Tourism in Finland - Best Tourist Attractions
Tourism in Finland - Best Tourist Attractions
Finland is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. The country has land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east. To the south is the Gulf of Finland with Estonia on the opposite side. Finland is a Nordic country and, together with Scandinavia, is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia.
Finland's population is 5.5 million (2016), and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region. 88.7% of the population is Finnish and speaks Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages; next come the Finland-Swedes (5.3%). Finland is the eighth-largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. It is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital city of Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and one autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which produces one third of the country's GDP.
Finland was inhabited when the last ice age ended, approximately 9000 BCE. The first settlers left behind artifacts that present characteristics shared with those found in Estonia, Russia, and Norway. The earliest people were hunter-gatherers, using stone tools. The first pottery appeared in 5200 BCE, when the Comb Ceramic culture was introduced. The arrival of the Corded Ware culture in southern coastal Finland between 3000 and 2500 BCE may have coincided with the start of agriculture. The Bronze Age and Iron Age were characterised by extensive contacts with other cultures in the Fennoscandian and Baltic regions and the sedentary farming inhabitation increased towards the end of Iron Age. At the time Finland had three main cultural areas, Southwest Finland, Tavastia and Karelia, as reflected in contemporary jewellery.
From the late 13th century, Finland gradually became an integral part of Sweden through the crusades and the Swedish part-colonisation of coastal Finland, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the first European state to grant all adult citizens the right to vote, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office.
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent. In 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Red Guard supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the White Guard, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the country became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla, Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, but retaining independence.
Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era. Finland joined the OECD in 1969, the NATO Partnership for Peace in 1994, the European Union in 1995, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997, and finally the Eurozone at its inception, in 1999.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. After World War II, the Soviet Union demanded war reparations from Finland not only in money but also in material, such as ships and machinery. This forced Finland to industrialise. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive welfare state based on the Nordic model, resulting in widespread prosperity and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. In 2015, Finland was ranked first in the World Human Capital and the Press Freedom Index and as the most stable country in the world during 2011–2016 in the Fragile States Index. A large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
tags: Finland, Europe, european, Lapland, Aurora Borealis, Helsinki, Lutheran Cathedral, North Pole, arctic, country, finnish, snow, Capital, National Museum, National Theater, Tampere , travel, tourism, travel, tourist, tourists, backpacker, tourist attractions, castle, Helsinki, European Union, fortress, Suomelinna Lake, Uspenski, Katajanokka, Punkaharju, Savonlinna, Baltic, Baltic Sea, travel, Headquarters of Nokia, north, lakes
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Finland by Train
One of the real joys of the type of travel that I prefer is to be able to see the country as I travel, and while its often easier to take a flight, you just don't get a sense of the country as you do by surface travel. A real passion of mine is traveling by train, and there is no doubt that the Finnish rail network is one of the best I've come across, as well as being located in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. When I spent time exploring Finland getting from place to place was just as enjoyable as exploring the places I visited, and the views of the snowy landscape were absolutely spectacular.
Another pleasure of traveling by train in Finland is the clever design that is used to make the most out of the space available, while still being user friendly too. As I demonstrate in the video the sleeping cars are compact, but are still perfectly comfortable for a night's sleep, and doing so on the train is much more comfortable than trying to sleep on a plane. The bathrooms are also really inventive, managing to squeeze a toilet and a shower into the space that you would normally find just a shower cubicle, and the restaurant cars are also really comfortable with some pretty good food on the move too.
I was in Finland during the winter, and I could simply sit in the carriage watching the snowy scenery go by all day long, it is truly magical, and is also remarkably efficient as you would expect from a Scandinavian train system. For this video I think the music works really well with the images, and conveys the laid back feel of traveling on the Finnish train system. The other benefit of train travel is that you get to meet some of the Finnish people, who are naturally welcoming and were always friendly when they realized I was there on holiday.