Private guides and guided tours in Finland

Finland

COMMENTS ABOUT Finland:

The Republic of Finland is a northern European country that shares borders with Sweden, Norway and Russia, and is just across the Gulf of Finland from Estonia. Besides shores on the Gulf of Finland, the country also has a Baltic Sea coastline on the Gulf of Bothnia. The weather in Finland is warm and welcoming in summertime, and quite cold in winter, with the North Pole region effect on daylight hours giving extra sunshine part of the year and long nights the rest of the year- in fact, in the far north of Finland the sun never sets during the summer, giving Finland the nickname, “Land of the Midnight Sun.”

Finland is known for its beautiful waterways and has nearly 200,000 lakes. Fishing, kayaking and canoeing is popular in Finland, as are boat cruises and sailing on the lakes and in the rivers and gulfs. Hiking and cycling in the deep green forests of the Archipelago Trail is also popular in summer. In winter the ski resorts north of the Arctic Circle provide cross-country skiing, and alpine skiing near Helsinki and Kuusamo.

Father Christmas is said to live in Korvatunturi, and there is a famous Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi , with a  Santa Claus Post Office and a white painted line that runs through the town designating the Arctic Circle. Rovaniemi is also the location of the world’s most northernmost McDonald’s, and the best place on earth to witness the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

Finland’s capital city, Helsinki, is an attractive maritime city with beautiful scenic shorelines and a vibrant culture. Over a third of the city is covered with green parks and forests, giving Helsinki the nickname, “The Green Capital,” and the remaining area is a lovely mix of historical and contemporary, with museums featuring both classical and modern art and an extremely popular music scene in the concert halls and nightclubs. Helsinki’s 100 km of Baltic Sea shorelines and its 300 islands give rise to a Finnish saying about the city: “The sea gave birth to Helsinki and the harbors raised her.”