Finland snapshots, including introduction, travel info, tourist attractions, and photographs

Scandinavia architecture, museum, theater, ski resort, famous city Helsinki attract worldwide tourists to come to this favorite travel destination and fascinating country every year.

Finland is located in Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Sweden and Russia. With total land area about 305,470 square kilometers, Finland is slightly smaller than Montana of the United States.

Finland has 5,214,512 (July 2004 estimate) population, including Finn 93%, Swede 6%, Lapp 0.11%, Roma 0.12%, and Tatar 0.02%. Finnish (93.4%) and Swedish (5.9%) are the two official languages. But there are small Lapp- and Russian-speaking minorities.

Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries.

Finland has a modern telephone system with excellent service. Based on 2002 data, Finland has 2.65 million Internet users.

Helsinki, the capital of Republic of Finland, is a sparkling city. Famous tourist attractions include the Finlandia Hall, the Olympic Stadium, the massive underground church, gracious Senate and Market Squares, Uspenski Cathedral, and Sibelus Monument, a memorial to the Finland's greatest composer.

From Helsinki, you can take luxurious Baltic ferry to across the sea to go to Stockholm, Sweden.

Lahti, located in the northeast of Helsinki, is a ski resort town. Further travel toward north, you will pass through the Finland's lake district to Jyvaskyla - on Lake Paijanne, and reach Oulu, a city located on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. Rovaniemi, located south of the Arctic Circle, is a tourist destination with famous architecture, museum, theater, Santa Claus workshop and reindeers.