proper, in southern Finland. It is one of Finland’s main railway junctions and is home to one of only two high-security prisons in Finland. The town is the seat of the local municipality, a municipality that has a population of around 28.300 inhabitants. A…
Forssa is a town in the region of Kanta-Häme, a region previously known as Tavastia Proper. This is the inland of southern Finland with lakes like Kaukjärvi and Pyhäjärvi just next door and the river Loimijoki running through the center of town. It is home to a population of around 16.500 mostly Finnish-speaking inhabitants. It…
Mikkeli is a town in the region of South Savo, or Southern Savonia, in southeastern Finland. The town is also known by its Swedish name S:t Michel, but almost all of the municipality’s around 52.000 inhabitants have Finnish as their native language. The town is at the center of what is known as the Finnish…
Paimio is a town and municipality in the region of Southwest Finland, also known as Finland Proper. Its Swedish name Pemar is, but its population of around 11.000 inhabitants is mostly considered Finnish speaking. The river Paimionjoki flows to the west of the town center, a center known locally as “Vista”. The river is home…
Hämeenlina, or Tavastehus which is its Swedish name, is a town that once was at the center of the historical province of Tavastia in southern Finland. The city is today the capital of the Kanta-Häme Region and is the seat of the Hämeenlinna Municipality. With a population of around 68.000 inhabitants, it is the 14th…
This is Jyväskylä, the largest city in Finland that does not have a Swedish version of its name. It is in the region of Central Finland, in an area that is known as the Finnish Lakeland. The city has a population of around 144.000 inhabitants, making it the 7th largest town in Finland. Almost 97%…
Oulu, also known by its Swedish name Uleåborg, is a city in northern Finland. It is the capital of the region of North Ostrobothnia. It is with its around 185.000 inhabitants the largest town in Northern Finland and it is the center of the fourth largest urban area in Finland. Only Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku…