Norway
Sweden
RussiaFirst settlers after the Ice Age
As the great ice sheet of the last Ice Age melted, people moved into the land around 9000 BC. For thousands of years they lived by hunting, fishing and gathering, and later by farming and trade around the Baltic Sea.
Northern Europe
Finland
Forests, lakes and saunas, the midnight sun and the northern lights, in the far north of Europe.
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Overview
Finland at a glance
Finland is a Nordic country in the far north of Europe. It borders Sweden, Norway and Russia, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, across from Estonia. It is a land of forests and water: about three quarters of the country is forest, and there are about 188,000 lakes larger than 500 square metres. A quarter of Finland lies north of the Arctic Circle, where the summer sun does not set for weeks and the long winter nights can bring the northern lights.
For more than five centuries, from the Middle Ages until 1809, Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden. It then became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, and on 6 December 1917 it declared independence. During the Second World War Finland fought the Soviet Union twice, in the Winter War and the Continuation War. It lost land, but it kept its independence and its democracy.
Today Finland is a parliamentary republic of about 5.65 million people. It joined the European Union in 1995, uses the euro, and became a member of NATO in 2023. Finnish and Swedish are both national languages, and in the north live the Sámi, an Indigenous people with their own languages, of whom there are about 10,000 in Finland. Finns love their saunas, a tradition on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage, and as of 2026 Finland has topped the World Happiness Report for nine years in a row.
CapitalHelsinki
PopulationAbout 5.65 million (Statistics Finland, end of June 2026: 5,652,948)
Official languageFinnish and Swedish, the two national languages under the Constitution. Three Sámi languages also have official status in the Sámi homeland in the far north
CurrencyEuro (€), since 1999 (notes and coins since 2002); before that, the Finnish markka
AreaAbout 338,000 km², of which about a tenth is lakes, rivers and ponds
GovernmentParliamentary republic (constitution of 2000). The President is head of state and the Prime Minister leads the government
Highest mountainHalti fell, 1,324 m at the highest point on the Finnish side, on the border with Norway (the fell's summit is just across the border)
Longest riverThe Kemijoki, about 550 km, which flows through Rovaniemi to the Gulf of Bothnia
NeighboursSweden, Norway and Russia by land. Estonia lies across the Gulf of Finland, about 80 km south of Helsinki, and Sweden also across the Gulf of Bothnia
Drives on theRight
Calling code+358
The story
A short history of Finland
Finland's story runs from Stone Age hunters who followed the melting ice, through more than five centuries under Sweden and a century as a Grand Duchy of Russia, to independence, two hard wars and a modern European democracy.
9000 BC 1323 The Treaty of Nöteborg
From the mid-1200s Sweden gradually took control of Finland. In 1323 Sweden and Novgorod made peace at Nöteborg and drew a border across Karelia. For centuries it separated the Catholic, later Lutheran, west from the Orthodox east.
1548 Agricola's New Testament
Mikael Agricola, later Bishop of Turku, completed the first Finnish translation of the New Testament in 1548. There was no standard written Finnish at the time, so his books laid the foundations of Finnish spelling, and he is called the father of literary Finnish.
1640 The Royal Academy of Turku is founded
In 1640 Queen Christina of Sweden founded the Royal Academy of Turku, Finland's first university, at the proposal of the governor-general Per Brahe. After a great fire in Turku in 1827 it moved to Helsinki, where it is today the University of Helsinki.
1809 Finland becomes a Grand Duchy
In the Finnish War of 1808 to 1809 Russia conquered Finland from Sweden. At the Diet of Porvoo in 1809, Emperor Alexander I promised to uphold Finland's laws and Lutheran faith. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, and in 1860 it got its own currency, the markka.
1812 Helsinki becomes the capital
On 8 April 1812 Emperor Alexander I moved the capital from Turku to Helsinki, closer to St Petersburg. Helsinki had been founded in 1550 by King Gustav I of Sweden as a small trading town, and was now rebuilt with grand buildings around Senate Square.
1835 The Kalevala is published
On 28 February 1835 Elias Lönnrot published the Kalevala, a national epic he compiled from folk poems collected in Karelia and elsewhere. A longer version of 50 poems followed in 1849. It inspired Finnish artists and the growing national movement, and 28 February is Kalevala Day.
1906 Women win the vote
In 1906 a new one-chamber parliament was created, and all adult women and men gained the right to vote and to stand for election. Finland, then still a Grand Duchy, was the first place in Europe where all adult women could vote and stand for parliament, and in 1907 nineteen women were elected.
1917 Finland declares independence
After the Russian Revolution, the Finnish Parliament approved the Declaration of Independence on 6 December 1917. Soviet Russia recognised it on 31 December 1917. 6 December is Finland's Independence Day.
1918 The Civil War
From January to May 1918 a short but bitter civil war was fought between the socialist Reds and the conservative Whites, who won. About 38,000 people died, many of them in prison camps after the fighting. The wounds took decades to heal. In 1919 Finland became a republic.
1939 The Winter War begins
On 30 November 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Finland. Finnish soldiers held out through the depths of winter until the Moscow Peace Treaty of 13 March 1940. Finland kept its independence but gave up about 9 percent of its territory, and about 420,000 people from the lost areas, mostly in Karelia, had to be resettled.
1941 The Continuation War begins
In June 1941, after Germany attacked the Soviet Union, war between Finland and the Soviet Union broke out again, with Finland fighting alongside Germany. It ended with the Moscow Armistice on 19 September 1944. Finland lost land again and paid war reparations, then fought the Lapland War of 1944 to 1945 to drive German troops out of the north.
1952 The Helsinki Olympic Games
From 19 July to 3 August 1952 Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Helsinki had agreed to take over the 1940 Games after Tokyo withdrew, but they were cancelled because of the war. Helsinki is still the most northerly city ever to host the Summer Olympics.
1995 Finland joins the EU
After a referendum in 1994 in which about 57 percent voted yes, Finland joined the European Union on 1 January 1995, on the same day as Austria and Sweden. It adopted the euro in 1999, and euro notes and coins replaced the markka in 2002.
2023 Finland joins NATO
For decades Finland stayed militarily non-aligned. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, public opinion changed quickly, and on 4 April 2023 Finland became the 31st member of NATO.
At the table
What to eat in Finland
Finnish food is simple and fresh, built on rye, potatoes, fish from the lakes and the sea, milk and butter, and wild berries and mushrooms from the forests. Breakfast is traditionally porridge, dark rye bread is on the table at almost every meal, and coffee, often with a sweet cardamom bun, is drunk several times a day. Many traditional dishes are cooked slowly in the oven.
SnackRecipe
Karelian pasties
Karjalanpiirakka
Karelia, in the east, now eaten all over Finland
Small open pasties with a thin, crinkled rye crust around a filling of creamy rice porridge. They are served warm with egg butter, a spread of butter mixed with chopped hard-boiled egg.
Since 2003 the name karjalanpiirakka has been protected in the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed, so pasties made another way must be sold under another name.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 250 ml short-grain (pudding) rice
- 250 ml water
- 1 litre milk
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon for the dough
- 25 g butter
- 200 ml cold water, for the dough
- 300 g rye flour
- 100 g plain wheat flour
- For brushing: 50 g melted butter mixed with 100 ml hot milk
- For the egg butter: 100 g soft butter and 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Method
- For the filling, bring the water to the boil, add the rice and simmer until the water is absorbed. Add the milk and simmer very gently, stirring often, for 40 to 50 minutes, until thick. Stir in the salt and butter and let it cool.
- For the crust, mix the cold water, salt and both flours into a firm dough. Roll it into a log and cut it into 16 pieces.
- Heat the oven as high as it will go, ideally 275 °C, and line two trays with baking paper.
- On a floured surface, roll each piece very thin into an oval about 15 cm long.
- Spread about 2 tablespoons of rice porridge along the middle, leaving a border. Fold the edges over the filling and pinch them into small pleats, leaving the centre open.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges have brown spots. Brush the hot pasties with the butter and milk, and cover them with a clean tea towel so the crust softens.
- Mix the soft butter with the chopped eggs and serve the pasties warm, with egg butter on top.
Main courseRecipe
Salmon soup
Lohikeitto
All of Finland
A creamy soup of salmon, potatoes, carrots and leeks, seasoned with allspice and finished with plenty of fresh dill. It is served hot with rye bread and butter.
Salmon is the most popular fish in Finland, and lohikeitto is one of its best-loved salmon dishes.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g skinless, boneless salmon fillet, in 3 cm cubes
- 600 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 litre water or fish stock
- 5 allspice berries
- 1 bay leaf
- 200 ml single (light) cream
- A large bunch of fresh dill, chopped
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Melt the butter in a large pan and soften the leek for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the water or stock, the potatoes, carrots, allspice, bay leaf and a little salt.
- Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are almost tender.
- Pour in the cream and bring back to a gentle simmer.
- Add the salmon and cook very gently for about 5 minutes, until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Do not let it boil hard.
- Stir in most of the dill, season with salt and pepper, and serve with the rest of the dill on top and rye bread on the side.
Main courseRecipe
Sautéed reindeer
Poronkäristys
Lapland
Thin shavings of reindeer meat, fried in butter and then simmered until tender, served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. It is perhaps the best-known traditional meal of Lapland.
The meat is sliced while it is still frozen, which makes it easy to cut very thin. In Finland it is often served with pickled cucumber too.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g reindeer meat, frozen (or ready-sliced reindeer shavings; thinly sliced beef or venison can replace it)
- 50 g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped (optional)
- 300 ml water, light beer or stock
- Salt and black pepper
- To serve: mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam or fresh lingonberries mashed with sugar, and pickled cucumber
Method
- If the meat is a frozen block, let it soften for a few minutes, then shave it into very thin slices with a sharp knife.
- Melt the butter in a heavy pan or pot over a high heat and brown the meat in batches, adding the onion with the last batch.
- Return all the meat to the pan, pour in the water, beer or stock, and season with salt and plenty of pepper.
- Cover and simmer gently for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the meat is tender and cooked through. Add a little more liquid if it gets dry.
- Serve hot with mashed potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber.
Main courseRecipe
Karelian hot pot
Karjalanpaisti
Karelia, now eaten all over Finland
Chunks of beef and pork, and sometimes lamb, slowly cooked in the oven with onions, black peppercorns, allspice and bay leaves until very tender. It is served with potatoes and lingonberry jam.
In a 2016 national poll to choose Finland's national dish, Karelian hot pot came second, after rye bread.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g beef, such as chuck, in 3 cm cubes
- 500 g pork shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
- 2 onions, cut into wedges
- 2 carrots, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons salt
- About 500 ml water
- To serve: boiled or mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam
Method
- Heat the oven to 150 °C.
- Layer the meat, onions and carrots in a heavy ovenproof pot with a lid, scattering the peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves and salt between the layers.
- Pour in water until the meat is almost covered.
- Cover and cook in the oven for about 3 hours, until the meat falls apart. Check once or twice and add a little water if needed.
- Taste, add salt if needed, and serve with potatoes and lingonberry jam.
Bread
Rye bread
Ruisleipä
All of Finland
Dark, dense and slightly sour bread made from rye flour, water and salt with a sourdough starter. Unlike some rye breads elsewhere, Finnish rye bread is not sweetened.
In a public vote held around Finland's 100th year of independence, rye bread was chosen as the national food.
Main course
Kalakukko
Kalakukko
Savo, especially Kuopio
Small fish such as vendace or perch, with pork or bacon, baked for hours inside a thick rye crust, so that the fish bones soften. From the outside it looks like a big loaf of bread. You cut a lid from the top and eat the filling with pieces of the crust.
Kalakukko keeps for a long time while unopened, so it was once a practical lunch for workers away from home. It has had Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status in the EU since 2002.
Main course
Fried vendace
Paistetut muikut
The lake regions
Vendace, small freshwater fish from the lakes, rolled in flour and fried until crisp. They are eaten whole, often with mashed potatoes.
Dessert
Bread cheese
Leipäjuusto
Southern Ostrobothnia, northern Finland and Kainuu
A mild fresh cheese, pressed into a flat round and baked or grilled until it has brown spots. It squeaks against the teeth, and is served warm with cloudberry jam or sliced with coffee.
Traditionally it was made from the rich first milk of a cow that has just calved. Some people put pieces in a cup and pour hot coffee over them.
Main course
Cabbage casserole
Kaalilaatikko
All of Finland
An oven-baked casserole of cabbage, minced meat and rice or barley, with onion, marjoram and a little syrup. It is served with lingonberry jam.
Dessert
Mämmi
Mämmi
Southwestern Finland, now all of Finland
A dark brown Easter pudding made from rye flour and malted rye, baked slowly in the oven and eaten cold with cream and sugar.
It was first mentioned in writing in the 16th century. Traditionally it was kept in small boxes made of birch bark, and today's cardboard packages still copy their look.
SnackRecipe
Cinnamon buns
Korvapuusti
All of Finland
Large buns of sweet dough flavoured with cardamom, rolled up with butter, sugar and cinnamon and topped with pearl sugar. They are a favourite with coffee.
The name means 'a slap on the ear'. Finnish cinnamon buns are flavoured with cardamom as well as cinnamon, and can be up to 20 cm across.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 500 ml milk, warmed to about 37 °C
- 25 g fresh yeast or 11 g dried yeast
- 150 g sugar
- 1 egg, plus 1 beaten egg for brushing
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon salt
- About 900 g plain flour
- 150 g soft butter
- For the filling: 100 g soft butter, 100 g sugar and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- Pearl sugar (or coarsely crushed sugar cubes) for the top
Method
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, then stir in the sugar, egg, cardamom and salt.
- Add the flour a little at a time and knead to a soft dough, then knead in the soft butter until the dough is smooth.
- Cover and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Divide the dough in two and roll each half into a rectangle about 30 by 50 cm. Spread with the soft butter and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll up from the long side and cut into about 20 wedges, wider at the bottom than the top. Stand each wedge on its wide side and press down firmly in the middle with two fingers, so the sides fan out.
- Leave to rise on lined trays for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 225 °C.
- Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden.
Dessert
Bilberry pie
Mustikkapiirakka
All of Finland
An open pie filled with wild bilberries, small dark blue berries picked in the forests. It is often served with cream or ice cream.
Dessert
Runeberg torte
Runebergintorttu
Porvoo
A small cake of about 100 grams, flavoured with almonds and a little rum or arrack, topped with raspberry jam inside a ring of icing. It is eaten from early January until Runeberg Day on 5 February.
It is named after the national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who, legend says, liked to eat one for breakfast. In Porvoo, where he lived, some cafés sell them all year.
Snack
Salty liquorice
Salmiakki
All of Finland
Black liquorice sweets flavoured with salmiak salt, which gives them a strong salty, slightly sharp taste. Many visitors are surprised by it, and many Finns love it.
Salmiak salt was once used as a cough medicine, and salty liquorice may have started in pharmacies. By the 1930s it was being made in Finland as pastilles. Like all liquorice, it is best eaten in moderation, especially by people with high blood pressure.
Drink
Sima
Sima
All of Finland
A sweet, fizzy, homemade lemon drink, fermented for a few days with a little yeast, sugar and lemon. It has very little alcohol. It is made for Vappu, the May Day festival on 1 May, and served with doughnuts or funnel cakes.
Raisins are added to each bottle. When they swell and float to the top, the sima is ready to drink.
Table manners
- Say 'Hyvää ruokahalua' (HÜ-vaa RWOH-ka-ha-lu-a) before a meal. It means 'good appetite'.
- When raising a glass, say 'Kippis!' (KIP-pis), which means 'cheers'.
- Coffee is part of daily life. Finns often drink it several times a day, with a slice of pulla, a sweet cardamom bread.
- Water and coffee are the most common drinks, but with meals many people, adults included, drink milk or piimä, a sour milk.
- If you are invited to a sauna, it is fine to ask how things are done. Finns usually go in without clothes, but at a private sauna a swimsuit or towel is perfectly acceptable, and men and women often go separately. At swimming pools, saunas are separate for men and women and swimsuits are usually not allowed; mixed public saunas ask you to wear one.
Cities
11 cities to know
Most Finns live in the south, around Helsinki and in the cities of the lake district. Further north the towns grow smaller and further apart, and in Lapland reindeer outnumber the traffic on many roads. Many towns have two names, one in Finnish and one in Swedish.
Helsinki Capital
Uusimaa
The capital and largest city, on the Gulf of Finland, with about 1.6 million people in its metropolitan area. It was founded by the King of Sweden in 1550 and became the capital in 1812. It is a bilingual city, called Helsingfors in Swedish.
- Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral
- The sea fortress of Suomenlinna
- Design and architecture, including Finlandia Hall
- Market Square by the harbour
Turku
Southwest Finland
Finland's oldest city, on the Aura River in the southwest, first mentioned in 1229. It was the most important town under Swedish rule and briefly the capital of the Grand Duchy. Its Swedish name is Åbo.
- Turku Cathedral, consecrated in 1300
- Turku Castle
- The Aura River
- The archipelago off its coast
Tampere
Pirkanmaa
The largest inland city in the Nordic countries, built on both sides of the Tammerkoski rapids between two large lakes. Its textile mills earned it the nickname 'Manchester of the North'.
- The Tammerkoski rapids
- Old red-brick factories such as Finlayson
- The Moomin Museum
- Many public saunas
Oulu
North Ostrobothnia
The largest city in northern Finland, at the mouth of the Oulu River on the Gulf of Bothnia, founded in 1605. It is a centre of technology, and a European Capital of Culture in 2026.
- European Capital of Culture 2026
- The Air Guitar World Championships, every August since 1996
- Information technology
- The Oulu River
Rovaniemi
Lapland
The capital of Lapland, a few kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, where the Ounasjoki joins the Kemijoki river. Most of the town was destroyed in 1944 during the Lapland War, so few buildings are older than that.
- Santa Claus Village
- The Arctic Circle
- Northern lights in winter
- The Kemijoki and Ounasjoki rivers
Porvoo
Uusimaa
One of Finland's six medieval towns, on the south coast about 50 km east of central Helsinki. Its well-preserved old town surrounds a 15th-century cathedral. In 1809 it hosted the Diet of Porvoo.
- The Old Town of wooden houses
- Porvoo Cathedral
- The home of the poet J. L. Runeberg
- Runeberg tortes
Savonlinna
South Savo
A lakeside town in the heart of the Saimaa lake district, often called the 'Capital of Saimaa'. It was founded in 1639 beside the medieval castle of Olavinlinna.
- Olavinlinna Castle
- The Savonlinna Opera Festival, first held in 1912
- Lake Saimaa
- Its nickname, the Capital of Saimaa
Kuopio
North Savo
The regional capital of North Savo, in the lake district on the shores of Lake Kallavesi, and one of the main cities of eastern Finland.
- Kalakukko, the fish-in-a-loaf pie
- Lake Kallavesi
- Puijo hill
- Many kalakukko bakeries
Jyväskylä
Central Finland
A university city on the northern shore of Lake Päijänne, nicknamed 'the Athens of Finland' by Elias Lönnrot. Buildings by the architect Alvar Aalto can be seen all over the city, and several of them, such as Säynätsalo Town Hall, are part of UNESCO's 'Aalto Works'.
- Buildings by Alvar Aalto
- The university
- Rally Finland
- The Jyväskylä Arts Festival
Rauma
Satakunta
A town on the west coast by the Gulf of Bothnia, granted town rights in 1442. Its old centre of about 600 wooden buildings is a World Heritage Site.
- Old Rauma
- Bobbin lace and the yearly Lace Week
- A seafaring past
- The Bronze Age burial site of Sammallahdenmäki nearby
Inari
Lapland
A village on Lake Inari in Finland's largest municipality, well north of the Arctic Circle. It is known as the capital of Sámi culture, and its municipality has four official languages: Finnish and three Sámi languages.
- Siida, the Sámi Museum
- Sajos, the Sámi cultural centre
- Lake Inari
- Wilderness and national parks
Landmarks
Places everyone should see once
Helsinki
Suomenlinna
A sea fortress on eight islands, six of them fortified, about 4 km southeast of Helsinki's city centre. Sweden began building it in 1748 as a defence against Russia and called it Sveaborg. It surrendered to Russia in 1808, and after independence it was renamed Suomenlinna, 'Fortress of Finland'.
UNESCO World Heritage
Helsinki
Helsinki Cathedral
The white Lutheran cathedral with a tall green dome and four smaller domes, above Senate Square. Designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, it was built from 1830 to 1852 and was called St Nicholas' Church until independence.
Helsinki
Temppeliaukio Church (the Rock Church)
A Lutheran church opened in 1969, built directly into solid rock and lit by a ring of skylights around a copper dome. Its rough rock walls give it excellent acoustics, so it is often used for concerts.
Helsinki
Finlandia Hall
A white concert and congress hall on Töölönlahti Bay, designed down to the last detail by Alvar Aalto and opened in 1971. The 1975 Helsinki summit of 35 world leaders was held here. In July 2026 it became part of the 'Aalto Works' World Heritage Site.
UNESCO World Heritage
Rauma
Old Rauma
The wooden old centre of Rauma, with about 600 buildings on a street plan that goes back to the Middle Ages. Most houses were built after great fires in 1640 and 1682. The Church of the Holy Cross, a Franciscan monastery church inaugurated in 1512, has medieval paintings.
UNESCO World Heritage
Savonlinna
Olavinlinna Castle
A three-towered castle founded in 1475 on a rocky island in the strait between two lakes. It is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing, and every summer it is the stage of the Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Turku
Turku Castle
A great stone castle on the banks of the Aura River, begun around 1280. It is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland and served as a fortress and centre of government in Finland until the early 1800s. Today it is a museum.
Near Jyväskylä
Petäjävesi Old Church
A wooden church built of pine logs from 1763 to 1765 by the village builder Jaakko Leppänen, with a bell tower added in 1821. It is about 30 km west of Jyväskylä and is a World Heritage Site for its Nordic wooden church architecture.
UNESCO World Heritage
Near Rovaniemi
Santa Claus Village
A Christmas village about 8 km northeast of the centre of Rovaniemi, near the airport. Visitors meet Santa Claus in his office and send cards from Santa's Main Post Office, a real Finnish post office. A white line marks where the Arctic Circle ran in 1865; today the circle lies a few hundred metres further north.
Inari
Siida, the Sámi Museum
A museum on the shore of Lake Inari, home of the Sámi Museum and the Northern Lapland Nature Centre, opened in 1998. It tells the story of the Sámi people and of the northern nature, with an open-air museum in summer. In 2024 it won the European Museum of the Year Award.
Fun facts
Things you might not know
- 01
Finland has about 188,000 lakes larger than 500 square metres (187,888 by one official count), and about 179,000 islands. The largest lake, Saimaa, is the fourth-largest natural freshwater lake in Europe.
- 02
According to UNESCO, Finland has about 3.3 million saunas for about 5.5 million people. Finnish sauna culture was added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2020.
- 03
As of the 2026 World Happiness Report, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world nine years in a row, every year since 2018. The ranking is based on how people rate their own lives on a scale from 0 to 10.
- 04
Finland is slowly getting bigger. The land is still rising after the weight of the Ice Age glaciers was lifted, by about 1 cm a year near the Gulf of Bothnia, so the country gains about 7 square kilometres of land each year.
- 05
At Finland's northernmost point the sun does not set for more than 70 days in summer, and in winter it does not rise for about 50 days.
- 06
The Finnish word for the northern lights, revontulet, means 'fox fires'. It comes from an old belief that the lights were the glow of a fire fox's fur.
- 07
In 1906 Finland, then a Grand Duchy of Russia, became the first place in Europe where all adult women could vote and stand for parliament. In 1907 Finnish voters elected 19 women.
- 08
The Moomins, the round white trolls loved around the world, were created by the Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson. She wrote the nine Moomin novels in Swedish, between 1945 and 1970, and also made Moomin picture books and comic strips.
- 09
Nokia, famous for its mobile phones, started in 1865 as a pulp mill in the Tampere region.
- 10
The sport of wife carrying, in which a runner races along a course carrying a partner, began in Sonkajärvi, Finland, in 1992.
- 11
Every August since 1996, the city of Oulu has hosted the Air Guitar World Championships, where people play imaginary guitars to rock music.
- 12
In July 2026, 13 buildings and groups of buildings by Alvar Aalto and his closest partners Aino and Elissa Aalto, including Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as 'Aalto Works'. As of 2026, Finland has eight World Heritage Sites.
- 13
Santa Claus Village near Rovaniemi has its own official Finnish post office, where letters to Santa arrive from all over the world.
- 14
Finland has won the Eurovision Song Contest once, in 2006, when the hard rock band Lordi sang 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'.
Finnish (suomi) words
20 words to start with
Finnish is not related to Swedish or Russian: it belongs to the Uralic family, with Estonian as a close relative. The main stress is on the first syllable. Guide: 'ä' sounds like the a in 'cat' (written 'a' in the guides), 'ö' like the u in 'fur' (written 'Ö'), and 'y' like the German ü, an 'ee' said with rounded lips (written 'Ü'). Double letters are held longer. Pronunciation is written the way it sounds; the capital letters show where the stress goes. Audio is coming soon.
Greetings
- moiMOYhi (informal)
- kiitosKEE-tohsthank you
- kylläKÜL-layes
- eiAYno
Food and drink
- vesiVEH-seewater
- leipäLAY-pabread
- kahviKAH-veecoffee
- maitoMY-tohmilk
- kalaKAH-lahfish
Nature
- järviYAR-veelake
- metsäMET-saforest
- saariSAH-reeisland
- lumiLOO-meesnow
- revontuletREH-von-too-letthe northern lights (literally 'fox fires')
Sauna and everyday life
- löylyLÖY-lüthe steam and heat that rise when water is thrown on the hot stones of a sauna
- sisuSEE-soogrit, determination, the strength to keep going when things are hard
Places
- kaupunkiKOW-poon-keetown, city
- toriTOH-reemarket square
- ravintolaRAH-veen-toh-lahrestaurant
- SuomiSWOH-meeFinland
Say it like a local
Useful phrases
Hyvää huomenta
HÜ-vaa HWOH-men-tah
Good morning
Greeting someone in the morning
Hyvää päivää
HÜ-vaa PAI-vaa
Good day, hello
A polite greeting during the day
Hyvää iltaa
HÜ-vaa IL-taa
Good evening
Greeting someone in the evening
Hyvää yötä
HÜ-vaa ÜÖ-ta
Good night
Saying goodnight
Tervetuloa
TER-veh-too-loh-ah
Welcome
Welcoming a guest, and on signs
Mitä kuuluu?
MI-ta KOO-loo
How are you?
Asking after someone
Hyvää, kiitos
HÜ-vaa, KEE-tohs
Fine, thank you
Answering 'How are you?'
Kiitos paljon
KEE-tohs PAL-yon
Thank you very much
Thanking someone warmly
Eipä kestä
AY-pa KES-ta
You're welcome, don't mention it
Answering someone who thanks you
Anteeksi
AHN-tek-see
Excuse me, sorry
Getting attention or apologising
Nimeni on ...
NI-meh-ni on
My name is ...
Introducing yourself
Hauska tavata
HOWS-ka TAH-vah-tah
Pleased to meet you
Meeting someone for the first time
Puhutko englantia?
POO-hoot-koh EN-glan-tee-ah
Do you speak English?
Before asking for help in English
En ymmärrä
en ÜM-mar-ra
I don't understand
When you have not understood
Paljonko tämä maksaa?
PAL-yon-koh TA-ma MAK-saa
How much is this?
Shopping at a market or shop
Missä on vessa?
MIS-sa on VES-sa
Where is the toilet?
Looking for the toilet
Hyvää ruokahalua!
HÜ-vaa RWOH-ka-ha-lu-a
Enjoy your meal!
Before eating
Kippis!
KIP-pis
Cheers!
Raising a glass
Näkemiin
NA-keh-meen
Goodbye
Leaving, politely
Hyvää joulua
HÜ-vaa YOH-loo-ah
Merry Christmas
At Christmas
Local tips
Before you go
Drive on the right, lights on
Cars drive on the right. Finnish law requires headlights to be on whenever you drive, in every season. Usual speed limits are 50 km/h in towns, 80 km/h on country roads and up to 120 km/h on motorways in summer.
Watch for elk and reindeer
Yellow signs with an elk mark places where elk often cross. In Lapland, reindeer are often on or beside the road, so drive with care.
Winter driving
Between 1 November and 31 March, winter tyres are required whenever the weather or road conditions call for them.
Dress in layers
The weather can change quickly. Winters in Lapland can reach minus 30 °C, while Helsinki summers often reach plus 25 °C. Wear layers, and in winter choose wool, which stays warm even when wet.
Midnight sun and winter dark
Around midsummer the sun does not set for weeks in the north, so bring a sleep mask. In winter the far north has very little daylight, and on long, clear nights you may see the northern lights.
Everyone's right
Under 'everyone's right' you may walk in the countryside and pick wild berries and mushrooms, even in private forests, but not right next to someone's home.
Two languages on signs
In bilingual towns, signs show both Finnish and Swedish names, for example Helsinki and Helsingfors, or Turku and Åbo.
Emergencies
The emergency number in Finland is 112. It is free from any phone, including foreign mobiles, and operators can help in Finnish, Swedish and English.
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- Languages of Finland (Wikipedia)
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- List of islands of Finland (Wikipedia)
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- thisisFINLAND: Tapping into Finnish lakes
- Sámi people (Wikipedia)
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- Mikael Agricola (Wikipedia)
- Grand Duchy of Finland (Wikipedia)
- Diet of Porvoo (Wikipedia)
- Helsinki (Wikipedia)
- Kalevala (Wikipedia)
- Women's suffrage by country (Wikipedia)
- Finnish Declaration of Independence (Wikipedia)
- Finnish Civil War (Wikipedia)
- Winter War (Wikipedia)
- Continuation War (Wikipedia)
- Lapland War (Wikipedia)
- 1952 Summer Olympics (Wikipedia)
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- Finnish cuisine (Wikipedia)
- Visit Finland: Finland's traditional and iconic foods
- Karelian pasty (Wikipedia)
- Lohikeitto (Wikipedia)
- Kalakukko (Wikipedia)
- Sautéed reindeer (Wikipedia)
- Karelian hot pot (Wikipedia)
- Rye bread (Wikipedia)
- Bread cheese (Wikipedia)
- Kaalilaatikko (Wikipedia)
- Mämmi (Wikipedia)
- Cinnamon roll (Wikipedia)
- Runeberg torte (Wikipedia)
- Salty liquorice (Wikipedia)
- Sima (mead) (Wikipedia)
- Turku (Wikipedia)
- Tampere (Wikipedia)
- Oulu (Wikipedia)
- Rovaniemi (Wikipedia)
- Porvoo (Wikipedia)
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- Kuopio (Wikipedia)
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- Old Rauma (Wikipedia)
- Olavinlinna (Wikipedia)
- Turku Castle (Wikipedia)
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