Finland is located within Scandinavian Europe. Bordered by Sweden, Norway and Russia, it stretches some 1000km from north to south and approximately 450km from east to west. In the north of the country, Finland forms part of the outer Arctic Circle. In fact, it is within northern Finland during winter, that one can actually observe the Aurora Borealis or ‘Northern Lights’. This area of Finland, known as Lapland is home to the legend of Santa Claus or ‘Father Christmas’ and his reindeer. The reindeer part is definitely true, and these can be spotted by the roadside if one is lucky enough. Finland is a relatively flat country and is home to some incredible in-land lakes. 187,888 lakes exist, occupying 10% of Finland’s 337,030 sq km . 68% of the country is covered in thick forest, much of it evergreen. Finland remains one of Europe’s most expensive countries to travel around, and prices of trains, restaurant meals and accommodation all reflect this. The Finns were the pioneers of mobile phones as we know them and Finnish cell phones can even be used to vend cans of drink.

Finland was ruled by Sweden between the 12th and 19th centuries. Russia controlled Finland from 1809 until independence was won in 1917. In WWII, the Finns successfully chased away the advances of the Soviet and German armies. Just off the coast of Helsinki, the island fortress of Suomenlinna attracts thousands of visitors every year. The official language of Finland is Finnish although Swedish and English are also widely spoken. The national unit of currency is the Euro, which took over from the Markka in 2001.

The economy is industrial and of a free market. The main economic sector is manufacturing. Industries include metal products, electronics, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, copper refining, foodstuffs, chemicals and textiles. 22% of the national workforce is employed within industry. Public services is another big employer and accounts for 32% of the Finnish workforce. The transport network of Finland consists of 5865 km of incredibly efficient and clean railways, 77,831 km of highways and the Saimaa ship canal, which measures 3700 km.

The climate is temperate although it receives bitterly cold winters. In the north, conditions are sub-arctic, whereas the south is moderated by the presence of the North Atlantic current and the Baltic Sea. During winter, Finland does not enjoy much daylight and the sun never appears for very long. The further north you get, the shorter the days. In the summertime, the opposite occurs and the sun is often still visible at midnight! The coldest recorded temperature in Helsinki was -33°C. In the north of Finland in a town called Inari, the temperature once dropped to -42°C.